Blog
Day 4. Some blossoming, some wilting
"Here for all of it" 6x6, oil on canvas I painted those flowers on day 3 because the first two attempts at other subjects were a disaster, and I somehow find flowers to be reliable (you can check out my reel below if you are interested in the part of instagram that...
Day 3. Doesn’t everything die and too soon?
"This Fleeting Moment" 6x6, oil on canvas When I was in highschool, I used to tell people not to get me flowers ever. They don’t do anything I bemoaned. They die so quickly, I argued. But I hadn’t started making art yet back then, and I didn’t yet appreciate things...
Day 2. Your flight has been delayed
"Take Flight" 6x6, oil on canvas This is the painting I thought I would create on day 1: the Great Blue Heron not just sitting there idly but taking off in flight perhaps on its own 31 day excursion. But on day 1, my time was extra limited, the tools I normally use...
Day 1: Attention is The Beginning of Devotion
"Devotion" 5x5, oil on canvas A few days ago, I was on an early morning run down a usual route, and about a mile or two in I saw emerge from the large ditch that lines the train track, a Great Blue Heron. The great part is already in the name so let me make sure I’m...
Maybe She is You
"In This Sacred Space" 30x40, oil on canvas A couple weeks ago a husband and wife came into the gallery and looked around. The wife was interested in the painting that starts this post, but the husband said paintings of women had to be of someone specific that he knew...
Tis the Season: How the Light Gets In.
My inbox is probably a lot like yours. Sales. Last chances. Hurry. Limited time only. Last day to get it before Christmas. As someone who sells a physical product to real people, who ships, and markets, and undeniably hustles I have this to say: I absolutely get it....
A mother and an artist?
I keep hearing this same thing. The very best part about having an art gallery is all the people I’ve been privileged to meet. This tiny space in this tiny town has hosted some great conversations, and there’s one that keeps happening. On several occasions, women I’ve...
A Blessing for Rest
I’ve been into blessings lately. Not the #blessed variety of social media where pictures of wealth, health, or beauty read like advertisements for some magical and exclusive elixir that feels just out of reach. I mean the kind we confer on one another as if to say:...
Why I came around to art prints
I was an original-only holdout for quite some time. I equated art print with what you can buy at Hobby Lobby or Home Goods. And then my artist friend, Gretchen, sold the original of a watercolor I loved and wanted before I could grab it from her site, so I bought and...
The 31 in 31 is coming! (sort of!)
How it all started... It’s 2013 and I’m having dinner with my best friend at our current favorite restaurant in New Orleans. I had recently told my therapist that I want to be an artist. Like, for a job. To my surprise she didn’t laugh or, as the next door neighbor...
Artist, Enneagram, Bird.
On a long drive last month, my sister introduced me to the enneagram, which my brother had introduced to her. Ask my husband, and he will tell you that the Hopkins siblings are an intense bunch. We do not do or take things lightly. This is no exception. If you are not...
Places.
I named this painting “The Places We Will Go” because I was thinking of my youngest and our early bike rides together. The countless ones with him in the seat or trailer attached to my bike, then his own shaky, training wheels ones, the even shakier sans training...
How long does it take to make a painting?
That’s the number one question I get from people. How long does it take, they yearn to know, as though the painting’s worth is in its hours of toil. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve got a follow up question– What does it matter? There’s this story about Picasso...
Why (and how) I’m breaking up with instagram
I started selling art nearly a decade ago, and back then the classic buzzwords were facebook and blog. Instagram was like a pretty foreign exchange student at a middle school, and we all wanted to sit at her lunch table even if we weren’t exactly sure how to...
Having an art gallery is not what I thought it would be.
The year anniversary of the gallery is a couple months away, and I am sitting here at the desk, looking around. I’ve rearranged the furniture at least six times. The bookshelf is now, after a small world-tour, back in the spot I’d originally planned for it. Most of...
Leap (step) of Faith.
"Leap of Faith" 30x40, oil on canvas I named “Leap of Faith” before I painted it, and I realize now that the figure is less leaping and more just walking. Strolling even. But one foot in front of the other down some uncertain path, how often does that feel like nose...
Painting in a series and what it taught me
I have always painted in series. When one subject or idea strikes the proverbial gold, I keep digging. But not in some organized, focused way. I flit from this to that. Some series have lasted years, others hours, and I tend not to focus on just one series at a time. ...
10 things I wish someone had told me in art school
My first formal art class was my freshman year of college, and I had no intention of getting a degree in it until, one day, I did. What I never dreamed was that I would use that degree for anything other than personal satisfaction, a side hustle, or just a hobby. I...
Start small
We were sitting on the second story porch of a cabin built into the side of a hill looking down at a one-day-past-ten year old casting his fly rod into a catch and release pond. The mountain air was a relief to our tired Mississippi lungs used to breathing in only...
Two words I use every day (in my studio and in my life).
I’m not sure where I learned them, but as soon as I did, I realized how powerful they were. They work best to dispel my natural tendency to let a simple disappointment snowball into a full-scale self-directed character assassination. I can’t tell you how many of my...
Let it take the time it takes.
In May, my husband and I made two years of marriage. I was painting at two weddings in New Orleans so we decided to stay there an extra night to celebrate. It was Memorial Day weekend and the crowded streets and busy restaurants proved less than relaxing for my...
Break the rules before you (un)learn them.
If you were once one of my art students, you can preemptively put your finger underneath your jaw and apply a little pressure– just to keep it in place for what I’m about to say. Most days lately, I go into the studio without a plan or a sketch. Without so much as a...
The one thing you really need at your wedding reception.
I’ve painted at more weddings than I can count, but I tried, and it is over 300. I have seen fine china; I’ve seen paper plates. I’ve seen cowboy boots, four inch heels, sneakers, and no shoes at all. I’ve seen super slow and maybe a little awkward first dances, and...
A whole decade of loving you.
It wasn’t easy, the way you came into the world. I started labor on a Saturday afternoon. You were born at 8:03pm that Monday. Your dark, straight black hair covered your entire head and even came over your ears a little. They put you on my chest and I wept. The truth...
A Softer Place to Land
I was looking through an old journal recently, skimming it for inspiration. What kind of inspiration I was looking for, I’m not sure, but even though I’m not a very consistent journal keeper, I always know I can go back and find some insight you can only get by...
Fresh Air.
“Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.” ― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems I like painting at weddings. I like performing. I like mixing paint and spreading it on a surface with a knife, and I like what doing it so often has done to my ego–...
I got lost looking at the peacocks.
"Leaves a Trail Behind Her" 36x48, oil on canvas I wrote about how I got the title for this painting on instagram back in October. I told the story of how when I was a kid, okay not just a kid, a young adult too, my Dad used to say quite often, "Oh that Denise, she...
“It seemed at first that bird would surely fall”
I am currently on vacation in Florida with my family (minus one stepson away at college who is dearly missed). Instead of writing a new blog post for the week, I wanted to share something old. As I dug through my archives (which, turns out, actually takes longer than...
My favorite art book: let’s discuss!
Art and Fear was published in 1993. I was twelve years old, and very busy decorating my latest journal with collages of teen heart throbs I’d cut out from drugstore magazines. I wanted to be a talk show host when I grew up. I knew two artists– my mom’s brother and her...
Draw the line.
What’s something you like that a lot of other people don’t? I was asked this question in an interview recently. It took me a minute, but I landed on cutting the grass. There’s so much I like about it– the smell, the exercise, the heat, the music pouring into my ears...