When Intentions Meet a Train Wreck

and thoughts on selling art

Cooper, a few Christmases ago. Cooper turned eight on Dec. 19.

Hi friends, and happy holidays! If you’re new to pARTake, welcome. To all of you, thanks for being here. I had many intentions for this final letter of 2025: an art studio roundup and a story about traditions. I also wanted to share what I’m planning in my art world for 2026, but life does what it does time and time again, you know, just as you think you have things figured out, things go sideways, and since I didn’t have the bandwidth to revise the intended post (more on that in a minute), in the spirit of giving, I’m sharing a few past letters of inspiration, along with a short note at the end about how I’m trying to sell art online without being that person who sells art online. (Longest run-on sentence of the letter, I promise!)

Earlier this month, after my latest cancer scan, from the time I put the car in park and when my husband walked in the door less than an hour later, I went from a gleeful, exuberant I’m still NED (no evidence of disease) to a popped balloon on the cold tile kitchen floor. To protect his privacy, I won’t get into details, except to say that, after major surgery, happily, he’s recovering at home. Home being the operative word.

So, no surprise this holiday season, we’re grateful for his health, strong sense of resolve, his PCP, who ordered the tests that discovered the problem; the surgical team at the University of Louisville; and the ICU nurses at Norton Hospital, who cared for him, joked with him, and made him comfortable during his hospital stay. Modern medicine is truly a blessing. We’re grateful to have access to it. We’re also thankful for our dear friends who helped us with Cooper and housed me during this grueling ordeal. I’m grateful to my best friends and family who have responded to my late-night/early-morning tests and calls. It’s a double blessing to have two nurses in the family to help navigate the post-op stuff.

For someone like me, who was and is open about my health and cancer, it feels weird, maybe not the correct word, but unusual, to not go into detail about this train wreck. You know from my art, I’m all about the details. Some things carry over into other aspects of my life. But this is my husband’s story, not mine. My story as a caretaker is something I’ll write about once we get to the other side of this thing.

If you would be so kind as to lift a prayer for his comfort, a speedy recovery, and my peace of mind and health, I would be grateful. xo

For your reading pleasure, I want to share a few letters from the pARTake archives. Pour your favorite beverage, enjoy, and if you’re moved, please share with your people.

• Why I Wrote A Salmon Cookbook

• Summer Reads and Women in Art

• Four Poems: Where I’m From, Scans, Beneath this Soil, Some Days I Forget

Now, before I go, if you’ll indulge me a little longer, please continue reading below the fern art to learn more about buying my art online and my available inventory. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have the answers and that this is one of the most significant challenges of my creative life. But I’m game to make a go of it!

SENSITIVE FERN, framed, matted, wired to hang, 17x25, $375 (more images of the framed work are available, just ask.)

How I sell art online (or how you can buy art from me online).

I don’t want to be that person who is always trying to sell you art, and I’m trying to find balance. Bear with me if this is redundant. I don’t have a magic solution, or hell, have an answer. I do hope this little section of information helps if you’re curious about purchasing my art.

Some things:

• I am a one-woman show and sell directly from my home. My preferred art mediums are watercolor, pen and ink, and, more recently, moss wall art. I create mostly nature-themed and wildlife art.

• The majority of my art is wired to hang, matted, and framed with archival materials to ensure longevity, and frankly, to make the art shine. I use Inman’s Picture Framing and art gallery in Evansville, IN (highly recommended if you’re an artist in the area, btw, plus they have a gorgeous fine art gallery, and I’m honored they show some of my art). Jess and Mike are framing rock stars.

• Occasionally, I have small pieces that are not matted and framed.

• When you see a piece of my art that speaks to you, and you want more details, you can either reply to this letter in your inbox, send me a direct message on the Substack app, email me, or text me. I’m easy to find online. Here’s my Contact page on my website.

• My current available inventory includes art from four collections dated 2024 and 2025:

  • WILD African Art photography, watercolor

  • VULNERABLE wildlife portrait series, ink and pen on paper

  • Girl on Fire watercolor, mixed media

  • Birds, Botanicals & Butterflies watercolor, ink

• I ship via UPS in the US and internationally. I spend a good deal of time answering your questions and helping you decide where to hang your art (if you want) in your home via text and phone. If you’re local, I can meet you at your home.

• I accept payment via Venmo and Zelle.

• You assume shipping and handling.

• Finally, I’d be honored to have my art in your home. Let me know if anything in my above collections or art you see in my Notes on Substack floats your boat. I’d love to chat with you about art.

During this season of gratitude and into the new year, I hope you’re surrounded by love, have enough nutritious food to eat, and have a safe place to rest your head at night. I look forward to pARTaking with you in 2026.

Lastly, but most importantly, thank you for supporting me, whether you tap the heart, leave a comment, reply privately, or give me your hard-earned money, and especially if you are a paid subscriber, you rock! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Our world is busy and noisy, and we only have so much time on this earth, so thanks for giving me a sliver of your time and love.

If you like what you see here and want to support my art, you can be a pARTake Rock Star! Ask me how. You can also buy me a coffee or subscribe to pARTake for $5/month or $35/year. All issues are free. Your money helps me buy paint, paper, and sometimes wine!

Thanks for being here pARTaker’s! I appreciate you more than you know. Take good care, and I look forward to hearing from you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Maureen xo

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Stay curious. Stay safe. Make an impact.