Neighbors invited me over for breakfast. I said I’d be right over once I put on a thick sweater and socks. I asked what to bring. The joking request was English scones. I grabbed a box of Smith’s Bergamot Tea. A nice surprise that would suffice.

Into the Glade. #ForestFriday #EastCoastKin

When the land is involved, the planning changes. You meditate, listening longer.

Some places invite slowness through land. Some through architecture.

Reinvention isn’t something you do alone. Over the last few years, community has quietly carried me through uncertainty, failure, and becoming. I wrote about that last night. Who has been part of your community when things were changing? #creativity #community #reinvention

Practice, not performance. #CreativePlay #EastCoastKin #PaintingPractice

Showing up counts. #EastCoastKin #PaintingPractice #CreativePlay

Staying in practice. #ForestFriday #EastCoastKin

Honest endings tend to stay with us longer than polished ones.

Paint as response. #EastCoastKin

Creative play, kept simple. #EastCoastKin

Painted for a card.

I ended the year by paying attention, not making plans.

The first Christmas after losing a second parent teaches you where togetherness actually lives.

#MinimalistMonday #winter #sketch

My sister’s dog, Chunk. Never painted a pet before. A friend called him abstract. What do you see? 11 x 15. Archival paper. #dogs #EastCoastKin #watercolorpaintings

Victoria, B.C. Harbour Waterfront. Oil with Cold wax medium, pastel knives, archival paper, 12 x 12 inches. Day 24 #ArtAdventCalendar #EastCoastKin #BlueSkyArt #WaterScenery

I notice who shows up here — quietly, consistently. Thank you for being here as I grow my community, and Happy Holidays. #Grateful

“Into the Heart of Darkness” Caddo Lake, TX #ThickTrunkTuesday #Trees

This piece was in our main library in 2015 for a couple of months & a woman told me she would stop by on her lunch break & just sit & look at it almost daily because it gave her some peace. Few better compliments. Shore 55×40 140×101cm Oil on Canvas 2015 #ArtAdventCalendar

Day 23 of #ArtAdventCalendar The Lady in Red. Acrylic. A scene in Rome. 8 x 10, Archival Paper. 2021. #EastCoastKin #BlueSkyArtist #BlueSkyArtShow

#BlueskyArtist preparing a #watercolorpainting to ship. #ShippingArt #ArtProcess

Design 2 from Castello Sforzesco, 2021. 180 x 240 mm. Archival paper from Rome. This design was repeated throughout Italy whether Pompeii, Milan or Rome. See ALT for details. #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #Milan #BlueSkyArtShow

Monterosso al Mare. Cinque Terre. I toured some coastal places in Italy. This was a watercolor I’d painted onsite. I painted so much I only swam once and it was heaven to float on that water. Day 21: #ArtAdventCalendar #EastCoastKin #CinqueTerre #TouringItaly #BlueSkyArtShow

Day 20: #ArtAdventCalendar What’s resting with you today on the Saturday before Christmas (if you celebrate)? A needed day for play? #EastCoastKin #Positano #PaintingPlay

Fairy Dust. Painted during a hard season. A wish, held gently. #ForestFriday #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #trees #naturepaintings

Color, landscape, & small moments are usually where my next idea begin. In this painting session I added greens that appear when the light settles. #ArtProcess #WIP #Painting

This piece began in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand, but it often reminds people of somewhere else. Where does it take you? #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #InspiredbyNature #naturepaintings #BlueSkyArtist

Day 17 of my #ArtAdventCalendar This painting holds a Roman ruin at its base, a hillside that wandered in from Positano, and a small house tucked into green foliage. Call this an abstract watercolor; let the places linger in your heart. #Watercolor #ArtProcess #EastCoastKin #ArtistsOnBluesky

Curiosity sparks the first step. Today it nudged me straight into paint, play, and discovery — the heartbeat of Creative Play for Adults. It’s wild how one small pull of curiosity can open a doorway back to yourself. #CreativePlay #Curiosity

I once stayed at an AirBnB that changed how I moved through my mornings and evenings. New surroundings do that, how the places we choose often end up choosing us back, and how that shapes the way I host. Some stays aren’t about getting away.They’re about arriving. #CreativeLife #SlowTravel

