Sunday, March 1, 2026

The Light I Used to Live In

 


This painting has lived on my dining room wall since 2018.

I worked on it in small bursts, ten minutes, sometimes less.
A strip of paper. 
A wash of teal. A bird, then another.

Sometimes I added color because I needed to regulate.
Sometimes because I was restless.
Sometimes because I wanted to feel something move.

Sometimes because I needed to dip my finger in color and fingerpaint like I was five.

It has been many paintings.

There was a version with a partial Steinbeck quote:
“look from the tide pool to the stars.” 
Those words are still there.
Buried, but not gone.

I painted over things I loved.
I softened what felt too sharp.
I let birds and metaphors and diamonds arrive without asking why.

The eye has watched the whole time.

The light has changed shape more than once.

Over the years it absorbed seasons, dinners, conversations, silence, me sitting in the dark staring at it during one particularly severe bout of insomnia.
It held steady when I didn’t.
It opened up when I did.

The Light I Used to Live In
is not about losing brightness.

It’s about recognizing it in all its versions.

The tide pool.The stars.The rainbows.

And the spaces in between.


Sunday, February 15, 2026

You Are Here


Mosaic in progress.

Six years ago, I stopped writing here.

Blogging felt out of date. Social media felt faster. Louder. Easier.

But something has shifted.

Lately, I’ve been craving a quieter space. A place for images of everyday life, art I'm working on, fragments of story, pieces of life stitched together slowly. Not optimized. Not curated for an algorithm. Just… honest.

I am here.

Not where I used to be.
Not where I’m going.
Here.

This feels like the right place to begin again.

Welcome back to Curious Girl.

Though technically, I suppose I’m now a curious middle-aged woman with glasses and strong opinions about soil quality. (Curious Crone didn’t test well as a rebrand but the energy feels accurate.)

I haven't lost any wonder, just learned how to protect it.

Over the next week or so, I'll update the links and do some housekeeping.

If you’ve found your way back too, you’re welcome here.