This Spring, I was a guest on The Artish Plunge Podcast.
Find details and the link below.
Creative Business Retreat
Last month, I traveled to Savannah to attend a creative business retreat with 30 inspiring human souls from the US, Canada, and the UK. It was an excellent way to start off the year!
The event was hosted by Nancy Ruzow of Creative’s Roundtable and Ilise Benun of Marketing Mentor. I’ve been involved in these two groups for a few years now. Both offer guidance, accountability, and camaraderie for independent creative professionals.
Over the 3-day gathering time, we discussed everything from marketing to mindfulness. We learned from and were inspired by one another, with plenty of belly laughs (and some heartfelt tears) to boot. Between our meeting times, we strolled downtown Savannah and enjoyed a little sightseeing and lots of good eats & drinks along the way. I loved it there!
As we wrapped up the sessions, many of us shared that we had felt apprehensive about leaving our bubble and getting on a plane to attend this event. But thankfully, we all followed through… Because the in-person time felt like medicine.
Here’s to more real-life gatherings!
Savannah is a beautiful mix of historic architecture, gentle trees, Spanish moss, and warm vibes. From the Riverwalk to Forsyth Park, downtown Savannah emits such a great vibe, and there’s lots to explore (very easily) on foot.
Valentines Day 2023
Share some love today!
Possibility
My word for 2023 is “Possibility.”
This summer, I began kayaking regularly on the LI sound. It was a joy to explore the waters and see my home turf from a new and different perspective.
Beginning a new hobby opened my mind and helped me to see what possibilities might lie ahead. I want to apply that feeling of serendipity to other areas of my life and work.
Do you have a word for 2023?
Uppercase Magazine Feature
I was so honored to be included in the Spring Issue of Uppercase Magazine!
I‘ve been a huge fan of this magazine since Issue 1!
“How does gardening inspire your art?” was the submission topic.
My collage, “Posadas” was featured on page 80 of issue 53, Spring 2022.
Below is my response in writing to “How gardening inspires my art”
Walk and Look
In 2008, my husband and I moved from New York City to Norwalk, Connecticut. Suddenly we owed trees, shrubs, perennials that needed grooming, transplanting and cultivating. I was immersed and loving it!
As a new mom, I strolled the neighborhood daily with my baby daughter and would make note of plants I admired. Afterwards, I would visit nurseries and scour the internet researching these same plants. Throughout the years, I have cultivated our little land space with vegetables, perennials, trees, shrubs and annuals. I’ve learned so much.
Gardening had grown inside of me.
In early 2021, in the midst of the pandemic (and winter in New England), I began making art again. On my daily walks with my dogs, I started pinching off evergreen sprigs, and picking funky grasses, blooms, and twigs and prickly pinecones along the way. I pressed each one and began to incorporate them into my collages.
They seem to add a magical innocence, and quirkiness, to the pieces – an energy that can only come from nature. And each season offers me a wide variety of art supplies. All I need to do is walk… and look around me.
The Life Cycle of a Butterfly & The Creative Process
Hello & Happy Spring! I created the collage below as part of an International Art Challenge. “Wheel” was our assigned word prompt. “Wheel of Life” was my solution, with the center focusing on the life cycle of a butterfly.
While creating this piece, I realized that this illustrated life cycle can also act as a metaphor for the creative process.
From business start-ups to brand launches, to career changes to home improvement projects… Do you have a project? Where are you in the process?
EGG – LARVA – PUPA – ADULT – [ and REPEAT].
In the Adult stage.. the cycle continues. The mature project breeds new dreams and ideas for new projects. Your “Thing” can evolve, or even change, but the creative process keeps going.
For more thoughts like this, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, “THREE”, which delivers 3 bite-sized design-related morsels to your inbox on a monthly-ish basis.
Wit, Warmth & Delight
A bit about “Wit” in design.
Wit allows you to infuse a deeper level of brand personality into your packaging, collateral, or any touchpoint. It can give your customers a subtle *pang* of delight.
