Yay! I have great news. I finally found a new host for my photography digital downloads. As you know, I moved the physical products to Fine Art America but I really wanted a place to offer downloads since those are my most popular option. I know it’s much easier for international customers to get downloads and print locally. It’s also a great way to support my photography if you enjoy it and feel inclined.
In my last post I mentioned doing things differently for the new year and getting out of old habits. I didn’t expect what would come next, but here we are.
About a week ago I got an email out of the blue from Etsy saying my photo print shop was permanently suspended and provided a list of possible generic causes. None of them applied to me so I submit an appeal asking for more information because it didn’t make sense. Instead of a human responding to me and answering my questions, I received another generic response saying my appeal was denied and Etsy doesn’t discuss internal reasoning. It also said once your appeal is denied nothing more can be done and that’s that!
Wow.
I’ve been selling on Etsy for 7 years now and it really felt like a betrayal. It’s well known that Etsy doesn’t provide customer service for it’s sellers and you will never find a phone number. I posted in the seller forum to see if anyone had insight and they didn’t really but when I went back to check a few days later I noticed I wasn’t the only one they did this to. Some even had it worse with payment balances owed to them that Etsy was not releasing.
Needless to say, I’m not going to bother trying to weasel my way back in to Etsy’s grasp. Year after year their seller fees have risen along with their share of the sales. Let it be known, they make just as much money off the sellers as they do the customers. We are all customers to them. So I’ve been getting a little perturbed anyway but continued on because it’s a lot of work to start over.
Now that I’ve essentially been forced to start over, I’m glad I did. I found a new home on Fine Art America and I’m excited to share it with you! With this new website my images can be printed in a myriad of ways which really opens up the possibilities for those who enjoy my photography and for me as well.
I feel like this change is nothing but positive and I’m looking forward to the new year even more now. I do still have a calligraphy shop with Etsy and I’m currently pondering it’s future.
Have a sneak peek at my new print shop before everyone else. I’ll be adding photos regularly so do check back!
Onward and upward!
x, Courtney
I’m seeing how the sponsoring link works on Fine Art America below! Let me know if you see my photos in the search 🙂 flower field photos
It’s Small Business Saturday! I think it’s important, now more than ever, to “shop small”. With inflation and the majority of people struggling even to just buy food, purchasing gifts through small businesses goes directly to families and the community.
I wanted to do a wee roundup of my own offerings for Small Business Saturday as my sales are what I use to buy gifts for my own kids during Christmas!
Photo Prints
In my photography print shop, Courtney Print Studio, I have physical prints on sale for 25% off and digital downloads of prints for 40% off. The downloads are available worldwide for you to print yourself or through your favorite online or local printer.
Calligraphy
In my calligraphy shop, Seamerias, I have calligraphy download quotes on sale for 30% off to print yourself and the physical quotes are 25% off. I also have custom letters and place cards available which are great for the holiday season. These are not on sale because they’re popular and if I put them on sale I fear I would not have enough time to write them all before the ship-by dates.
Ornaments
For the past 7 years my friend Sarah and I have collaborated on these ornaments. If you’d like to read more about that, you can do so here. Right now they’re 20% off! It’s definitely the time to order them if you’ve been thinking about it because I’m not sure if she’ll be putting them on sale again before Christmas. The sale ends Monday! I keep saying this, but this really is the best gift for teachers and co-workers. It’s simple, yet beautiful, and you can customize them however you want.
Books
My poetry books make lovely gifts! I’m linking to Amazon but you can find Somewhere Dawn is Rising through your favorite Independent Bookseller as well. Right now the paperback is 15% off on Amazon. The hardcover is increased in price and I’m not sure why (I don’t control the prices) so if you want the hardcover I recommend through B&N or your indie seller. Forest of Light is available on Amazon.
Great for any nature or poetry lover. SDIR was described by someone as “peace in a book” and it brought me so much joy to hear that because it’s exactly what I was going for.
