December Newsletter

NO. 41 | December 2024

It’s hard to believe I’m sending out the last monthly newsletter of 2024! Before we get into things, I want to tell you that my final shop update is live! There are 18 quilted fish bags available. They make great gifts! I won’t be making any fish bags for at least the next six months, so if you’re thinking about it, now’s the time. I sold out last drop—which is still so special—so thank you then and now!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about validation in the last few months of this year. Being an artist/making things/creativity—however you want to think of it—comes with some inherent isolation. It’s an independent practice that, often, you succeed or fail at all on your own.

Sometimes, if you finish something and share it, everyone will be as excited as you are. I won’t deny that that’s a great feeling—external validation is pretty easy to accept, and you don’t have to cultivate it yourself. Sometimes you can make money from your work, and that has built-in validation, too. If someone’s willing to pay for your work, or making it has improved your financial standing, then it’s not too hard to call it a success. (Not to say that these instances are not fraught with their own complexities; seeking external validation and valuing art via money can always let you down!)

But what about on all those other days? When you’re using your precious and finite time on this earth to make something and it’s not for sharing, or it’s a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle, or it doesn’t turn out? Validation can be a little harder to come by because it has to come from you.

I think validating yourself can look lots of different ways. Sometimes, it’s feeling like you achieved what you set out to achieve (success). Sometimes, it’s recognition (again, from yourself) that you have worked hard or tried hard or spent a lot of time with the things you care about, whether or not there is an outcome to show for it (dedication). Sometimes, it’s evaluating the big picture or the past to be sure that you are moving on a path you’re proud of and have done more than you maybe realized (affirmation).

To me, dedication is often most important to my art practice, though they all have their places. It’s been especially poignant this November, as I was writing a bunch on a novel project, which is particularly difficult in the realm of validation. I spend a lot of time and a lot of word-space writing something that no one else can see and that is quite hard to evaluate in pieces. It’s easy to end a writing session and think, Did that make any sense? Is this whole thing a just a boring puddle of words? There’s not really a way to find outcome-based success or external validation or to make a value-judgement on a giant, in-progress project like this. So what can I fall back on? Affirming that, yes, I did sit down and write all those words toward a project I care about.

Validation is more than a writing or project-specific issue for me. At the end of a to-do list or a tiring day or a goal or a massive project, it can be hard to feel like the little things you did—whether they logically meet the terms of success you set out or not—are the right things or happy-making things. Validating yourself is what can transform a difficult day (in your sketchbook or manuscript, at your sewing machine, etc.) into a day where you still showed up and put in the work.

I’ve also found that it’s easy to just forget the things you’ve achieved or worked toward over the course of a year. Things—especially things at the pace of the internet—pass quickly, and if you didn’t manage to give something the validation it deserved in the moment, it might behoove you to go back and do it now. That’s what I’m going to try and do this month!

Some of it, I’m going to do here: Look out for the best of the 2024 newsletter, favorite photos from each month, maybe a little round-up of illustration or sewing. Here or just in my journals, I’m going to take some time to celebrate myself and all the work I put in this year. I think you should too. Maybe you’re not feeling the best about how your year has turned, but I bet you can find something significant or happy or dedicated about what you’ve done. Maybe you’re feeling on top of the world. It could be good to know what led you there.

Self-reflection is one of our most powerful tools! It’s so easy to be hard on yourself, or even just apathetic in the flow of time. Take a moment to give yourself credit for another year.

Swim Along With Me: Writing a Scene

This month, I’m going to attempt to bring you into my novel-writing process a little bit (which might be very hard to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and feels very vulnerable—but also exciting). This image is a test drawing for a graphic novel idea that Emilio and I sometimes work on together, but this month’s post will actually be about writing a scene in a novel. See you on the 15th!

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Inbox cutting off this post? Read the whole thing on Substack.

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We adopted a puppy at the beginning of November, and he’s been ruling our world. His name is Otto and he’s a total snuggle bug/sweetheart/genius. Please accept him in stead of an art update (I’ve just been writing!!). I do plan to dig deep into sewing pants this winter and have just made some purchases, so look out for more on that if you’re here for sewing!

Especially since adopting Otto, I have been loving the work of Sara Hagale (which I’m sure many of you recognize!). She’s an illustrator that makes simple but spot-on drawings that I can’t help but feel like speak to my french fry- and dog-obsessed soul.

✷ Emilio and I did not cook much this Thanksgiving, but we did revisit the same Dilly Rolls from last year because we love them.
✷ I am very inspired by this food account that doesn’t give recipes but does combine ingredients in simple and delicious ways that inspire me to improvise.
✷ So far (I have 4 more ahead of me at least), my favorite read this year was The Three Body Problem Trilogy (sorry that’s three books).
✷ She might just be the spotlight next month but I am always so inspired by Tessa Perlow
✷ Thank you for being a newsletter subscriber (and reading all the way to the end today). See ya in the new year!