Hello, My Beautiful Butterflies!
It's so wonderful to be writing to you in April, which is officially my birthday month! I was always so cautious and hidey about my birthday. I didn't want the attention, or hot take, I was afraid to ask for the attention and have no one come to the party....but after having Leonora, I am all about the birthday! I want to set an example for her, and I want her to celebrate her birthday without fear!!! So, I've been trying to emulate that for her.
In honor of my birthday month, I'm sharing something I've been tinkering away at....a 2027 calendar!!! You read that right! I will be doing another calendar for next year. I LOVED making the 2025 calendar. So many lovely people reached out to ask if I was doing a 2026 calendar, but unfortunately, I couldn't find the time to put one together. I didn't want that to happen again this year, so I decided to start early! I've been sketching to my heart's content, and I just started painting the January illustration.
The theme this year is cozy animals enjoying yummy treats that I associate with each month. As an example, my favorite cake is Carrot Cake, so April features two little critters enjoying a beautiful carrot cake.
November is Leonora's birthday month, and my girl LOVES that Nutella, so November will have a croissant and Nutella moment.
March is my momma's birthday month, and she loves lemon...so I threw in some Lemon macarons. You get the gist, right?!
On months that don't have a special someone's birthday, I thought of the snackies and treats I like to enjoy. I also tried to mix it up with salty and sweet, even though my immediate inclination was to go full sweet.
I wanted this calendar to be a celebration of each month. I want to be excited to turn the page each month to see the next illustration (even when we hit the months that seem to drag on). To celebrate and be grateful for all the things that only that month can bring!
Whoa, am I putting a lot of weight on a mere calendar or what?!? But it's these ideas that get me excited to work on a project!
In order to give you some more sneak peeks. Here is the sketch for January. We're thinking critters in sweaters dipping a cookie (pistachio biscotti in this case) into a warm beverage!
I'm onto the painting process now, so I transferred the sketch to watercolor paper.
And now the painting begins!!!
Eeek! I'm so excited for these. Stay tuned!
Hope you all have a great April!
I will see you all in May!
xoxo
Rachel
- Mar 2
The ABCs of Grief: Coping is Here!!
There was a book I read when I was young, I don't remember the book itself or the illustrations, but I do remember how the book made me feel. The paper had this cloudy glossiness to it, almost like looking through a pillowy haze. It felt so magical to the touch and turning each page felt like a gentle hug. I was maybe 9 or so, and I wanted to turn the pages of this book over and over again, taking in the words and the pictures, but also taking in the feeling of the book itself. When I opened my copy of The ABCs of Grief: Coping, I was shot back to my 9-year-old self and this memory of reading this random book. The pages made me feel warm, cozy, and hopeful. How crazy that a small touch, a small book, a small gesture can transport us back to some forgotten memory from our childhood. I started to think of all of the little readers out there that will consume this book and quite possibly create a memory that will stick with them into adulthood. Powerful!!!
This book was, by far, my favorite to illustrate and I'm overflowing with excitement that she's out in the world. This is the last book of the series, so with the excitement comes a bit of sadness. I've been working on these books since Leonora was cozied up and kicking away in my belly. Now she's 2 and forming opinions, interests, and full sentences. These books have been with me for so long, its truly bittersweet to say goodbye, and I'm so grateful that Jessica picked me to illustrate them.
As I painted this book in particular, I listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks to really get into the zone. But I also intentionally slowed down, savoring each and every paint stroke, pencil mark, and letter that I formed. I wanted to remember it all, and feel present for the making of this book more than any of the others. Because they truly have been a gift to me! A gift of learning about grief while I was also, and still am, grieving. To give some backstory, my mom started chemotherapy while I was pregnant, she underwent a stem cell transplant during my little ones first year of life, and she went through two back-to-back emergency surgeries during Leonora's second trip around the sun. She's recovering and doing better, but I've realized that while I have found immense hope and excitement with my new chapter of life as a mom, I've also been grieving this new chapter of life as a daughter. I didn't get to have the mom I imagined having during my journey into motherhood, and while my mom is slowly but surely returning, I still yearn for her to get here quicker. And also try to accept that the mom I had before may never fully return.
