Kate Laing 1/2/16 Kate Laing 1/2/16

Welcome 2016.

Arrive. Meet me here.

The new year quietly + humbly greeted me as the numerals on my phone's clock changed to midnight on December 31. Nothing extravagant, no attendance at a NYC-worthy party. 2016 just kind of approached, knocked on the door and met me like a sweet friend. It was a good arrival.

I don't think I want to change drastically this new year, I want to become less.
Not weaker, not smaller, not quieter.

"He must become greater. I must become less." (John 3:30)

What would happen if I decide to fill my heart by welcoming the new year with humble plans to live more simply and more focused towards God + the Word, and less on worldly things? I've grown tired of spending money on unnecessary physical objects and allowing emotions that constrict + fester from being a worrywart.

I think I'm going to follow the Contentment Challenge that a very cool lady named Hannah Brencher is doing for three months — her guidelines borrowed from Nancy Ray's original challenge. Basically no shopping except for necessities (like food + thesis materials, in my case) and replacing a reliance on physical things with a reliance on God. In hb's words, I can focus on my heart and mind on the root of true contentment.

"If I want more God then I must clear the space for him. You need to make room if you want to let God in" (hb).

I want to clear the clutter and allow a better space for God to meet me where I am. That means, for at least three months, I will try to live more simply. I won't buy a sweater I don't really need. I'll resist going online shopping when I'm bored. I won't impulse buy a new coffee cup because I should be saving money for plans that might come to fruition after I graduate in five months.

And to fill the lack of new physical things, I'm going to look deeper into the Word. I pray that God will knock on my heart and meet me. Meet with intention. Nurture safety + trust within other humans and form deeper connections through authentic community. Cleanse. Use my hands to make physical things. Use my words + journaling to become more vulnerable. Take a weight off emotionally + physically. Figure out what is important to worry about + what is not.

I so strongly believe radical things can happen when you make room for God. Your feet can be led to places you never thought you would go, your hands can work with unknown strength, your heart can love even more beautifully than you did before.

I don't need a new sweater or another coffee cup. I need to become less and it's time for me to allow God to become more — the Word, authentic community, less reliance on physical materials — that's my 2016.

Meet me if you want. Join me. Let's see if we can discover something radical.

xoxo,

Kate

Kate Laing 12/30/15 Kate Laing 12/30/15

a year in review

completing my junior thesis show + making progress on my senior thesis (being strong enough to keep trucking despite the worst stress + exhaustion I've ever felt) • adopting the mantra of having a tough mind but a tender heart • working as a camp counselor for the sweetest third summer • nurturing female relationships from both this + previous years, and having the most solid group of soul sisters ever • illustrating a children's book about an adorable raccoon, a friendly moose and a not-so-scary wolf (to be published early 2016) • traveling to chicago with insanely talented artists for the SOFAexpo • being a necessary combination of strong and kind, starting to understand how important it is to take care of myself + still love on others • beginning to earn myself the titles of illustrator, forager, explorer, sculptor + weaver • here's to my favorite year yet

Kate Laing 12/15/15 Kate Laing 12/15/15

Moccasins + Berries + Music

I'm obsessed by the fact that my moccasins exactly match the coloring of this berry bush on the side of my yard. This lazy, grey day has me wanting to make a wreath out of them to brighten up my house's forest green front door and I think I'll make one tomorrow 🌰 Can't seem to get out of my foraging habits even though I'm on school break right now!

Speaking of thesis, I got my review letter yesterday and so far it's a big ol' thumbs up on my work + concept from the faculty, and I'm so jazzed to keep working on towards my show in the spring. Is it bad that I'm more excited for my thesis than I am to graduate college???

Anyways! Here's a playlist of songs that I keep replaying that kinda indicate going somewhere or doing things out of normalcy... I'm convinced that these would make THE perfect road trip jam session. A road trip with no destination sounds so good but I'll just settle for dreamin' and music right now:

Loooove. But seriously — this is probably over an hour's worth of some dang good tunage, at least in my opinion, so click through the links to youtube or pull up your spotify and put these into a nomad/road trip playlist <3

xoxo,

Kate

Kate Laing 12/10/15 Kate Laing 12/10/15

Bucket List

This morning, I woke up with another semester of college under my belt and I realized that I just have one more to go. And then I'm finished with school.

