I'm an artist, surface pattern + fabric designer, author, mama, and online teacher in Portland, OR. I believe in the power of art-making as a tool for radical self-care. I help people feel a little bit brighter and a little bit less alone through the art and products I make, the words I write, and the classes I teach. Come join almost 10k people in my colorful, uplifting world!
Are you actually bad at the thing you've always thought you're bad at?
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Hi Reader! I've spent the last couple of days doing a product photoshoot with my wonderful assistant Emily in preparation for the opening of my holiday shop on November 12th, and oh my goshhhhh I'm so excited to show you everything!! The calendar photo above is my FAVE, but I also can't resist showing you one more: Ornaments!! I mean honestly. Could this be any cuter? What's most interesting to me about these photos is that historically I've always thought of myself as being a "bad photographer". Prop styling and photography in general have never been my strong suit, and so I've basically done all I can to avoid it over the years (or to make it as quick and easy as I can). It's funny how sometimes the things that don't come naturally to us are things we label ourselves "bad at" and then never think twice about questioning whether that's actually true or not. Maybe sometimes all we need is a little exposure, a little practice, a little bit of playing with something new in order to see that we're not bad at something; we're just inexperienced. Everyone is a beginner in the beginning! The question "I wonder what would happen if..." can be super helpful in allowing more room for play and exploration and less judgment and perfectionism. So, while I still don't consider myself to be someone who these things come naturally to, I did realize in these past couple of days that a beginner's mind and a playful attitude will take me far! If I dedicate some time and effort and have FUN and PLAY in the process, I can actually create some images that I like and I'm not just uniformly bad at it like I'd been telling myself I was. Who knew?! Am I going to get super excited about photoshoots forevermore? Probably not. BUT I'll certainly feel more willing and happy to do it again next time around, and that feels like a big deal! I can't wait to share the holiday goodies and the rest of the photos with you! I currently have over 600 pics to wade through, save or delete, crop, edit, resize, etc, so..... wish me luck. Ha. I hope the rest of your day is wonderful, whatever you're up to and wherever you are. :) ps – what's something you've always thought you're bad at? Hit reply and let me know – I'm genuinely interested! LET'S BE FRIENDS ON IG!
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Jessica Swift.
I'm an artist, surface pattern + fabric designer, author, mama, and online teacher in Portland, OR. I believe in the power of art-making as a tool for radical self-care. I help people feel a little bit brighter and a little bit less alone through the art and products I make, the words I write, and the classes I teach. Come join almost 10k people in my colorful, uplifting world!
Hi Reader! I hope you're having a wonderful week. I'm enjoying a quiet Thanksgiving week at home this year with my kiddos instead of traveling to see family like we often do (well, more like a "quiet" week – I hear C and G bickering about something in the background right now, which is pretty standard), and it's funny how things work out so perfectly sometimes... We loosely planned to go to California for Thanksgiving and then decided to go in December instead. Then we made plans for a...
Hi Reader! The refrain-on-repeat in my house right now is "I'm sooooo excited for Christmas!". I wonder how many times I'll hear that between now and Christmas morning? 1,000? A million? Infinite? I still remember that feeling so well from when I was a kid – the bouncy, tangible anticipation so huge I could barely stand it. Waking up in the middle of the night on Christmas to sneak into the living room to stare at the presents under the tree in awe. Removing one torturous ring each day from...
Hi Reader, What a day here in the United States. I took myself for a long walk earlier today to absorb the news and to wrap my mind around the huge changes coming our way that will impact us in the months and years to come, both here in the USA and around the world. Wherever we each fall on the political spectrum, we're ALL on the human spectrum, and I think most of us can probably agree that there's a lot of darkness in the world right now. A lot of division in this country, and a lot of...