Welcome to my Substack!
A quick first newsletter while I learn to navigate this new platform...
I’ve had “start a newsletter” on my to-do list for a long time, and I am so happy to finally check this off my list. When I say a long time, I’m talking years. There were a few things holding me back- the usual insecurity that I think holds a lot of us back, the writing of the actual newsletter, and the fact that I wasn’t totally comfortable with Mailchimp or any of the other e-mail gathering systems. I don’t even know why, I just wasn’t. But then I found Substack and I didn’t have to gather anything. It was easy to use, so I wrote a newsletter just to see what it would look like. And then all that was left was the insecurity. And you know what? I just had a birthday and while I suppose we’re never too old to feel insecurity, today that’s what I’m telling myself. “You’re too old for this, girl. Hit publish and go get a glass of wine.”
I hope you, too, will go grab a glass of wine or coffee or whatever you prefer and let me tell you a little bit about what you’ll find here…
Artwork
This SHOULD be the main subject that I’ll be sharing about. It will include bits about what I’m up to in the studio, paintings in progress, Etsy shop updates, sketchbook work and, of course, visits from the studio cats. Now, I emphasize “should” because I’m also going to talk about all of the distractions that lead me happily away from the studio and lure me into a blissful state of “we’ll worry about that project later”. They include, but are not limited to the following:
Gardening
This is probably the absolute worst of the distractions. As much as we Central New Yorkers lament our short growing season, there are big benefits for those of us with too many passions. We can really only work outside consistently from May till September. So we’re left with 7 months to focus on other things. For the most part. Garden distraction is not entirely gone, it’s just dormant. It jumps out at us from time to time in the form of seed catalogs that arrive in the mail, or the mid-winter thaw exposes areas in the flower beds that could use some clean up. We’re coming to the beginning of the gardening season now and I’m hoping to show you how I start my seedlings! And if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I just remembered I wanted to order some wire cloches to protect those seedlings when they go outside… see? Garden distraction. Sometimes it gets you even with 2 feet of snow outside.
Travel
I have a love/hate relationship with travel. I hate getting ready for trips. I hate planning them, I hate all the “what-ifs” that start nagging at me when I’m about to buy non-refundable tickets. I feel like I spend days, sometimes weeks cleaning the house and packing my things while my husband takes half an hour the day before to throw some clothes in a bag and he is ready to go. And if we’re flying? Well, I’m going to save those little tidbits of shame for later newsletters when you perhaps get to know me a little better. I am a terrible traveler.
But I am really good at being on vacation. Once my feet are on the ground of our destination, I am in love. I love cities, I love the country. I love beaches, I love deserts. Mountains, waterfalls, woods, museums, historical sites, antique shops, local artists, restaurants, I love it all.
So, while I reluctantly do have to lay claim to that “Terrible Traveler” title I mentioned above, I have learned a thing or two in the process of each adventure that might come in handy for you and perhaps make your travel a little easier.
Cooking
I’ll be sharing some of my favorite recipes that I think you’ll enjoy! We’re animal lovers here, so mostly vegetarian, some vegan, and an occasional cocktail.
And finally…
My favorite newsletters always have a list of recommendations by the author. It’s basically a wide open door to a rabbit hole, but it’s one of my guilty pleasures. If you’ve made it this far, I’m guessing it might be one of yours too.
A short list of 5 things you might love:
Something to read: The Traveling Artist by Missy Dunaway is a gorgeous collection of sketchbook paintings that Missy created on her many adventures around the world. I cannot emphasize gorgeous enough. You can check this little section of her webpage for an idea of what I’m talking about.
Growing: I’m going to try my hand at growing dahlias this year. If you have any tips to offer, I welcome your advice! In the meantime, I’ll be checking out this resource and hoping for the best!
A recipe to try: I’m going give you our all time favorite here at the McClung House- Buffalo Cauliflower Bites. There are dozens of different ways to make these, but this recipe is the one we always use. It’s fast and has only a few ingredients. I substitute rice flour for the all purpose flour, but either works. And I usually make a lot less than this recipe calls for- I use half a head of cauliflower and then cut everything else by about 1/2 to 1/3. I don’t do a lot of measuring when I cook.
Inspiration: One of my favorite newsletters comes from Anne Butera of My Giant Strawberry. She creates beautiful floral watercolors and her website provides a wealth of inspiration, especially her “free resource library”. You can get a peek into her studio on her blog.
Something to watch: I don’t like exercising indoors, but I also don’t always like braving the elements in the dead of winter. I have found that putting together a You Tube playlist to watch while I work out is a nice little incentive. Recently I have become obsessed with Homeworthy. It’s tours of houses that I will never come close to ever living in, but I’ve gotten so much decorating inspiration from these videos. I’m realizing that I don’t have enough artwork hanging in my home which, as an artist is a bit shameful. So we’ll be working on that later.
Thanks so much for reading!