So that’s the roundup! I seem to be a jack of all trades. Lol. Honestly, what it is, is I like to make things that add beauty to the world. I love writing poetry and creating books for people to get lost in, ornaments they pull out every year with memories attached, and beautiful place cards for their tables to gather and share in special moments. I also love to take peaceful images of the world for your walls. It all comes together in a way and I’m happy to share it.
I’ve impatiently waited months for this sunflower field to bloom. There’s something about their large yellow heads reaching for the sky that feels so happy and optimistic. I think we all could use a bit more of that these days.
Sunflower facts:
I don’t know if you know this but sunflowers are actually a really cool plant and not just for their beauty. Here’s why:
They’re good for the environment. Sunflowers remove toxins like lead, arsenic, and uranium from contaminated soil. They’ve been planted in places like Chernobyl and Fukushima to soak up toxins from nuclear disasters and then get discarded as hazardous waste, leaving behind cleaner soil.
Bees love sunflowers so planting them helps save the bees as well.
Sunflowers are edible. The seeds are rich in vitamin A, B3, C, and D. The oil can be used in cooking and for body care products. Sunflower oil can reduce cholesterol levels and have fatty acids, great for your health. My personal favorite is sunbutter. Sunflower seed butter is the best nut butter imo. Worth a try if you haven’t!
They were beloved by Van Gogh. I always think of Van Gogh when I see sunflowers.
“I find comfort in contemplating the sunflowers.” -Van Gogh
“The sunflower is mine, in a way.” – Van Gogh
“It is actually one’s duty to paint the rich and magnificent aspects of nature. We are in need of gaiety and happiness, of hope, of love. The more ugly, old, vicious, ill, poor I get, the more I want to take my revenge by producing a brilliant color, well arranged, resplendent. I want to say something comforting, as music is comforting.” – Van Gogh
“And then I have nature, art, and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?” – Van Gogh
In the photos above I’m wearing my new gifted dress from Son de Flor. The quality of their linen is the best I’ve seen. If you enjoy linen clothing I recommend checking them out.
Whenever it’s overcast at the beach I feel it’s poetic melancholy. I just received this dress from Son de Flor and since the weather has been a bit gloomy I knew the beach and Virginia Woolf were the perfect match for it. “We are only lightly covered with buttoned cloth; and beneath these pavements are shells, bones, and silence.” -Virginia Woolf
A few of my favorite quotes from The Waves:
“There was a star riding through the clouds one night, and I said to the star, ‘Consume me.'”
“We are swept on by the torrent of things grown so familiar that they cast no shadow. We float, we float…”
“Happiness is in the quiet, ordinary things. A table, a chair, a book with paper- knife stuck between the pages. And the petal falling from the rose, and the light flickering as we sit silent.”
“I see nothing. We may sink and settle on the waves. The sea will drum in my ears. The white petals will be darkened with sea water. They will float for a moment and then sink. Rolling over the waves will shoulder me under. Everything falls in a tremendous shower, dissolving me.”
“I was always going to the bookcase for another sip of the divine specific.”
“The waves broke and spread their waters swiftly over the shore. One after another they massed themselves and fell; the spray tossed itself back with the energy of their fall. The waves were steeped deep-blue save for a pattern of diamond-pointed light on their backs which rippled as the backs of great horses ripple with muscles as they move. The waves fell; withdrew and fell again, like the thud of a great beast stamping.”
If you love sustainable fashion, I highly recommend Son de Flor. It’s the second dress of theirs that I’ve owned. One day I’m hoping to be able to get this jacket. The organic and ethical linen they use is so heavy and substantial. It feels like a comforting hug when you put it on.
Have you read The Waves? What is your favorite Virginia Woolf book? I’m currently reading A Room of One’s Own and it’s wonderful as well.
x, Courtney
Note- This post contains affiliate links. My black dress was gifted but I’ve previously purchased from them on my own. I’ve loved them for so long and would make this same post had it not been gifted! x
Also, another image heavy post. If you received this by email and don’t see photos, click through to the blog. 🙂
One week until the release date of Somewhere Dawn is Rising. I’m giving away a few copies on my Instagram- Notestothewild if you’re interested! Otherwise, it’s available for pre-order wherever you buy books and out on August 1st!
