I’ve been on a little break from work, which is a very rare occurrence. But every time I take a break, I remember something that I so easily forget: Breaks are the best.

The longer I have my head down working, the more I feel like I can’t stop. I feel like there’s never enough time or money. It makes it hard to take time off, but after a few days of vacation, I start to believe in abundance again.

It’s been about 13 days since I last worked, but I never can keep myself from scheming. That’s the fun part for me. Whenever I give myself space, the fogginess in my head starts to clear up, and I can see more clearly the direction I want to go. I can’t help but write and write and write about what I want.

So I’m writing this as a reminder to take breaks more often, and at all costs in 2021, get out of town as soon as possible. Traveling to fun new places is one of the best things I can do for my brain.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about the most is what my intentions for 2021 are. I don’t really have resolutions as much as a lot of goals I’d like to reach, which mainly means a bunch of habits I’d like to form. I think the spaciousness of a year with a pandemic helped me form a lot of good habits, but it was still way too easy to fall off of the bandwagon. And once I fall off the bandwagon, it takes me some time to get back up and keep moving forward. I’m still proud of the progress I made.

Anyway, here are the intentions I came up with. It’s worth mentioning that I spent the end of 2020 re-reading Big Magic, so I attribute many of these to Elizabeth Gilbert.

1. Experience, create, and share beauty, delight, and humor as much as humanly possible.

2. Choose to be compassionate, as much as humanly possible, especially when I’m feeling forlorn (which is far more often than I’d like).

3. Create order as a service to others.

4. Commit to curiosity.

5. Find the path of least resistance for the things that I want.

I’m currently in the process of making a pretty big decision. I’m trying to decide whether or not to buy the home I’ve been living in for the past year and a half.

A lot of things have to line up logistically in order to make it happen, but I’m slowly moving forward.

I mentioned wanting to buy my house to my landlord last year and she mentioned she had been thinking about selling. For most of my life, that kind of lining up would be enough for me to develop a focus so narrow, I wouldn’t consider any other option. But I guess getting older has changed me. Getting older and the sound advice of good friends and family.

There are drawbacks to living in the country. A few I’ll be able to to remedy pretty quickly. And then, my hope is that within a year, I can remedy the rest. The plan isn’t just to put down roots, but to put down roots and to give myself the freedom to travel around more often and more easily.

2020 has been such a significant year. I had thought that it was the first year that I had made it being self-employed, but I forgot. I almost made it in 2019, too. I quit my last job in early January of 2019 in order to prepare to hike the AT.

Hiking the AT made me realize how much harder I need to work on certain aspects of my life, namely, making my businesses successful and being smarter with money. I want to be smarter with money because there are too many things I want to do with money. I loathe that this is the way life works, but I accept it.

This was the most successful year I’ve ever had in terms of selling artwork. I’m so grateful. Success these days means breaking even. I had enough money to pay bills, buy groceries and gas, and I was able to go to therapy twice a month. That’s it.

It wasn’t always fun, but I remind myself often of how ridiculous it is to make it as a single female artist in this world. I haven’t even scratched the surface, and I am by no means in the clear. There’s a very long uphill road in front of me. That’s hard to swallow after the year I had.

It reminds me of being on the AT, mentally and physically shot, realizing I had only covered 670 of 2,192 miles. There are no guarantees that the next day will be easier. It may actually be harder. I ended up quitting when I pieced all of this together. It wasn’t worth it, and I wasn’t happy.

I want to blow an inordinate amount of money shopping online every 20 minutes. And I want to travel, all of the time. I want to eat out, and at the best restaurants. I want to buy friends drinks. I can’t stop wanting these things, but I have to constantly put my life into perspective, based on what is really real. I have to also remind myself of “my calling,” which to be honest, I am not so sure I have any clue what that is.

I thought that my life’s calling was to be an artist, but after I see what it really takes, just as I saw what the AT really was, I am not so sure anymore. Well, I know I will always be an artist, but I am not so sure I can continue being an artist that asks my artwork to sustain me financially. I wonder how many more days of that are in me.

I guess, even though the answer isn’t clear, I’m glad to be on the path toward that answer. I think I’ve merely been rolling down a hill for the past decade. This year, I found some sort of professionalism for the first time. Even as I type those words, I think of how much further I have to go to get to where I want to be…

This year I completed artwork that I really don’t believe I would have otherwise been able to finish. It didn’t always feel profound in the moment, but my brain does recognize: this is an amazing accomplishment as well.

I’m on a break, but I’m thinking about where to guide and focus my momentum over the next year. I want things to build and grow. I have this habit of going off on some adventure whenever I accumulate any amount of wealth. That habit’s been broken. 2021’s theme is “How can I NOT rock the boat.”

The irony, or hope, is that, if I can keep moving in an upward trajectory, I highly intend to rock the boat as soon as possible, and as wildly as I can. I am learning a virtue I have NEVER given a lot of attention to: Patience.

Oh, Patience. You and I are going to be spending a lot of time getting to know one another in the months to come.

From now until at least the end of September, I’ll be donating 10% of sales from this new limited edition print Middle Prong to Friends of the Smokies which advocates for the conservation and maintenance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Even though I hail from Memphis, I’ve been hiking my whole life in the Smokies, literally. I may not have used my little feet to carry me, but someone carried my baby body, and that still counts, right?

I’ve hiked the AT section in one go twice and hike in the park on almost a monthly basis, with exception to the most extreme temperatures in the winter and summer because, I’m not that rugged.