It's a little terrifying to think about because school is kind of all I've ever known and I have no idea what I'm doing next. Leaving the safe space that I'm familiar with, that I know how to do, will be verrrrry strange. But oh my gosh, there are so many things I want to do. Maybe making a bucket list is something a person does when she's preparing for a new chapter of her life.

So here are things that I want to do, or some big things I've already accomplished (which are italicized). Any of these on your list??

have my senior thesis art exhibition
graduate college
do a national park artist residency
illustrate a children's book
be a camp counselor (for three summers!)
write and illustrate my own children's book
plant a tree + watch it grow over the years
marry a great love
start my own business
go on an art inspiration trip with dad
learn how to weave
hand out sweet notes to others
have coffee with a stranger and talk with them
switch to organic + clean eating
do a wine tasting at a vineyard
get a bee tattoo
hike down the grand canyon
bake bread as a wedding gift
adopt two basset hounds named beatrice + franklin
buy a stranger's groceries
go on a big spontaneous adventure
actually learn how to play my guitar + ukulele
read the entire bible
become an early bird
hike a mountain
go skinny dipping
design the floral work at somebody's wedding
visit seattle with friends
stay in a hostel
embrace the danish art of hygge for a winter season
do an installation in a forest
pay off my student loans
learn everything there is to know about a subject
journal daily for a year
teach sunday school for a group of kids
keep plants alive for an extended amount of time
travel to iceland
visit where my dad grew up in england
participate in an art exhibition
build one-match campfires

Kate Laing 11/21/15 Kate Laing 11/21/15

Gratitude

Man, I don't know about you but these last few weeks have. been. rough.

I've had this ache for a while and I can't seem to break open my chest to pry out. I feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm waiting impatiently for something to happen. I'm stressed. Selfish. Weary. Cold.

The last few years, I've noticed that November tends to dig up those feelings. As a child, this season was magical. As of late though, the onset of cold air forces me to stop.

Pause + reflect.

It's not a bad thing. But as I started a new journal last week I realized so many of my words indicated negativity. Beating on myself for not working hard enough, not being good enough for people, feeling solitary and melancholic.

Negativity acts like a good friend, an adventure partner. It takes me on a hike through cold woods. It's a liar though. It hides behind this front that encourages me to complain and be selfish. It keeps me company and we gossip to each other. We light a fire to keep us warm as we fall asleep.

I wake up as the sun rises and Negativity, my "good friend," has abandoned me, leaving me by myself but it's left traces of its character behind.

I'm disappointed in myself for letting Negativity become my friend. I'm generally so sweet (+ sometimes a little disgruntled) and anything more than just a lil disgruntled sends me on a lonely hike into the forest.

And so this morning, I paused. I reflected. It's a quiet morning in my house. I poured myself a mug of coffee and held it in my small hands as I wore the coziest flannel shirt.

I'm going home tomorrow. A place of family and warmth. I haven't seen many of my family members since the summer and it's wearing on me. I'm in my senior year of college and I have never needed to go home more than I do right now. To have their kind eyes look on me with this beautiful, unconditional love that I grew up with -- oh, how I need that to fill my soul once again.

This week of Thanksgiving has the most beautiful timing. I need to break up with Negativity and turn my attention to the warmth of my family. Bury negativity in the woods so it cannot return. I'll make a list of my small successes and plan for future ones. I'll nurture that ache in my chest and I'm going to eat SO much food.

And then I'll return to school next week. I'm preparing for my senior thesis review on December 8.

I'm terrified. I give so much of my time + energy + soul to my work and sometimes that disconnects me from very important things. Sometimes it makes me feel small. Sometimes it makes me too weary to be the cheerful + quirky Kate I normally am. But I've fallen in love with my process and I'm following it with confidence and strength. And I'm going to keep following it until I have a gallery filled with my work in the spring, when the cold air is gone once again.

Goodbye Negativity, my not-so-good-friend. I have too many other things to deal with right now.

Work hard, sweet soul. Be kind to yourself. Don't feel small, rather feel seen. Let that lingering ache seep into your heart and allow it to root there (as long as it doesn't strangle your goodness).

Feeling hard stuff makes you appreciate gratitude and kind eyes filled with love even more.

xoxo,
Kate