Ode to high summer. foraged and found botanicals that remind me of my work last year for some clients. I smile as I think of collecting in a creekside while trying to battle covid symptoms. wild foraging will never be quite the same after that. I couldn’t make it to the wedding to photograph, but my flowers did.

xo, Madlyn

The year is now two thousand & twenty-three. it has been awhile since I have written here. I like how secret a journal is. no eyes like an instagram. but it is also lonely, like a whisper to the wind or invisible friend.

I sit with myself today thinking of all the things that have happened since I last wrote. I was just finding my self again after a lot of change. and now, I think ‘gosh, how time flys’. and here we are stronger, growing, making art and doing some really joyful things with someone I love and who loves me back! life feels exciting and full of new ideas. a new era of becoming. trying on different hats, finding my power, knowing my weaknesses more clearly.

Finding new inspiration while also turning back to where I came from and reflecting on it. with a more critical eye, almost embarrassed but also with a smile. ‘somethings never change’….because they are pure, before the self thinks twice or knows how too. these things in my realm I have been looking upon with more wonder now. wondering if I will still be drawn to them next year. wondering what is inside that is pure and how to get there again just for myself. to take time to wonder and make magic*

O l d s e l f

Everything up until now was practice. A pure expression. Now I ponder how to balance that expression with good art. How we outgrow our old vision like a pair of shoes. But now what do we wear and where do we wear it?

It is fearful to look with open eyes, but it is also the only way we will be able to see our true path.

e n o u g h

It seems poignant to write on March 1st. Something always happens in March that makes me remember it. So I write this to my future self:

You made it through,

you made it true.

You made art come to you.

You lost some and gained yourself,

so this March, take note, that you don’t go back on the shelf.

Who knows what next year will bring,

how far you’ll walk, share and sing.

Try to not look too far ahead -for the beauty is N O W. Enough said.

West. It seems to be the direction I am always situated toward in my place of dwelling. Ever since I was small I can think of all the windows I have watched the sun set though. I cannot imagine facing another cardinal point and I wonder if I will. And what draws me to west. The sun setting can have a darker meaning to some, but what lies beyond the setting of the sun, the exponential light that travels to the next side of the planet.

t r a n s c e n d

…is a word on my mind for 2021. To surpass and excel in knowing all parts of myself in a deeper way. In my work, art, love. But also to be gentle and know I am still healing from wounds in 2020. There can be no rainbows without the rain. So let’s have a dance in the rain.

t r a n s p i r e

Writing in a virtual journal feels foreign now. I used to do it all the time, and it was a good place for me. But not since May 2018 have I explored a place that is just for me. A whole lifetime has transpired since then it seems. Is that how getting older is?

I sigh in relief, away from any kind of social media journaling. But also thankful I documented there and still will.

A new place to make art is dazzling and fresh - I feel that will fade. But in this moment I am glad to have a place to write thoughts and share visuals that feels secret.

“what lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you”

-R. W. Emerson

t r a n s f o r m

To transform: “ to make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of.”

It has long been overdue. But i have been in my chrysalis waiting for wings. The past is a funny thing in photos and words. Always there to come back to. So here i fly from this space to now.