Here’s the link to the listing to learn more and please let me know if you have any questions!

I’ve had this idea to make these words with little birds for a while now.

And then, of course, I was scrolling Instagram and saw that Lisa Congdon just posted a sign that says the same thing. And then on top of that, it hit me how much she uses birds. (insert eye-roll emoji)

This type of thing happens so much, especially with Instagram being what it is, so I decided to make mine anyway! It’s not as if anyone can claim ownership to this saying today, but it sure is a sweet, concise, and very wise mantra.

This sign is actually a preliminary sketch for a larger installation idea, but I have so many ideas at the moment that I thought I’d at least start making small versions of them for now. If they stay in my head after that, I’ll pursue making the larger version later. Sounds like a solid game plan.

I love typography and graphic design, always so jealous of people that have that gift. Here’s my analog version of it, with little funny ghost/fishy-looking birds in flight.

I believe the more you know who you are, the freer you are to love others. Free as a ghost/fish-bird.

At the end of April 2020, my artist friend Ashley Addair and I released a series of works together. Here is what each of us said about this collection:

ABOUT ASHLEY’S WORK FOR THIS COLLABORATION

These paintings are meditations on touch and relationship, chaos and order, painted during the time of quarantine.  Images of Beth’s paintings, sent as a text, served as little pings of connection and starting points for movement.  My hope is that these coupled artifacts, finding place in our domestic landscapes, function as nudges to go about making the world we want, one little ping of connection at a time. 

ABOUT BETH’S WORK FOR THIS COLLABORATION

My work was created starting about a week into isolating myself a little over a month ago. At this point, Ashley and my intended plans for the collaboration weren’t possible, and I was still finding my bearings with the new reality of things, so I started making paintings inspired by familiar pieces I’ve created in the past (the interior and pool) as well as fashion designers I’ve long admired. Whether deemed necessary in times of trouble or not, good design always has a way of comforting me. This alongside consistent and encouraging conversations with Ashley about our work and life was the inspiration behind this series.

We sold some of these works together in pairs, some individually, and we auctioned off two pairings on Instagram. For inquiries about Ashley’s work, you may contact her at ashleydawnaddair@gmail.com, and please let me know if you have any questions about my work at beth@bethmeadows.com.

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Urban Jungle (Delpozo)

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Rational but deeply incorrect

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Power Suit (Gucci)

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Let's Find the Underneath

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Frills and Thrills (Rodarte)

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Letting go/not giving up

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Studded (Delpozo)

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Rational but deeply incorrect

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Play Clothes (Delpozo)

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Hopefully, a fruitful catastrophe

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Swan Float Summer

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Negotiating uncertainty

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Spring Dream (Richard Quinn)

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Organizing Flame

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Eclectic Charm

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Let's Not Go Back to Normal

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Sun So Bright

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This is hard for me to say

Each month, I add at least one new print to my shop. April’s print is “Pool (B & W)” a mixed media painting (acrylic, collaged paper, and colored pencil) on wood I made in 2017. All of my prints are archival limited editions with a white border so you can easily mat and frame them. Each is signed and numbered.

Pool (B&W) is from a series inspired by my aspirations to be immersed in beauty all of the time. I create worlds rich in patterns and colors inspired by modern fashion and architectural design that evoke nostalgia mixed with a longing for things that may never be. This work is about the path to find contentment where I am, and to know deeply that beauty and richness is a state of mind rather than something to purchase. I use swimming pools often as a symbol of the luxurious feeling I know I can attain in this life. Put me by any pool, and I feel instant glamour!

To go to the listing, click here.

This week, Nick and I are holding a sale at pluckypanther.com on all of our inventory. You can get 20% off everything in our shop today, and prices will drop on select Pluckies through the week until Friday. Note: Prices listed on the our website reflect the new discounted price.

In 2018, my grandmother asked me to make her a painting of the Great Smoky Mountains. Of course, since she’s my grandmother, I wanted to make her one as a gift, but she insisted on commissioning me, which was really sweet of her to do.

Smokies Sunset (for Lavinia) 2019 acrylic on panel 16x20”

We talked about what view she’d like, and she asked for “A view.” I’m sure she asked me for a painting of the Smokies because I live near them, but also because it’s where she and my grandfather went on their honeymoon. They also went there on family trips when my mom was young.

This is the second Smokies painting I’ve made, the first of the stream along Middle Prong Trail, based on a photo my dad took. I now plan to make one of these Smokies paintings a year, to honor this heavenly place that I visit so frequently.

The ground came pretty easily, but I painted the sky, what felt like, 100 times. My grandmother is a tough critic. She’s made it known, she does NOT like my artwork inspired by fashion. She’s also dismissed the folksy wooden cut-outs I make, that ironically, are very inspired by her and my grandfather and their old farmhouse, their deep Southerness. To each their own. I, too, have very strong opinions.

I believe in the end she liked it. I was so grateful to give this to her at this time in her life. She paid me against my will and said there’d be another installment. Thankfully she forgot about that unnecessary offer. It feels tacky to take any money from your Grandmother, but at the same time, it feels like her way of dignifying me for the work I do, and I respectfully accept that sentiment.

In moments like these, I am reminded of where my stubborness comes from.

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I’ve made this painting available in prints and in postcard form. Go to bethmeadows.com/prints and use the coupon code JAN20 until midnight on Jan 31 to get 25% off.