Rhea Carter Studio

ARTWORK RELEASE:

I have a new friend who saw this piece and said she could see all of us having a picnic there. Since she said that, I have thought about the painting, I have studied the painting. A lot. The open space is inviting, beckoning us to sit. Inviting us to take a minute to soak up the beauty of nature, to relish the loved ones in our midst, to remember how much our heart needs the slow meandering in nature with friends.

Slow Down and Gather
Size: 8x10 (landscape orientation)
Price: $75

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Do you absolutely love it? Do you think a loved one will absolutely love it? If so:

-DM with your preferred email address and let me know you would love to have it in your home or gift to a loved one.

-Look for an invoice in your inbox.

-Submit payment as soon as you can so I can get it in the mail (free delivery if local to Upstate, SC).

-Wait beside your mailbox for the exciting delivery!

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https://open.substack.com/pub/notesfrommystudio/p/on-seasons-changing?r=2sjo5p&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

When you see something that you love, simply follow these steps:

✅ Send me a message with your preferred email address and let me know which piece you would love to have in your home or gift to a loved one.

✅ Look for an invoice in your inbox.

✅ Submit payment as soon as you can so I can get it in the mail (free delivery if local to Upstate, SC).

✅ Wait beside your mailbox for the exciting delivery!

As always, your support means the world to me. I am so thankful I get to create and share my work with you all.

https://open.substack.com/pub/notesfrommystudio/p/the-beginning?r=2sjo5p&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The beginning... And how it looks now

The set up and the shot

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Rhea Carter Studio | Substack An artist who paints with oils searching for beauty in the ordinary.

“I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” - Claude Monet

Zinnias from my flower garden make painting so much better.

On a recent trip to visit family, my husband turned on a podcast from and the episode included guest . Ms. Brockovich discussed how when she gives lectures, she stops and asks people to close their eyes and think of their favorite place, the place that gives them peace and quiets their mind. She said it never fails that most, if not all, people envision somewhere in nature. The beach, the mountains, the forest - somewhere in the vastness of nature we all find our peace and calm.

One can never have too many brushes.

I grabbed the trowel and my basket full of seed packets and headed to the bald patch in the backyard. The hard red clay was moist from the past day’s rain which made it a bit sticky. It was time, if maybe a little late to be planting my flowers but they needed to be in the ground just as much as the dirt needed something to protect and grow.

Every Spring after planting, I always worry if anything will grow. Should soil amendments be added, should I have used compost first, did I water enough? But every Spring after the worrisome wait, little sprouts pop out of the hard clay soil and surprise me. Hope can grow in the hard things.

The process is repeated every year. By the time July arrives, I am so grateful for the color of the blooms, how tall the zinnias grow, how many bees seem to enjoy this fragrant bounty. This year I get to teach my toddler to slow down and look at the pinks and purples, stop and smell the blooms, watch and listen for the bees. Even in the midst of his very important business of chaotic discovery, he still slows down and watches. We talk about how the seeds need soil, water, and sun to grow beautiful flowers for the bees and the butterflies and the birds to enjoy. I suspect, while I might have to direct him to be tender with nature, I don’t have to teach him to love being a part of it.

I can’t get past how the Earth, in all of it’s beauty, nourishes us in so many ways - the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the soil, the great heights of the mountains, the shelter of the trees, the rhythm of the ocean. So in the midst of this quiet, stationary season of mine, I planted flowers to watch them bloom, to participate in the cycle that nurtures my growth.

Although it may be childish or cliche for an artist to love Monet, I do…ever since I was 5 years old and saw his Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge. It’s probably not a shock that I would be drawn to growing flowers and painting landscapes. But here I am, so many years later with paintings of oil landscapes surrounding me and a small flower garden in my backyard with dreams of turning half of it into a field of wildflowers.

I am at home surrounded by the beauty of nature whether outside or on canvas.

Some days are the perfect days: the to do list gets done, the weather is glorious, everyone is in good spirits, and you can settle into the comfortable routine. Other days are perfect days although messes are made, moods swing, the toddler’s curiosity looks more like messes. Yet even with all of that, it’s a day that time is set aside for creativity. There is something so uplifting, and dare I say, perfect, in birthing a beautiful piece of art. May you have the time and space to bring a little piece of beauty into this world.

It’s fascinating to see a palette and then see the creation that evolved from the globe of pigment.

All that is eternal in me �Welcomes the wonder of this day,�The field of brightness it creates �Offering time for each thing �To arise and illuminate…�May my mind come alive today �To the invisible geography �That invites me to new frontiers, �To break the dead shell of yesterdays, �To risk being disturbed and changed. �May I have the courage today �To live the life that I would love, �To postpone my dream no longer, �But do at last what I came here for �And waste my heart on fear no more.
John O’Donohue, ‘A Morning Offering’, Benedictus (Transworld Digital, Kindle Edition, 2009), Kindle Locations 344-363.

I finally had a moment of quiet all to myself. So I made the second cappuccino of the day and scraped off dried paint from the palette. I was unsure if anything good would come from my sleep deprived eyes and hands. But the point was to enjoy the quiet moment and let creativity find a home for just a little while. I didn’t need to create the next masterpiece. I just needed to create. And so I did. It became kind’ve a “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” moment for me.
Sometimes, just starting is the key, sometimes getting out of one’s head is the key, sometimes it’s remembering that being creative can be just as nourishing as a good meal.

Sometimes you just have to start…but first, cappuccino.

There was a time when creativity flowed like water down a mountain creek. I could sit in my studio, turn on some music, and squeeze the paint out of the tube onto the palette. My heart beat faster as I gently loaded my brush with paint and began with soft strokes on a blank canvas. The magic was slow to work, creativity needed it’s time and space but the flow never was dry.

Now, as I count time in 4-5 hour increments, graduating from counting time in 3-4 hour increments, it seems like my creativity left me with a parched, barren landscape. Is it still there, underneath the exhaustion and first year fog? Will it rise up like the morning dew or hover like damp fog?

I take some time to be…out in nature where my skin can feel the warmth of the bright sun, my eyes can behold layers and shades of color, my hands can touch the glorious textures of pine cones and grass and flower petals, my heart can join the melody of the birds as they gather with the chorus of the wind through the trees.

Maybe…just maybe…there is shimmer of something in the light, a drop and then a trickle…



Music: Words
Musician: music by audionautix.com
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

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Used and leftover palettes hold memories and inspiration from precious creations. But in the clearing away, I often find dreams for new creations begin to settle in.

I am reading a book right now that discusses how creating is a work of love. The more I think about this the more it resonates. No one needs a painting on their wall to survive. The canvas can’t be eaten or provide shelter. It can’t provide for our basic necessities and yet, throughout recorded history, we have been trying to make our spaces more beautiful. We have been trying to make them reflect who we are, what we find lovely, what gives us peace and comfort as we settle in at the end of the day. So I pick up my paintbrush and mix the creamy oil paint because in this small way, I can show love to a tired world.
I would love to know what is a favorite thing you keep in your space - comment below.

This is me learning to create again in the midst of baby boy’s giggles and toys and calls for attention…I wouldn’t have it any other way.