Illustrating all of these books about grief came into my life when I needed them most. They were my therapy! So, I am sad to see them go, but truly grateful I was able to cross paths with them during this season of life. I imagine all of the little grievers out there that these books will be a gift to, and it makes me hopeful to be of service to them.
This third book is all about learning to cope and continue with life while still holding space for grief. Sometimes that means finding ways to escape, finding hobbies, and sometimes it's finding ways to remember, like lighting candles and letting lanterns off in the air.
I pictured my Leonora while I was sketching these illustrations. What I imagined she would become, and what I hoped she would find in life. Picturing her going hiking (if she likes it like her dad and me). I also pictured my niece, who is having a tough time at the moment, and how she copes with dancing and video games. I pictured myself and how I coped as a kid during times of grief through reading and imagination.
Do you see yourself in any of these? How did you cope as a kid, and how do you cope now?
I can't wait for little hands and minds to hold and take in this book. Jessica's words have brought such a gift to the world, and I can't wait for you to hold these books yourself!
If you would like to buy your own copy, I included a link below.
I'm so grateful for each one of you for subscribing to my little newsletter,
See you in April,
Rachel
Happy February, My Lovely Chocolate Cakes!
Que the confetti, it's Galentine's and Valentine's Season!
I've spent the last month organizing my work and goals so that I can move through 2026 with purpose and intention. I want this to be the year of less for myself, meaning I want to pare my intentions down to as few as possible so I can conquer those things with gusto! Every time I've gotten excited with a thousand ideas, I remind myself "Less" is the operative word this year.
We live in an age of MORE MORE MORE, NEW NEW NEW!! MORE work, NEW thoughts, NEW ideas, EVERY SINGLE DAY!! As an artist who likes to take her time, and likes to savor in the new work she made, this MORE vibe is EXHAUSTING!! It makes me feel like I can't keep up, and sometimes I don't want to show up because I fear the question "what's next?". It's tiring, but I'm learning that I don't always have to create something new from scratch. Instead, I can re-work what I already have. Cough Cough - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
So, when I got it in my head that I wanted to make some Valentine's cards for funsies, I decided I needed to pull from artwork I already had to save time. Then, I would add in cute sentiments with my hand-lettering to make them Valentine-y. This whole post is going to show how I forced myself to work smarter, not harder. How can I remake older work into something new?
I hunted for a few recent drawings that felt fitting. I made most of these at the end of last year (pictured above). For this post, I'm going to start by focusing on the tomato print to show you how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. And for fun, I have before-and-afters of all of the other prints below.
Okay, so I made this for my wholesale distributor for some kitchen art (she's cute, right?). But I love the sentiment "I love you from my head, tomatoes!" and I think it would fit so well with this print for Valentine's.
I started sketching out the words over the can.
Then I went in and blocked out the lettering and colored it in on my IPad.
It's cute how it is now, but I wanted to see what it would look like with a little more of a pink and red lean to it. So, I pulled it into Photoshop on my computer and fiddled with the colors and layout a bit.
This was what I came up with! So fun!
And here's a before-and-after side-by-side.
So on that note, let's see the before and afters for the other few pieces that I pulled from:
PUPPY LOVE!!!
I grabbed my Howl-o-ween pups, added lettering, and swapped out their costumes for sweaters!
SARDINES!!!
This was another print for my wholesale distributor. I added a cute phrase and edited the tone and vibrancy of the colors.
POSTAGE OF HEARTS!!!
Remember this illustration from my 2025 calendar? I removed the background and added in some cute lettering to go with the postage vibe.
ADVENTUROUS LOVE!!
I used this print from my camping collection, changing the colors a little bit and changing the sentiment.
SILLY GOOSE LOVE!!
Last but not least, the print on the left is from my silly goose collection! I changed her glasses, the verbiage, and the colors!
Okay, I'm a sucker for before-and-after side-by-sides, so putting this together was incredibly satisfying for me.
I do have these in my Etsy shop if you feel an urge to gift them to your honey, your bunny, or your bestie. I've been feeling a strong pull towards handwritten notes and postcards lately, so these truly fit the bill.
I hope you all have a beautiful February filled with love and connection!
xoxo
Rachel
