Happy March folks, come have a seat in the studio. Hoping your day-to-day bubble of a world is a kinder, less weird, and more honest place than the rest of the current state of the planet. Let’s talk art.

Putting together this month’s newsletter affirmed that whether I like it or not, small work is my big time jam. I like being hunkered over a little painting, it becomes just me and the desert. I like the tactile nature of clay, tiny trinkets and beads, waxed chord for crocheting, and embroidery floss. I like the privateness, micro focus, and light but purposeful touch that comes with working small. But most importantly, I LOVE the transportability of a tiny project because it allows me to keep working when I can’t be in the studio.

Each medium has its own handsome carrying case - a small, mobile satellite kit filled with the barest essentials extracted from the large mothership (aka studio). They can go anywhere.

Beading Kit (above left): the bestest beads, chord & wire, crochet needles, clasps, crimp beads, pliers, scissors, tweezers, wire cutters, and jewelers cement.

Embroidery Kit (above middle): 4” hoop with current project and matching embroidery floss selection, needles, scissors, stitch ripper, and light w/magnifier.

Mini Painting/Mobile Office Kit (above right): pre-cut 5.5”x5.5” matboard, paint markers, pencil pouch, sketchbook (black paper), sketchbook (white paper), brainstorming notebook, monthly calendar, and to-do list.

STUDIES

I’ve been focused on night landscapes for several months. Initially it was the darkness, the otherworldliness, I wanted to better understand but after painting a boatload of them, it became clear it was the canyons sprouting in the distance of each work that wanted the attention.

ALTARS | GUIDES | AMULETS

I really just make things because I want to see what they’d look like translated from my brain into a physical form. Pearl the Possum, Talisman of Resourcefulness, and her journey is a prime example.

First came Pearl the clay sculpture with altar, then came Pearl the collage, then the collaged Pearl was used for the book image for Pearl's page in Lolly and the Talisman, and finally I needed to see what Pearl would look like embroidered. We named one of our new guinea pigs Pearl and I can’t help think it was a subconscious nod to Pearl the Possum. Looking forward to seeing what form she takes next!

I’ve always dreamed of opening a mercantile filled with art and other weirdo stuff. It’d be located in a drafty old storefront on the square of an obscure town. A tinkling bell would announce every customer and the squeakiness of the wood floors would teeter between charming and haunting depending on the day. The online Studio Shop is the virtual version.

Documenting my landscape through paintings and storytelling.

www.laylaluna.com | contact