A Letter from Maureen

Hello Maria and the Art Toolkit Team,

I am one of those people who never stopped making art throughout my childhood and teenage years. Somewhere in early adulthood, that changed. I stopped creating because I couldn’t bear the thought that nothing I made would be as perfect as I wanted it to be.

It wasn’t until I went, on a whim, to a talk given by John Muir Laws at the California Native Plants Wildflower Show near my home last spring that I became intrigued by the idea of nature journaling. I began drawing again, bringing my love of natural landscapes and plants together with the grounding practice of deep observation, and I began to realize that the outcome is so much less important than the process. 

I am an avid bicycle traveler and was excited about the prospect of bringing art on the road, but I didn’t think there could possibly be a palette small enough to justify packing it on a long, remote trip like the one my husband and I had planned for the summer as a honeymoon celebration!

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route is an off-road bicycle route that stretches from the Mexico/New Mexico border to Jasper, Canada. The prospects of long days in the saddle, tough terrain, unpredictable weather, lots of steep climbing, and high elevations made me want to pack as light as possible.

But when I randomly came across your amazing palettes, I thought it might be possible to put together a reasonably small kit. A Pocket Palette, Water Brush, pencil, micron pen, tiny eraser, and small Hahnemühle Watercolor Book made it onto my packing list (at the expense of a spare pair of socks, which made our tent slightly stinkier than it might have been). Long story short, I fell in love with art again and began learning to let go of perfection and enjoy the process.

Now I have this incredible record of my relationships with the places I traveled through. I don’t know if I would’ve picked up a brush again if it weren’t for John Muir Laws and your palettes. After making it to Jasper, we headed out to the Olympic Peninsula to spend time with friends, and I made sure we stopped in Port Townsend to visit your shop. 

It’s harder to make time and space for art now that I’m “back to reality,” but the things I’ve learned about myself and the role art-making plays in my experience of the world have helped me stick with it. I am so thankful to Maria for sharing the wonderful products Art Toolkit offers with all of us wandering creators, and to the whole team for making it happen. I recently attended an Art Toolkit workshop and can’t wait for more, so a big thank you to everyone involved in those, too. 

I thought I’d share a few pictures from my summer adventure sketchbook since you’ve shared so much with me.

Happy trails!

Maureen Foley