Finding small surprises can make your customers chuckle. And perhaps they’ll like you a little MORE. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
For the first time in a long while, I ironed a shirt! There, underneath the neck label,
I re-discovered a little bit of wit. It delights me every time. Thanks Old Navy!
When designing the packaging system for the John & Kira’s Ladybug & Bee collection, we included trivial factoids under the chocolates of the double platform boxes. This deeper level of conversation engages the user as they eat the chocolates. It makes their experience a little bit richer, and they might learn a fun fact or two!
A good friend of mine shared her love for Honey Mama’s with our monthly Zoom call last week. She recently discovered them and professed her love for their chocolate bars, as well as the branding & packaging. The package talks to you as you unwrap it.
It’s thoughtful, it’s witty, and it made me like Honey Mama’s before I even tasted the product. (Which is very good, BTW!)
If you need help with ways to infuse wit into your branding & packaging or anything else, shoot me a note and we can set up a call/strategy session.
Spruce it up!
Hello & Happy new-ish year!
For 2022, I chose the word “Spruce” as the focus of my intentions.
So far my spruces include:
· A new haircut
· Redesigning a bathroom closet over the holidays
· Working on bathroom & kitchen updates in our home
· Website updates for Studio AG
· Making my bed each day.
Wishing you peace and lots of goodness for 2022.
Home Office – The Nickel Tour
In the spirit of sharing – It’s me, on a typical day — And I’m wearing matching socks! I feel very fortunate to have this space… surrounded by inspirational art, vintage objects, and wonderful natural light.
Here’s the Nickel Tour!
A: Silkscreen print I made while taking printmaking
classes at SVA in NYC. (2007-ish)
B: My child’s (now, 12!) art.
And more creations from awesome folks I admire.
C: I ditched the inkjet for an HP home-office
laser printer a few years ago, and I love it.
D: Saguaro Forms & Cactus Flowers Puzzle.
Part of a line of products I designed for Galison and The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
E: Pantone Books on a mid-century modern serving cart
(found curbside!)
Thanks for stopping by!
Beautiful, Winter
I came across this post on a friend’s facebook page the other day, and thought it was incredibly beautiful. I hope you do too. ♥
– – – – – – – – – –
We are approaching the threshold of winter.
Life is being drawn into the earth, painlessly descending down into the very heart of herself.
And we as natural human animals are being called to do the same, the pull to descend into our bodies, into sleep, darkness and the depths of our own inner caves continually tugging at our marrow.
But many find the descent into their own body a scary thing indeed, fearing the unmet emotions and past events that they have stored in the dark caves inside themselves, not wanting to face what they have so carefully and unkindly avoided.
This winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this period of descent into our own darkness was so necessary in order to find our light. That true freedom comes from accepting with forgiveness and love what we have been through and vanquishing the hold it has on us, bringing the golden treasure back from the cave of our darker depths.
This is a time of rest and deep reflection, a time to wipe the slate clean as it were and clear out the old so you can walk into spring feeling ready to grow and skip without a dusty mountain on your back & chains around your ankles tied to the caves in your soul.
A time for the medicine of story, of fire, of nourishment and love.
A period of reconnecting, relearning & reclaiming of what this time means brings winter back to a time of kindness, love, rebirth, peace and unburdening instead of a time of dread, fear, depression and avoidance.
This modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, bad food and consumerism.
And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and people are left feeling as if there is something wrong with them, that winter is cruel and leaves them feeling abandoned and afraid. Whereas in actual fact winter is so kind, yes she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards the darkness and potential death of what we were, but this journey if held with care is essential.
She is like a strong teacher that asks you to awaken your inner loving elder or therapist, holding yourself with awareness of forgiveness and allowing yourself to grieve, to cry, rage, laugh, & face what we need to face in order to be freed from the jagged bonds we wrapped around our hearts, in order to reach a place of healing & light without going into overwhelm.
Winter takes away the distractions, the noise and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth.
• Illustration by Jessica Boehman
• Words Brigit Anna McNeill