For the first time in a while, I’m creating art without setting a goal. For years, I believed being creative meant showcasing talent, proving skill, potential, ability. These last three years, that belief has broken. 

No collection

No launch

No strategy

I grew tired of creating to please others. I even told a few people I was on a creative burnout. And I was. It’s a strange experience to live through a creative silence. When your try  to start again, you’re instantly met with anger, frustration, and harsh self-criticism.

So I stopped completely.

I let it run its course. I began living a more grounded life, less attached to outcomes, more curious about the process.

These days, I’m filling pages with color in Worlds of Wonder by Johanna Basford. There’s something deeply satisfying about working within defined lines. Not a blank page demanding invention, but a structure inviting interpretation.

I once heard an art teacher in Chicago say she disliked coloring books because they restrict creativity. That comment stayed with me. And yet now, I find the opposite to be true. The limitation feels freeing. The black lines offer containment. The decision isn’t what to draw, it’s what tone to choose, what contrast to build, what depth to create.

Using acrylic markers that don’t bleed through the page, I can layer color, intensify saturation, and watch the image come alive. There’s immediate feedback. Immediate presence.

Right now, that’s enough.

Let this be the beginning of what HMLstudio is becoming, a journey back to the essence of creativity in its simplest form. A return to wonder. Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with what that felt like. 

This space is where I will find it again.