Studio Newsletter | July 2026

Let’s begin with some big picture stuff. It’s July and this month citizens across the U.S. will drop loads of hard earned cash money on hotdogs and fireworks in celebration of America turning 250 years old. If america-ing was a verb I think we’d all agree that no country in the world can america as hard as we can. Whatever level you crank your america meter to this year, I wish you a safe and happy holiday.

Now let’s zoom in and talk art. Designated studio days have come to a standstill until our little Emmie Bean the Wonder Machine gets to feeling like her old feral self. In the meantime art-making has adapted into projects that can easily be worked on outside of the studio. All large paintings or time-sensitive gigs are on the back-burner.

But fear not! A summer tradition is developing and it rules. Not only does Emmie adore it but it also fits the need for a small-scale, mobile studio for Mom (that’s me). Win. Win.

Last year the kiddo went to two week-long day camps (one in June and one in July) at the Botanical Research Institute of TX aka BRIT. While she got her learn on, I drew from the collection downstairs in the herbarium. This year we repeated the same scenario - she learned about planets while I drew plants.

My setup in the herbarium.

I always have a specific direction in mind when I visit a specimen collection but without fail I end up falling down a rabbit hole that leads to another path entirely.

During last year’s BRIT sessions I stumbled into an obsession with cholla and pencil cactus. This year it was the prairie cone flower aka Mexican hat and any other flower with a similar profile. If it didn’t look like a tiny rocketship blasting toward outer space then I had zero interest in drawing it. I’m curious what this month’s visit will reveal.

Above is a particularly inspiring ratibida columnifera specimen collected in 1947 and below are a few drawings made at BRIT last month.

ALTARS | GUIDES | AMULETS

There’s a place that is unknown to us now, but seems so incredibly familiar. It comes to us in déjà vu moments and tingling gut reactions. It’s a dream space that we are conditioned to doubt and explain away with logic. It feels like home and some of us miss it intensely.

Years ago I wrote the words above and even embroidered them onto an empty tamale bag that hangs in my studio. Now they serve as the foundation for seven new altars called Homesick Guides. They are a reminder, a tether to that mysterious and beloved place until we return. (Click on an image below for more info.)

Four-Eyed Fox | Wisdom Seeker | “It wasn’t until he was at the tail-end of a lifetime that he understood there is no end to seeking.”

Daisy Dog | Friendship | “She was steady and present all the times I was not.”

Desert-Dotted Hare | Awareness | “Always on high-alert, she could never get lost in deep sleep.”

Intergalactic Lamb | Exploration | “What would happen if your sights were set far beyond what you know?”

Night Sky Blue Bear | Gentleness | “Quiet and still like the heavy night sky.”

Prairie Duck | Plenitude | “It is more than enough.”

Pink Peony Skunk | Humbleness | “She’d let them find out for themselves.”

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This month’s feature…tiny flower paintings from the past!

Beauty Soon | Original Painting

“The moment was beautiful, the life surrounding that moment hadn’t caught up to the same beauty.”

$325.00

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Shadow Show | Original Painting

“Her shadow moved across the warm rock like a movie.”

$325.00

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The Long Way Home | Original Painting

“The backroads were thick with them and they were beautiful…thorns and all.”

$325.00

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Life currently feels heavy and loud. If I were Lolly, it’d look like this.

Little Lolly/Big World

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Documenting my landscape through paintings and storytelling.

Hi, I’m Layla! I am a painter with a focus on southwestern landscapes and the author/illustrator of a children’s story series called The Lolly Stories. The exploration of home, nature, and storytelling are the major components of both my painting practice and illustrations.