| THE EPISTOLARIAN |

This month, as I celebrate and transition to my life as a full-time artist, and I keep returning to the image of the hot air balloon. Everything about them feels like a mirror for this transition: their history as an uncertain innovation, their beauty, and their invitation to step into something entirely new and unknown.

A balloon carries both possibility and choice. Its basket can hold our most precious belongings, yet to rise we must also let go of ballast. For me, those ballasts are fears I no longer want to carry, especially the fear of being judged for my desires. Last month, I read a line that struck me: to get the things you want, you must be willing to sit with the vulnerability of being seen in your desire. That truth landed deeply. The wish to create, to grow, and even to love often means parts of us may no longer be fully understood by others. But the weights of self-doubt and fear are ballast. They can be softened and released.

When I think of the balloon’s flight, I feel both control and surrender. We can feed the fire to keep our altitude, yet the wind will always carry us farther than we expect. Percy Shelley’s cry echoes here: “Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!” It is the creative wind that takes us where we are meant to go, often somewhere lovelier and more peaceful than we could have imagined.

Last week, I released the Birdbath Balloon penny. Today, I share something larger, a new seal that is both functional and a work of art. There are eleven in total, each with a handle painted in its own hot air balloon, each representing one of my desires. Yet these are not only mine. Each balloon belongs also to the collector who chooses it. With every seal, I will send a letter naming a wish I am willing to be seen in. My hope is that, in receiving it, you will not only carry my wish but also reflect on something lovely you are calling into your own life. In this way, the seal becomes a vessel for both of us, a shared basket rising together.

This seal bears the inscription nouvelle aube, “new dawn.” It will never be made again. Though there may be other balloons in the future, this seal belongs to this singular moment. A moment of taking flight together, each of us holding a place in the other’s journey, carried in the same basket toward new dawns, new perspectives, and exactly where the wind intends us to go.

Color of the Week: Zephyr

Zephyr takes his name from the Anemoi, the wind gods of Greek mythology. He is the personification of the gentle west wind, the one who carries the promise of new beginnings. Artists often imagined him as a winged youth, light and graceful, guiding the soft breezes that bring calm skies and tranquil weather.

Wax Seal Guild

Today is the final #SealingSunday of August, and it feels like the right moment to reflect on what we’ve been creating together. Earlier this summer, LaRetta Madsen, Betsy Goodman, and I began imagining ways to nurture more connection around the art of sealing. From those conversations, the Wax Seal Guild was born, with two simple invitations:

• Sealing Sundays: set aside a little time each Sunday to seal, and if you’d like, share with #SealingSundays.
• Monthly Themes: one word, one seal.

This month’s theme is enJOY. With so much travel, I haven’t yet made as many joy-filled seals as I had hoped, but there are still a few days left. If you feel inspired, create one seal around joy and share it with #WaxSealGuild and #enJOYaugust.

The Guild is free and open to all. Whether you are sealing for the first time or crafting elaborate talismans, you are welcome here.

With Love,

Kathryn