Happy 49th Birthday to Me!

So this is how 49 feels.

December 3 was my birthday. I absolutely love birthdays, but in a low-key way. I don't do much actual celebrating but I'll tell people every day for a week that my birthday is coming up. I don't have a gift wish list or any particular plans. If I want something for myself, I'll just go get it. This year I did treat myself to a tiara - something I've wanted for years but finally purchased, and I wore it all day with a dressy black top and full length red taffeta skirt while running errands. Funny how walking around in a tiara is so common nowadays that no one ever says anything. They either assume it's your birthday or they think you're off your nut and being silent is the best way to handle being in the same aisle as you at Food Lion.

In the studio with the crown. Lipstick removed immediately after taking the selfie.

All in all, a perfect birthday. My two younger kids made really cool gifts for me; my husband and I had a lovely date night; my oldest forgot it was my birthday until I pointed out that's why I was wearing the tiara. To her credit, she simply thought that's what I felt like wearing all day, and I appreciate her thinking my introverted ass is eccentric enough to make that kind of daily wardrobe choice.

With my special day falling close to the end of the year, it's a good time to take stock of 2025. I have a bad habit of not giving myself time to sit with my accomplishments because I'm always working on multiple things at the same time and always looking ahead.

Professional Highlights of 2025:

• I kicked off the year with my first ever out-of-state solo exhibition in Glen Echo Park, MD

• The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk added Anitos Quilt to its permanent collection in March

• I was a recipient of the new Virginia Beach Individual Artist Grant

• I had six pieces accepted into 5 out-of-state juried exhibitions (my first time applying out-of-state!)

• One of those pieces sold!

• I won 2nd place in the 31 Women exhibition at the Suffolk Art Gallery

• I won Juror's Choice in A Sense of Place at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, GA

• I won a Juror's Award in Interwoven Worlds at the Circle Gallery in Annapolis, MD

• Sentara purchased two of my botanical watercolors for their mobile mammogram units

• I secured three solo exhibitions for 2026:

  • The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, VA, Jan. 15 - Feb. 15

  • ArtSpace in Raleigh, NC, Feb. 6 - Mar. 28

  • MOCA Arlington, VA, Jun. 19 - Sep. 6

The owners of Kinhouse Gallery were completely surprised by how many of us out-of-state artists attended the opening reception!

A big goal this year was to focus on professional development. I joined an artists mentorship program and have been refining my paperwork, inventory, and records. I traveled to the Kinhouse Gallery in Fort Wayne, IN for the opening of Fiber Friends, which included my Sugar and Spice quilt. I also traveled up to Maryland and D.C. several times this year to deliver artwork and visit galleries and museums, which I haven't really gotten to do since college! (I never could have managed any of that without the support of my husband and kids, and without good friends making the multiple drives with me. I'm still not used to asking for help, but I'm learning and I'm grateful.

Thank the goddess for good friends (seen here enjoying a perfect afternoon outside the VMFA in Richmond, VA).

The bulk of the artwork for these upcoming solos will be done by the end of January, so I hope to spend most of 2026 in a fallow period. I need time to rest, read, play, and be bored - to regenerate and wrestle with key questions about my identity and purpose as an artist. I still don't feel like my artist statement is quite right, but it's getting there.

What does my artwork say to you? What resonates (or doesn't)?