The sunset last night was a pastel dream. For most of the day it was overcast and even sprinkled a bit of rain so most people left the beach. In the last hour before sunset the clouds started to break apart and a soft glow fell over the coast. While I was taking photos, a little seal kept bobbing his head around in the water. I wasn’t able to capture it because the lens I was using doesn’t zoom but he was so cute.
I’m really looking forward to August (as usual). With my book release, my birthday, and it being my favorite month of the year is great in itself. But I’m really looking forward to watching the small shifts from summer to autumn. I always say my favorite season is summer, but more specifically it’s the tail end of summer. It’s the transitional period when it’s still warm but the breezes start to cool. When the tourists go home to return to school and we get a “local summer” with the beach to ourselves. It’s when the apples are ripened and ready for picking and I can bake apple crisp. School supply shopping, watching kids walk to school again with their favorite new outfits, and that feeling of the earth starting to settle and sigh toward it’s golden hour.
In my mind, August is the color of a field of golden wheat swaying in slow motion in the late afternoon sun. The sky is tinged pink, the shadows are long but shortening, and birds sing in whispers. Elaborate spider webs tend to sparkle on eves and leaves begin to fade. In the evenings the air smells like summer letting go. Earth releasing a scent of its ripened harvest mingling with autumn’s crisp breath.
x, Courtney
PS- Tonight’s movie is The Talented Mr. Ripley if you want to watch along. I always see it as a recommended watch for summer fashion aesthetics.
We recently had a rain storm here, some places received more rain than others. The local mountains received 3 1/2 inches according to the orchard’s rain meter! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go apple picking when it’s not pushing 100 degrees. This is the first year in my approx. 10 years of picking apples that it hasn’t been hot and it was wonderful.
It was 67 degrees, misty, and rain clouds still hugged the hills around us closely. My favorite orchard that has pears is closed this year because of a late frost, which is unfortunate. In this orchard here, the apples were quite small and any larger ones had worm holes. Now that I think of it, I should have tried to find one with a wormhole I could fit through, the way the world is. Ha ha ha… Anyway, it was such a beautiful autumnal day that felt so good after such a long heat wave. I’m hoping for more of this cool, misty days in the very near future.
Today I will be enjoying a slow Sunday- baking with the apples and reading the book I have going for a book club. I also need to finish a documentary I started last night but fell asleep. I will discuss it this coming Friday for Film Friday. If the apple recipe turns out as I suspect, you can look forward to a recipe post soon! Seasonal baking is one of my favorite things and I’ve been looking forward to this since July!
How do you enjoy spending your Sundays? Will you be baking anything?
Aren’t peonies just the loveliest full-bellied flower? So intricate; layers and layers of unique petals like watercolor paintings grown from earth. On top of the visual delight, they smell divine- the scent all roses strive to exude but never quite get there.
I also love that the season for peonies is so short. They’re not native to the southwest region so we only find them in stores during the month of June (give or take a week or two).
This fleeting seasonal beauty gives way to anticipation and longing- feelings not found too often in a world of immediate satisfaction. Finding ways to celebrate the seasons and living in the moments of each one invites a special magic to our everyday. It widens our eyes to the little things in front of us so we can really savor the present.
Flowers with so much beauty that last for so little time before fading into past memories are a good reminder that being here today is enough. That even with so much beauty packed into one little thing, it’s not enough to last forever, and it’s not meant to. Everything that comes must also go.
It reminds me of this quote by Mary Oliver –
To live in this world
you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it
against your own bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Happy Summer Solstice. Now that it’s officially summer, the energy in the air is almost tangible enough to reach out and capture it and in a way, I did.
Yesterday, I spent the morning with my family in a lavender field. We picked quite the bundle and I now have my portion hanging to dry near my desk. I’m looking forward to using the lavender all summer in various ways. The field smelled so good and I enjoyed seeing the bees meander along from bloom to bloom.
