Elk Lake Cabin
“Let’s take a trip to a cozy cabin in the woods with crisp mornings, hot coffee, deep conversations, and bright night stars. Toddlers giggle and dance with their first s’mores at the campfire. Walk barefoot to the water and watch wildflowers bounce in the breeze. Wonder and discovery are hidden here in the sand and tiny tracks. In the peace, the pieces align.”
It’s a quiet cabin where only squirrels reside when it’s not in use. It was built before luxuries like running water and forced air. It mostly feels like camping except that the shelter is a lot more sturdy. We join our friends: Daniel, Lauren, Avery, and Jones for paddle board rides in the lake, trying to catch snakes, and enjoying ice cream from the shop to cool off in the afternoon summer heat. Watching the little ones have so many of their first experiences makes me feel like I’m having them for the first time too. One morning I woke up to find just my son and I were at the cabin. I picked a few wildflowers and drank my coffee before he woke up. Then we warmed up by the fire with books and blankets and snacks, of course. A short walk took us to the beach. It was perfectly silent. Silent except for nature. The dragonflies hummed, the birds tweeted and flapped around. Milo tried to jump puddles way too big for him. We got covered in sand. Soon the rest of the group would join us, but for those few hours, it was just us. It felt like the whole world was ours. We’d had a hundred moments just the two of us before, but this one felt different. And special.
This place is meaningful because it seems like it’s a place that’s “away” from everything. But when I’m there, that place feels like it is everything. What else do I need but my family, flowers, and snacks?
Before I make a collection I line it out like this in a grid. Some of the final prints come out looking just like the idea sketch, and some are totally scrapped for something different. There’s a font and a dragonfly and probably a number of other things that weren’t used in patterns, but they still belong in the collection because it was all created together. That’s my husband and our son, Milo, taken the summer of 2021.
The colors here are inspired by campfire vibes (left) and that cotton candy sunset sky (right).
