Facing Fear

About three and a half years ago I was frozen in indecision. Paralyzed by fear. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of making a mistake.

art, joy, lifeAnne ButeraOctober 2, 2020fears, fear, overcoming fear, letting go of fear, getting over fear, how to overcome your fear, cats, love Comments

Beauty is Important

I am filled with a swirl of thoughts and feelings. Maybe you are, too.

These days. They’re hard. This year has been hard. It continues to be hard.

Sips of Inspiration: an Interview with Misty Olsen

After a bit of a break, Sips of Inspiration is back!

I’m so excited to introduce you to Misty Olsen. Misty is an artist who’s working toward her dream of creating children’s books.

Collecting Everyday Joys

What a week it’s been.

Although I think they’re a good idea any time, when life feels heavy or dark, I find it helps to write a Joy List.

Late Summer Garden Update

Won’t you join me in the garden today?

As slowly as 2020 seems to be progressing, the summer is certainly speeding past. I can’t quite get my head around the fact that it’s already late August.

fabric, garden, joy, life, seasonsAnne ButeraAugust 21, 2020garden, garden assessment, late summer garden, butterflies in the garden, monarch butterflies, tiger swallowtail butterflies, red spotted purple butterfly, monarch butterfly on verbena, tiger swallowtail on zinnias, garden harvests, gardening, garden joy, gardening for wildlife, gardens, garlic, zucchini, summer squash, cube of butter summer squash, cube of butter yellow zucchini, eggplants, herbs, tulsi, holy basil, japanese beetles, japanese beetle damage, japanese beetle damage on roses, skeletonized leaves, plum tree, raised beds, cinder block raised beds, hog panel trellis, small gardens, urban gardening, container gardens, growing tomatoes in containers, Stellar tomato, Tasmanian Chocolate tomato, Roadster tomato, geranium kiss tomato, purple poppies, lauren's grape poppies, breadseed poppies, poppies, bachelor buttons, calendula, saving seeds, tomatoes, patio gardening, cosmos flowers, sunflowers, surprises in the garden, verbena bonariensis, Spoonflower Design Challenge, Wallpaper design, climbing vines wallpaper challenge, spoonflower climbing vines wallpaper challenge, botanical wallpaper design, botanical fabric design, surface pattern design, fabric design, Spoonflower, spoonflower wallpaper, Spoonflower contest, spoonflower fabric designer, spoonflower fabric, watercolor, watercolor paintings, botanical watercolor paintings, clematis paintings, clematis, clematis wallpaper Comments

In Celebration of Butterflies

Last week a package arrived on my doorstep. I thought it was going to be some backordered art supplies. But the box was bigger than I was expecting. And it was heavy.

When I saw the label I couldn’t wait to get the box opened. It was my Minky Couture blanket!

Growing Roses in my Zone 4b -- Now Zone 5a --, No-Spray, Wisconsin Garden

This is my seventh summer in my current garden. It’s a bit hard for me to believe it’s been that long already. I’ll have to do a general post about creating this garden, but today I want to talk about roses.

Sips of Inspiration: an Interview with Ishrat Khawja

I’m delighted to be sharing another Sips of Inspiration interview with you today. This month’s conversation is with Ishrat Khawja. Ishrat hand-dyes beautiful yarns in her home in the UK.

Sips of Inspiration, joy, inspirationAnne ButeraJune 19, 2020inspiring women, inspiring people, yarn, yarn dyeing, interviews, Sips of Inspiration, joy, handmade joy exchange, inspiration, creating connections, creative community, blogging Comments

Paint. Garden. Repeat.

These are my favorite days, dividing my time between my studio and my garden.

I’ve been unplugging as much as possible. And it feels good to be so focused. I’ve fallen in love, again, with my art. There’s so much to paint! Some flowers come and go in the blink of an eye.

10 Ways to Lighten the Darkness

Hello, my friend. How are you? Are you hanging in there.

I had a rough week. I’m fine. I’m safe. I’m healthy. My family is healthy. My business is doing fine. Matthias’ business is doing fine.

And yet…

Flower Stories

One of the things I love most about making and sharing art is forging connections around the beauty and joys of flowers. Over and over again my customers have shared their personal stories of certain plants or flowers.

Now

Right now I don’t have the energy or the brain space to write the post I wanted to for today. So I’ll just check in with you. See how you’re doing. Tell you I’m doing fine. Send some words of encouragement your way.

Books Bring Inspiration and Joy (and Support Artists)

How are you holding up? What a week it’s been over here. You, too?

My feelings are up and down. My energy is up and down. I’m giving myself leeway and taking things one day (sometimes one moment) at a time. It’s all we can do, I think.

Escaping into the world of a book always seems to help.

Sending Love

How are you doing? I hope you’re staying well. Hanging in there. Navigating your way through these days. Noticing joy.

Last week I invited you to share your story and I’m inviting you again this week. Share your thoughts, feelings, anything you want to chat about.

Finding Joy in Difficult Times

Hello, my friend. How are you doing? Are you hanging in there? Are you riding the rollercoaster of ups and downs that it seems so many of us are feeling?