For #ArtAdventCalendar Day 13 Forward Under Shared Skies 60×98″ 152x250cm Mixed media (oil paint, canvas, birch panel, collage) 2019 A collaboration w Cree-Metis artist Dawn Marie Marchand focusing on the sharing of artistic space and ideas between a non-Indigenous and Indigenous artist

Another blast from 2023. This is a commission I did for a gentleman named Jack now in his 80s. This is “Ski Haus” where he and his family went since he was a young man. He took his children here who are now adults with kids. Charcoal, watercolors & acrylic on paper #ArtAdventCalendar #ArtCommission

A cozy winter retreat made for slow mornings and warm mugs. DM for the link. #WinterStay #CozyRetreat

Behind the Scenes. 2025. Here’s a little BTS of my painting setup: breakfast, teapot, tea mug, art supplies, and a reference photo. Focusing on not dunking my paintbrush into my tea. What are you working on that takes you to your happy place? #ArtInProgress #StudioLife #CreativeCalm

Along the Mon’. 2023. "Oil with Cold wax on Canvas. Mon is short for Monongehela (River in Pittsburgh). I painted "Along the Mon'”on location during an end of summer season day. #ForestFriday #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #ArtforSale #trees #naturepaintings

A piece from my past after completing Rome Art Program scholarship in 2021 and witnessing through #enpleinair painting & touring Italy’s gems #ArtAdventCalendar #EastCoastKin #ArtForSale #ArnoRiver #OriginalArt #FlorenceArt

Como. Acrylic painting. 2022. See alt text for details. #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #Italian #artforsale

Mixed Media. Title: You Decide. A place from my imagination. It reminds me of places in Utah and Ward, Colorado where I’ve hiked. #EastCoastKin #MountainMonday

I painted this watercolor enhanced with acrylic paint January 11, 2025. It’s based on a favorite cross-country ski trail in western Pennsylvania. The trees form a tunnel like this. It’s wonderful. I used this painting for my substack cover this week. Scroll back to find it. #ArtAdventCalendar

Starting the week with the quiet pride of remembering finishing editing, writing and publishing a book that took a decade: Finding Moksha: One Woman’s Path in Uncertain Times. Sometimes the long path is the one that opens you. shorturl.at/RRJQP #FindingMoksha #CreativeShift #PossibilityAhead

When the season changes, something in us shifts too. Letting go is tender — but the possibilities that follow are real. New episode dropped. Read, have a listen or both. amandamottornartist.substack.com/p/changing-s... #ChangingSeasons #CreativeShift #PossibilityAhead #ModernJourneyer

This was one of three watercolors in a series. I was badly needing a day of painting play. I teach a workshop called Creative Play for Adults. I have to mirror that. It was immensely enjoyable painting with wild abandon. #ArtAdventCalendar #EastCoastKin #trees

Thank you, everyone for reposting my painting picture. I haven’t figured out how to do that. There are 45 of you atm. Wow! I appreciate you.

This is a Milanese design I painted in watercolor based on a sculpture showing early designs in Milan at Castle Sforza. I forcused on a monochrome (ish) style. #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar #orangepaintings #Milan

Here’s an acrylic painting I did on location in Western Pennsylvania near Ligonier. I had about 45 minutes to paint it before returning it to the museum for art exhibition the next day. Curious for more? drop me a message. Available to a new home. #ForestFriday #EastCoastKin #ArtAdventCalendar

Abstract mixed media painting of St. Mark’s Basilica. This one has been waiting patiently for the right person. Curious if it pulls you in—message me if it does. #Art #OriginalArt #ArtistOnBsky #ArtDrop #CreativeLife #EastCoastKin

“Dreaming of Ljubljana.” Acrylic on Canvas. I painted this from a photograph many years ago that had black and white qualities. Please enjoy the view; inquire for more details. #ArtAdventCalendar

First significant snow for yesterday’s evening walk. Happy Wednesday! #freshsnow #wintermagic #eastcoastkin

First snow in Pittsburgh (pictures later) equals great timing for heated floors in shared cozy spaces at my 1932 Artist Bungalow AirBnB. #airbnbhost #pittsburghstay #modernJourneyer #artistinresidence