Nov 01, 2023

This Is Your Happiness Studio

Hello Friends, I want to take a moment to reflect on

This Is Happiness Studio and share with you what our name truly means to us.

This is Happiness Studio was created In 2020, during the height of the pandemic. Like most we found ourselves together in our home with lots of time on our hands. We had just moved into a new home, and were in the process of turning the living room in our home into my new art studio. I was so excited for this new space and was filled with inspiration. I had been leaning into this inspiration and was allowing myself a little more space for creative play in my art practice. As I would play in the new studio my children would pull up a chair next to me and pick up their own paintbrush.

This space soon became a hub of creativity, a place where my family and I came together to explore, linger, and playfully create.

A song that cycled through the studio, during time spent with my children playing creatively was “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.

As Pharrell belted out the lyrics my boys would shout:

“What is happiness?!” … and respond to their own question …

“THIS is happiness!”

And This Is Happiness Studio was born.

Choosing the name "This Is Happiness Studio" for our home art studio was a decision that resonated deeply with our family. That precious time spent creatively connecting with ourselves and each other truly brought us all so much happiness.

Although we have found happiness in our studio and our creative practice, it is not always filled with sunshine and rainbows. Instead it is a practice of coming to and working through. This Is Happiness Studio has become a space filled with playfulness and imperfection with truth and honestly. Like everyone else, we have our tough days filled with anxiety, shame, grief, and sadness. We've experienced moments that have left us breathless, overwhelmed, and heartbroken.

But it is through our playful creative practice that we are able to meet those imperfections with a little more grace and work through them together.

As I started creating these paint palettes for each of you I was reminded of the essence of our practice. The palettes symbolize a ritual—a journey of coming to and working through life's imperfections, lingering in the creative process, and reflecting on our experiences.

I'm so excited to share these paint palettes with you,

and I hope they help you create your own "This Is Happiness Studio".

As I paint "This Is Happiness Studio" on the back of each palette and dot them with the playful, imperfect polkadots, I envision them as a part of your creative practice, serving as a reminder that life's beauty lies not just in its highs but also in working through the lows. My hope and prayer for you is to create your own ritual of a daily practice of exploring, lingering, and playfully creating. A practice that brings you happiness and a deeper connection to yourself and others.