Notes From The Studio

This week’s studio table looks a little different. In addition to paint swatches and works in progress, it’s covered with the things that have been inspiring me lately: celebratory dinners with friends, book signings, afternoons on the tennis court, and the joy of seeing a commission settle into the home of dear friends. With Maine just around the corner, I’ve found myself savoring this season before we pack up and head out of town. A few recent highlights from life in and around the studio.

One of my favorite evenings recently was attending the Super! Saturday dinner. We were celebrating the welcoming of Adrienne Antonson’s pieces. It was so energizing to gather around a table with creative, thoughtful people. I left the dinner feeling grateful and inspired. I have been shopping her State Label collection for years. I loved seeing her world in a new light.

I recently attended a book signing at Ladybird Books for my friend Chloe Redmond Warner and her new book, This Must Be the Place. Filled with inspiring interiors and thoughtful design, it's a beautiful book that captures the feeling of home. It was such a lovely evening spent celebrating creativity, beautiful spaces, and the people who bring them to life.

Spoleto Festival has been happening over the last 17 or so days in Charleston. It’s a great celebration of the arts, and I had the pleasure of attending several of the events this year. A few Sundays back, I attended Brandi Carlile’s concert at the Cistern Yard, and it blew my socks off. I find it so fun that Charleston dedicates 2.5 weeks a year to the arts; it’s so inspiring and worthwhile. If you need a summer listen, I highly recommend her book on tape, Broken Horses. She tells stories and sings to you.

Spoleto Festival continued. One of my favorite evenings of the festival was getting to attend an event with my son, English. We share a love of the arts, which made the night so special for us both.

In preparation for Maine, I started taking tennis lessons this year. (Learning a new sport in your late 30s is humbling to say the least.) Where we stay in Maine each summer is a very active community. Everyone plays tennis in the morning and sails in the afternoon. It's become one of my favorite parts of our summers there, so I've been fitting in a few lessons here in Charleston before we head out of town. I purchased this skirt for a local brand named Spence and have loved finding new ways to style it that feel like me. Someone, please stop me from buying the other colorway.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my kids and I spent a few days in Pawleys Island with our dear friends and saw a commission I’d painted for them hanging in their home. It was so special to see this commission become a part of their daily life. Kate Towill of Basic Projects designed the home. Her eye and attention to detail feel like you are on a set of your favorite 90s romcom in the dreamiest of ways.

Back in the studio, I’ve been spending time with a new body of magnolia paintings. The series began after standing beneath a magnolia tree on an intensely bright summer afternoon. The light was so strong that the blooms became less about their individual petals and more about the sensation of seeing them at all—flashes of color, high-contrast shapes, and moments of brightness that felt almost too vivid to look at directly. Much of this work has become an exploration of memory, light, and the heightened feeling of summer with young children. It will be released July 23, and I am so excited to share it with you.