Maybe I Don’t Need More. Maybe I Need to See What’s Already Here.

Hi Friend! 💖

Lately I’ve been asking myself:

What am I supposed to create next?

And honestly?

I don’t know.

There have been seasons when creativity felt urgent — like something inside me absolutely HAD to come out.

When life was at its heaviest, that thing was painting.

I poured.

Spun.

Tilted.

Blew paint across canvases.

Mixed wild colors, mica powders, glitter and whatever else made my belly happy.

Painting became one of the ways I processed things I didn’t know how to carry or explain.

But life feels different now.

The trauma isn’t screaming the way it used to.

I’m not desperately trying to paint my way through something.

And maybe that’s why I don’t feel the same insatiable need to make another acrylic pour just because that’s what Artist Brookie used to do.

Maybe I’m not creatively stuck.

Maybe I’m just different.

Sometimes the Ripple Comes Back

This week gave me a few reminders that creativity isn’t always about making another object.

I brought Kimmy with me to a couple of community events, and I loved having her beside me.

She’s already an artist in her own right, and at this point she jumps in, trusts herself, handles what needs handling, and genuinely makes my life easier.

That matters to me.

The whole reason I bring younger artists along isn’t just because I need an extra set of hands.

I want them to see that creativity can become a side hustle, a business, a skill, a way to connect with people — whatever they decide to make of it.

And then another little ripple came back.

A young woman climbed into my chair and asked if I remembered her.

She told me she had graduated a couple of years ago and that one of the reasons she used to come to the football games was because she wanted to see me.

Not because of one specific face-paint design.

Because she remembered the way our interactions made her feel.

Now she’s in college.

And she has a beautiful baby girl.

Suddenly I was standing there holding the baby of someone who used to come find me when she was still a kid herself.

Come on. 🥹

Most of the time, you put love into the world and never know where it goes.

Sometimes, years later, the ripple comes back.

Some Places Become Part of You

My husband and I also celebrated 17 years of marriage this week.

SEVENTEEN.

And then I closed out another fall season at Highland Orchards — a place that has been woven into my life for more than a decade.

There are familiar vendors.

Families who remember me.

Kids who come looking for me.

And for someone who has spent a lot of her life feeling a little transient, there is something deeply comforting about having a place that feels like home.

Sunday was packed with little pumpkins, spooky ghosts, fall princesses, sparkly cheeks, and tinsel hair.

My last customers were a mom and her little girl, and watching that little girl light up over her sparkly hair made me think:

Mom needs some fun too.

Those silly little moments become part of the fabric.

Just like Highland has become part of mine.

And Now I Want to Simplify Everything

With fall festival season ending and Christmas craft shows coming fast, I keep looking at everything I own and thinking:

I need less.

Paint.

Sparkles.

Henna.

Hair tinsel.

Face paint.

Signs.

Displays.

Magnets.

Paint Babies.

Bins.

So. Much. Stuff. 😂

I keep saying I want my booth to feel cleaner, more intentional and more like a little boutique created by an artist — not like I unloaded every colorful thing I own onto a six-foot table.

And the Paint Babies have been part of that wrestling.

I loved making them.

But trying to figure out how to add another whole category of little paintings to an already-full booth started making my head spin.

Then I had another thought.

Maybe I don’t need to make a hundred new things.

Maybe I need to look at what I already have differently.

Glitter Is Calling Me

I have acrylic pours that have been sitting around for a long time.

Some of them just don’t do much for me anymore.

But lately I keep seeing them in my head with something new layered over them.

Radiant bursts of translucent color.

Holographic sparkle.

Maybe even bits of hair tinsel embedded into varnish or epoxy somehow.

I don’t actually know how yet.

Which, frankly, is the fun part.

I won’t figure it out by sitting in my bedroom thinking about it.

I need to go outside, pull out the paints and Sparkles, make a mess and PLAY.

And yes, my brain has also decided that maybe I should make tiny fabulous sparkly mirrors — little Happy La-La Land portals — because apparently my response to “I need fewer things” is occasionally:

What if I make a completely different thing?!

😂

But I don’t think the answer is necessarily mirrors.

Or Paint Babies.

Or embellished paintings.

I think the thing calling me is simply:

Go play with the Sparkles again.

Take what already exists.

Add something unexpected.

See if I can make myself excited.

And then pay attention.

Scripture I’m Carrying

This keeps coming back to me:

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” — Isaiah 43:19

Maybe the new thing doesn’t mean abandoning everything that came before.

Maybe it means looking at the old thing with new eyes.

Maybe those paintings don’t need to be thrown aside.

Maybe they’re waiting for another layer.

And maybe I am too.

A Little Something to Reflect On

Is there something in your life you’ve assumed you’ve outgrown simply because it doesn’t excite you the way it used to?

What if you don’t need to throw it away?

What if it just needs a new layer?

A different approach?

A little color?

A little sparkle?

I don’t know exactly what I’m making next.

But for the first time in a little while, I can feel curiosity starting to replace pressure.

And that feels like a pretty good place to begin.

One More Little Bit of Halloween Magic 🎃✨

Before Christmas craft-show season officially begins, I’ve got one more spooky stop.

I’ll be at the 4th Annual Spooky Makers Market at Vault + Vine in New Bloomfield on Saturday, October 31 from 9:00 AM–2:00 PM.

Come find me for face paint, henna, hair tinsel, Sparkles and whatever Halloween magic decides to happen.

And after that?

Hopefully I’m heading outside with a pile of old paintings, some Sparkles and absolutely no idea what I’m doing.

Which honestly sounds kind of perfect.

With love, color and curiosity about what comes next,
Brookie 💖