Hello Friend! A warm welcome from coastal Sonoma County, California. I’ve spent the past year moving into my home amongst the redwoods and setting up my pottery studio.

The past year has also brought consequential personal and professional life changes. This new home has become a gentle retreat for finding my pace to grow as a writer and ceramic artist.

It is intentional, slow living. It is sensory living - bird songs, wind through vast expanses of trees, insect noises that shift with the seasons. There is a small creek that runs at the edge of my little house. I see it through the trees and down the slope of the hillside. It is a year-round creek. I hear the tranquil sounds of water overnight with my windows cracked open. 

When I toured the home for the first time it was pouring rain. The sound of water rushing through the creekbed, around moss-covered boulders and fallen trees, is what convinced me this is where I need to live. Amongst the soft shapes of nature. Amongst the sounds of birds, critters, and insects who also make this land their home. 

I named my home Lilac Creek Cottage. It brightens my day to share vignettes of life and creative work through letters. I am a Gen X girl originally from Los Angeles who grew up before computers, smart phones, and social media. I spent each summer as a teenager on an island near Seattle. In those days, long-distance calls were expensive (and always overheard), so writing letters to friends was the only way to stay in touch and ensure any degree of privacy. It wasn’t called snail mail back then. Just mail :)

No matter your age, taking a break to draw, color, or paint is a great way to relax. Each month I’ll share vignettes of creative life and a creative activity that you can do with your hands. Joining the snail mail club helps support me as an artist and means the world to me.

Warmly,

Holly