Dear friend,
Hello from the last days of my painting residency! My watercolors for “The Alchemy of Blood,” my joint art show with my mom Anne Francey, are due in 72 hours, and I’m so tired but so gratified. I’m feeling that delicious delirium of when you’ve been working so hard on a creative project with single-minded focus, and you reach the point where it’s no longer a question of whether or not you can actually do it—because you’re doing it.
As I’m nearing the end, I’ve been reflecting on the beginning. I started painting just over two years ago, and back then, I never could’ve imagined what was in store for those hospital fever dreams unfurling through watercolor. Because I didn’t think of myself as a painter, I had no expectations for it to be good—I only wanted to immerse myself in a creative practice that would allow me to alchemize the fear lurking under the surface of everything. This practice was a life raft in that ocean of uncertainty (rendered quite literally in this first study for my roseate spoonbill painting), and it continues to be life-giving and buoying. I hope to keep painting forever.
With this journey in mind, I’m doing a little something different this week. I’m sharing a video I made for paid subscribers—now available to everyone—from the bone marrow transplant unit. In it I gave a behind-the-scenes tour of my makeshift painting studio in my hospital room; I’ve also included the simple prompt I gave at the end. I hope it helps you reimagine what’s possible, even in the most inhospitable conditions.
Keep swimming,
Suleika
Some Items of Note—
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Mark your calendar! We’ve scheduled our next meeting of the Hatch, our virtual creative hour for paid subscribers, on Sunday, June 30 from 1-2 pm ET. Hope you can join us!
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Besides painting, my other tool for getting through is noticing small joys—the things that lift me up, even momentarily. And each Friday in our Isolation Journals chat, we do this as a group—we call it our chorus of collective gratitude. To be buoyed by the joys of others and to add yours too, click here.
Prompt 299. Studio Visit: Hospital Edition with Suleika Jaouad
To access a written transcript, click here.
Your prompt for the week:
What is saving you?
If you’re new here—hi, I’m Suleika!
I’m the author of the memoir Between Two Kingdoms and the founder of the Isolation Journals, where we turn life’s interruptions into creative grist. Each Sunday, I send out this newsletter with an essay and journaling prompt from a guest contributor.
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our archive of sixteen Studio Visits with brilliant artists like the iconic poet Marie Howe and the astonishing multi-hyphenate Lena Dunham
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Our Isolation Journal No. 1 and Surrender Tote
We designed a custom Isolation Journal with all our favorite features and a tote embroidered with my forever mantra to carry it around in—both pictured here out for a stroll on a glorious spring day. We have only a handful of totes remaining, so if you’ve had your eye on one, click the button below!