Reading · In an Artist's Garden and Studio

Friends, I’m exhausted. I don’t think I realized how massive an endeavor this move would turn out to be. The to-do lists are neverending, but we’re getting close to putting our other house on the market. What a relief it will be.

We continue to fall more in love with our new place by the day. I’m so grateful to have found it and that everything worked out. I still can’t fully believe it’s actually happened and that we live here now (and yet it now feels like home).

a field with bales of hay below a blue sky and fluffy clouds — *our view across the road to our neighbor’s field and the hills beyond*

Even though I’m exhausted and continue to add things to my to-do lists, this experience has been bringing on a shift. I’m feeling more relaxed and getting better at going with the flow. (Of course, it’s complicated and I, like this property and our new home, am a work in progress. Satya is right that when we move, we bring ourselves with us).

I haven’t had much time to spend in my studio, but I already love it.

Anne Butera's painting studio with a watercolor painting in progress on the table — *working on my first watercolor painting in my new studio*

Every time I set foot in the space, I feel a jolt of excitement and the pull to stay a while. Like everything here, it’s far from perfect, but it’s perfect for me and I know over time it will continue to get better and better (in case you missed it, I shared a view of another area of the studio in my last Joy Letter).

Although art-making and filming classes (and writing newsletters and blog posts) is my job, right now any time I spend on those sorts of creative endeavors feels a bit like playing hooky.

a sketchbook spread of hosta flowers surrounded by colored pencils and a page of watercolor color swatches

Have I mentioned that we have a lot to do?

Hahahaha.

So for today I’m just going to share some photos of what’s been delighting me lately. I hope they will delight you, too.

orange daylilies in evening light — *lilies in an old garden bed by our driveway*

a sweet baby bunny hiding in grass and clover

three red farm outbuildings — *we hope to be able to salvage these old outbuildings — I have my eyes on the one on the right and I’m already using the one on the left as a potting shed*

an old door and doorknob on a farm outbuilding — *the interior of the door on what I hope will someday be my summer studio*

white elderflowers look beautiful against a red farm building

containers of plants on a rustic wooden deck — *I’ve been harvesting herbs from the containers on the deck*

a flower bud on a night blooming cereus plant gets bigger and bigger — *a flower bud on my night blooming cereus — this will be the first time it’s bloomed*

the glow of the rising sun through rain wet tree branches — *my view out the windows of the sunroom — photos don’t do justice to the magic of the morning light*

new growth on a fiddle leaf fig tree — *new growth on my fiddle leaf fig, happy in the sunroom windows*

Purple and white streptocarpus flowers — *my happy streptocarpus in the laundry room window (but what’s more exciting is the roofing equipment in the yard outside)*

Anne Butera's art and writing in Uppercase Magazine Issue 66 — *my art and short piece in the new issue of UPPERCASE Magazine*

My wish for you today, and every day, is that you will look around and no matter what’s going on in your life, find little delights to light up your days.

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Little Delights

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