Have you used lavender in any recipes or around your home? I’m looking forward to making a lavender water (instructions found here – lavender water).
Summer has arrived with it’s abundance. Last night I ate dinner outside while gazing at my growing pumpkins backlit by the lazy golden sun nearing the horizon. The air was warm but the breeze still cool as our annual “June gloom” slowly wears off. Hummingbirds came speeding near to fill their bellies of nasturtium nectar before nightfall and I could hear distant neighbors singing happy birthday with cheer.
The music of summer is found all around us, buzzing about with the bees and hums found in trees. As the days begin to dwindle from here, I savor the aliveness in each one.
It’s shortly after 6am when the sun rises to glitter on the face of eastward windows. At this time of year they glitter into my home and garden at sun rise and set. It’s a magical time of day when I always pause to look around my modest potted garden. To see how things are growing, test the soil for water, discover the creatures moving about, and appreciate the beauty grown by my own hands.
The hummingbirds stop by, passing up the few feeders hung on nearby roof beams to taste the fresh nasturtium blossoms. Bees have taken a liking to them as well which brings me extra joy.
My lone surviving bachelor button, which just blossomed into a beautiful wine hue. The rest were planted in the containers which held onto water despite the drainage and eventually faded as late spring moved in.
Baby Jack o’ Lanterns. Last year, we grew one, named Ghost. Ghost grew to about the size of a softball and then a spell of Santa Ana winds blew in one day and he met his fate dropping off the vine. This year, we have 3 and I am better prepared for the winds. However, they’re in the containers that hold onto water so I’m trying to aerate them daily and hoping they don’t start to yellow. If they do I will need to find new pots before it’s too late.
This is the spring I found out I love the smell of fresh thyme. I don’t often cook with it because I believe it’s a good herb for meats, which I don’t eat, but I planted it anyway. And wow, it smells so soft and fresh. I will add it to a special slow-cooker meal for my family sometime this summer.
Rosemary decorated with beach rocks, as most of the plants are. This guy has me stumped a little. Rosemary is supposed to be one of those plants that “take over” but he’s been this size for months now. Lol. I’ve named him Bonsai.
The sweet alyssum with a little sprinkle of dried orange peel. This garden corner is for the fairies and I let it do what it wants to do.
Spearmint rounds out the herb corner along with some sage I forgot to photograph. I love to rub a leaf between my fingers to release the oils and sniff the sweet scent.
There’s also quite a few geraniums in my garden but I’ll save those for another day.
What I’ve learned from my garden:
You can plan all you want but it will still do it’s own thing no matter what. I planted so many seeds in early spring but the pots were not compatible with them. Which brings me to..
Fabric and clay pots are the best, at least in my garden. Plastic pots are my nemesis. Even with drainage they act like reservoirs and I really can’t figure out why. It seems like the hot afternoon sun would dry them out but no..
Peppermint oil is a great friend. I’ve used it many days to fend off gnats and aphids. I spritz it onto some plants that are willing to accept the help or I put some drops near the pots.
It’s always changing. Flowers come and go, plants grow and die, it’s all just one big experiment.
Yellow leaves can mean lack of water and not just overwatering -in the case of my nasturtiums. I’ve read and heard over and over that nasturtiums like poor soil with “not too much water”, but mine are thirsty! I don’t know if it’s the fabric pot letting air pass through or what, but I have to water them almost every day! They have me baffled in a good way.
Even when things fail, the time is never wasted. I’ve learned from everything, including the importance of spacing when it comes to seeds. Just because the seeds are microscopic doesn’t mean they don’t need decent space. Lol. (cough -chamomile – cough)
This pot had lemon basil growing in it all spring but it just wasn’t doing well so I replaced it with more nasturtium seeds a few weeks ago and they’re growing quite well. I’m happy to have more plants that invite the hummingbirds and bees to my space.
Since the garden is ever-changing, I shall update again sometime this summer.
But for now, happy summer solstice eve. May the season bring you abundance of love, joy, and rest.
