Catching up with Mary Nelson Sinclair, Early Fall Vibes, Back to School
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Happy Sunday. Here is this week’s grab bag of things to gander/ponder/pause on:
Catching up with Mary Nelson Sinclair
If you’ve ever dreamed of fleeing city life and spending the rest of your days painting in the countryside and raising a family, you should definitely be following the artist Mary Nelson Sinclair here and here and here. I’ve long admired Mary Nelson’s work, and I asked her recently where she might live if she ever left her rural Hudson Valley compound. “I think we would live somewhere on the coast of Portugal or in Tuscany, just outside of Florence,” she said. Equally dreamy to be sure.
I can also tell, from afar, that Mary Nelson shares my love of gardens and flowers and I wanted to know more about how the landscape beyond her studio windows informs her work. “I approach planning my own garden like I approach a painting—a composition and a palette of colors have to come together in a way that makes sense,” she said. “I love looking at Piet Oudolf’s work and how he maps out his designs. They are works of art in their own right.”
Last summer, Mary Nelson slipped away to Italy for a week with the Arniano Painting School and I was curious how the experience influenced her. “It was incredible as an artist and personally,” she said. “Stepping away from the studio and my day-to-day practice nudged me to evolve. Getting away also helped me return to the old me—the Mary Nelson Sinclair before being a wife and mother, which I love being! But it’s so important to take a minute to be your old self and remember who that person was. It makes me a better mom and partner.” Not surprisingly, the lessons she’s learned in motherhood weave back into this whole ethos. “Motherhood has taught me that things come with time and patience,” she says. “There is only so much you can control, and I can certainly apply that when making a painting. My work is rooted in the process of painting itself, which forces me to let things happen on their own, but also to create boundaries, much like motherhood.”
Early Fall Vibes
It’s still premature to talk Autumn and honestly I haven’t seen a ton of things yet that impress me. Except Forte_Forte’s new drop. The soft colors and layers and textiles are A+ and so is this, this, and this.
In the (slightly) more affordable arena, I also love this situation and this.
Back to School
It’s fresh notebook season and when I’m not using graph paper pads, I like to stock up on this sort of charming, clothbound variety.
And a Few Extra Bits…
—Bring me all the costume rings like this one, this one, and this one. Plus these.
—Something interesting is happening with the lamps+ shades via Aubry Atelier. Poke around and see what you think here.
—I invest in seeds from Floret Farms every year and I’m so excited that their team has a new book coming out. Fun fact: I asked the founder, Erin Benzakein, to be in The House Romantic but she was deep in her own book universe at the time.
—An upholstery industry insider told me that this specific cleaner works wonders on chairs and sofas and any soft piece of furniture that has to coexist with children and pets. I’ve used it twice so far and I’m super impressed.
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Wow, Mary Nelson’s work is dreamy! I’ve been chatting a friend about doing our own writing retreat and hearing about MN’s residency experience has me wanting to get it on the books asap…
LIVE for graph paper notebooks—Appointed are my favorite.