This is a difficult time and it’s ok if you’re struggling. Let’s all resolve to go a bit easy on ourselves. To allow our feelings. To do what we need to do in this moment.

Around Here Lately: Living a Holistically Creative Life

Back in January I wrote a list of intentions for the year. First in my journal. Then in my sketchbook. And again on a separate piece of paper that I hung in my studio. The very first intention on the list: “Live a holistically creative life”.

creativity, fabric, blogging, joy, life, seasons, houseplantsAnne ButeraFebruary 14, 2020blogging, blogging is not dead, creating community, creative projects, carving out time for creativity, creativity, affirming your creativity, valentine's day, intentions, holistic creativity, sewing, sewing projects, handmade clothing, inspiration, Butterick 6024, crochet, crochet garments, crochet shawl, Kathryn Dawn, 3 Button Textured Cardigan, South Bay Shawlette, Ravelry, Pinterest, crochet projects, seeds, seed starting, garden planning, ordering seeds, winter, skillshare, Skillshare classes, sketchbook class on Skillshare, winter sketchbook, Explore Winter in Your Botanical Sketchbook, bald eagles, nature, beauty, beauty in nature, Spoonflower, spoonflower, Spoonflower contest, spoonflower fabric, Spoonflower Design Challenge, spoonflower fabric designer, spoonflower wallpaper, watercolor, watercolor painting, poinsettia, watercolor poinsettia, botanical art, botanical watercolor, houseplants, houseplant portraits, what's happening in my studio, joy, do, word of the year, creative energy Comments

2019 Year in Review (& Thoughts About a Decade)

Another year has drawn to a close. Another decade, too. On January 1, 2009 I wrote in my journal: “2010. Wow. Seems so futuristic.” And here we are in 2020, even more futuristic-sounding.

But I don’t want to jump into 2020 without spending some time considering 2019 first.

life, creativity, studio, sewing, paintings, gratitude, joy, artAnne ButeraJanuary 3, 2020word of the year, year in review, 2019, 2020 Calendars, 2020 desk calendars, art, painting, goals, intentions, 2020, welcoming the new year, growth, Grow, GROW, greyhounds, retired racing greyhounds, challenges, life, life challenges, watercolor paintings, a year of paintings, a year of watercolor paintings, joy, handmade joy exchange, failure, being unafraid to fail, learning from our failures, art dreams, art by Anne Butera, artist, art exhibit, Viroqua Wisconsin, Viva Gallery in Viroqua Wisconsin, Rooted Spoon, Rooted Spoon Kitchen Table, Rooted Spoon Culinary Viroqua Wisconsin, Viroqua Healing Arts Center, McIntosh Memorial Library, embroidery, sewing, spoonflower garment sewing, fabric design, Spoonflower, studio, art studio, sketchbooks, sketchbook practice, Sketchbooks, Dana Barbieri, collaboration, collaborative sketchbook, artist collaboration, yoga, yoga mats, Youtube, skillshare, Skillshare, sketchbook class on Skillshare, Skillshare classes, Skillshare teacher, teaching on Skillshare, Anne Butera's Skillshare classes, gouache, creative journey, creative journeys, garden, gardening, garden joy, looking back, looking forward, dreams, don't give up on your dreams, dreaming big, creative dreams, big dreams, moving from dreaming to doing, living your dream, making our creative dreams real, making your creative dreams real, going for your creative dreams, grow, intention, inner critic, Sonya Philip, Yoga With Adriene Comments

This and That

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a hodgepodge sort of post. Most of the time I only share inspiring links in my monthly Joy Letters*, but there’s no reason not to share some here once in a while, too (like Dana does with her Lovely Things posts).

Celebrating Autumn

It feels strange to think it’s November. These days tumble past faster and faster. Weeks pass. Months pass. Seasons pass.

And now it’s November.

Two months left of the year.

Getting Out of the Box

The other day my cousin Sarah* shared a post on Instagram which was a part of a longer piece she shared on her blog. In it she wrote “stepping out of the box I decided I was going to do something to treat me.” Although her words were about the importance of doing something for yourself, what kept running through my head was idea of stepping out of the box.

gratitude, joy, magic, creativity, lifeAnne ButeraOctober 11, 2019mindfulness, mindfulness practice, beauty, beauty is not insignificant, being open to change, being flexible, being present, cats, rescue cats, black and white cats, greyhounds, retired racing greyhounds, animals help us be present, Magical Mindfulness, Jools Sinclair, Sarah Venema, studio, art practice, art studio, gratitude practice, gratitude, transformative power of gratitude, joy, Joy Lists, art by Anne Butera, anne butera, nasturtiums, dahlias, spiderwebs, gardening, gardens, cooking, fall, autumn, autumn in the garden, making soup, making bread, making art, sketchbooks, nature, healing power of nature, magic in nature, observing nature, beauty in nature, stepping out of the bos, stepping out of the box, getting out of the box, boxes we create for ourselves, schedules, routines, liitations, breaking free from limitations, self care, self-imposed limitations, creativity is self care, treating yourself Comments

notes from the studio

Shared the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month.