Dear Santa

Did you ever write letters to Santa growing up? Or leave him a note alongside the cookies? Or next to the Guinness, which as I just learned a few weeks ago, is what some kids leave for Santa in Ireland. (I love that so much.)

Well growing up, we did. And so while I was watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix last night (it’s so calming- but also dangerous because I get so hungry for pastries and cakes and breads) I started doodling a Santa letter to share with you.

Give it to your kids to color and fill out (my gift to you, is the five minutes they spend coloring. You’re welcome) or if you’re young at heart, color and fill it out yourself!

While my Santa letter may say something like “oh my gosh, please leave a vaccine in my stocking,” yours obviously could be whatever you’re hoping for. (And it doesn’t have to be a “thing”- it can be a wish for the new year, or your life, or a funny memory. Whatever makes you happy. There are no rules.)

Are your kids too young to write a letter? Stamp their handprints as a way to remember how little they are right now. Pet parents like myself? You can do this with your pets too. Maybe wear gloves though since I can’t imagine many cats who would love you holding them to do this. (Speaking of… I’m not responsible for any scratches or bites- given by pets or children haha)

Just have fun and take a small break for yourself. It’s been quite a year and you deserve it.

Unexpected Sell Out

Looking back over the year. These little black and white ink drawings were such a blast to create (and sold out within hours of their launch which is always a fun surprise!)

Celebrating Twelve Years

Twelve years since we said “I do,” and you still give me butterflies. Happy anniversary, my love!

Reflecting on a past mural

I was sitting here planning out what to cook for Christmas dinner and got distracted looking back through photos from this year. Tucked among selfies and socially distant adventures I found this photo of a mural I painted this summer. Still totally obsessed with it. 💙

(2021 mural and commission spots will open next month, but if you ask nicely I’d be happy to reserve your spot now 😉)

Gratitude

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

At the end of every year I send thank you notes to my collectors, designers, etc. for all their love and support during the year. This year, I decided to do something a little different and paint an element of each card. I painted for like an hour and created what I thought would be MORE than enough cards.

I was wrong. Like, I needed to TRIPLE the amount of cards kind of wrong.

Which completely blew me away.

The number of people who have purchased my work this year was three times more than my goal for the year.

The amount of people on “the sidelines” for me (designers, consultants, fellow artists, friends, etc. that share my work and encourage me and are just amazing in general) took up an entire sheet of paper.

I feel like my heart is going to explode with all the love I feel right now. So thank you.

Thank you for all the love and support and encouragement for my work and for me. You made 2020 pretty amazing.

📷 of “GEMSTONES Rose Quartz” (available on my site) since it’s known as the stone of universal love.

What does it mean to be creative?

What does it mean to be creative?

Almost every time that someone learns I am an artist, they immediately ask a ton of questions. Some expected (what kind of art?) some kind of intrusive (how much do you make?) but every single person says something to the effect of "I wish I was creative." (They also almost always say something to the effect of "it must be so nice just to sit around and paint all day." which I'll discuss another day, but just for the record- full time artists rarely get to spend every day painting.)

And my response? "You are. You might not be artistic, but I'd bet you're creative."

Sure you may lack any artistic ability, but that doesn't make you without creativity. So why are so many people quick to say "they aren't creative?"

My opinion?

Because we put creativity in a box and only associate it with those who are artistic (though they are VERY different things.)

This makes it so we can easily recognize the creativity of artists, but find it much more difficult to recognize the creativity of a statistician, an attorney, or even a stay at home parent. But have you seen what statisticians do with stats and graphs? Creative. How about how an attorney argues a case? Creative. And it only takes a second to recognize just how creative parents have gotten with virtual learning this year.

So don't be so quick to discount your creativity. I promise you have it- even if you "can't draw a stick figure to save your life."

Experimentation

Experimenting-playing- it’s good for the soul. Especially after a few hours of bookkeeping, emails, and dealing with the post office 😉

OF A FEATHER is live!

OF A FEATHER, my latest watercolor and ink painting series in live! Consisting of twenty-four pieces, each painting captures the color and spirit of feathers and is inspired by the freedom found when you embrace your truest self.

See all twenty four paintings at https://www.courtneykhail.com/of-a-feather

OF A FEATHER artist statement

“Dull isn't your color.

you were meant to adorn dream catchers

to be celebrated,

not crated.

spark your plumes

and emerge anew

resilient

with wings painted the color of rainbows

a kaleidoscope of possibilities

magnified by your light.”

-C.Khail

Sketching

I’ve had a sketchbook in handle for as long as I can remember. It sounds like a cliche to say that, but I really don’t remember a time I wasn’t sketching something. When I was incredibly young, I assume the majority of those “sketches” were more abstracted scribbles, but as I grew, I started to study drawing books more, tried drawing from life, etc. By the time I was in high school, art was what I did. To be fair, it wasn’t hard for me to study art because I had attended a fine arts school magnet school starting when I was ten until I graduated. (And as it was made painfully aware thanks to required ballet classes, I was NOT very gifted in the art of dance. I also lacked the ear for the violin- which I can in fact play- but I was never any good at tuning my instrument without help.)

I was always at home with art though. That clicked. My head matched my heart-which through some glorious combination of patience, talent, and magic-translated through my hands.

That said though, rarely does anything just “come out perfectly” the first time. It’s like my brain is faster than my hands- if I don’t work out my thoughts, everything gets muddied, like a crude translation of a language you barely can speak.

Which is why I sketch. To strengthen those muscles. To make it so natural that it’s essentially just muscle memory. No thought required. Some people journal, but my brain usually goes too quickly for words (which is why you’ll only see snippets of thoughts if you ever look in my sketchbook. Probably why I enjoy poetry as well.) Line work though? My lines can keep up with my brain. My hand can translate my thoughts onto paper- of course it’s normally in a short handed version that only I understand.

This is a page from the third go round of sketches for my upcoming series OF A FEATHER. You can see things beginning to take shape- morph into their final form. What you can’t see are the colors in my head- those usually only come out when the watercolor touches paper.

Are you living your truest life?

These past few months have really put a magnifying glass on everyone’s lives. It’s as though the “busyness” we allowed to clutter our lives before has been removed and so now we’re all incredibly focused on what does and does not make us happy, what we want our lives to look like, and what works for us. Instead of just keeping up with the Joneses, maybe now you’re starting to ask yourselves “do I even want to be the Joneses? Do I even want their life?”

And when you see that they aren’t living your “ultimate goal life” it’s forcing everyone to ask well then what DO I want?

And it can be incredibly scary to actually just sit with yourself and and look inward to see what makes you tick/ what makes you happy; and even scarier to see it an then go for it! (Especially if it’s not the “norm.”)

But I’m here to tell you- you have to keep doing it. The ONLY way that you can live a full and beautiful life that is true to you is, in fact, by being true to you. Not true to what your parents want, what your friends want, what that well meaning stranger who gave you their unsolicited opinion in the grocery store wants- but WHAT YOU WANT.

What makes your heart sing? What makes you feel cared for, content, and joyful? What feels “right?”

That’s what you need to be doing right now.

*steps off soapbox*

📷 of Garnet- an 11”x14” stunner currently available here