Rebecca Evans

Too blessed to stress.

A little art for your heart.

You read this right.

I made it to the top five!

And now we vote for the Group Finalists.

This is the last vote, which ends on Thursday. But you can vote for free every day until then.

Each finalist (first in their group) advances and only one is chosen for the grand prize, presented on August 6th by Johnny Depp.

The grand prize winner will appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display their work at The Art of Elysium's Salon!

Opportunities of a lifetime.

Maybe more than one lifetime.

The funds, for me, would mean funding for the teens I teach in the Juvenile system, gifting them with art kits so they can carry on, re-storying their lives.

A little art for your heart.

Loose watercolor.

My Substack Newsletter (free), Noticing; Navigating the Creative Life this week revolves around isolation, invisibility, and friendships.

I made a list in my journal two mornings ago (oh! I do love lists). I made a list of people who no longer engage in my life. This is not a judgement list. It’s not a sad list or self-pity list. Next month, I turn 60 and, in my turn, like many women turning in our culture, I turn more and more invisible and feel less valued. I could dive into a rant here, but there are others who already do this better, with more elegance and articulation than I could offer.

My list is not about invisibility.

It is about culpability.

Did I cause these disappearances?

.....

I hope you'll keep reading.

Each week I include a creative challenge for you to explore.

Much Love!

Poppy Love!

Yes. I know I snuck a peony with an artichoke alongside her in the line up. Who could resist?

This is my little oasis, a pollinator heaven.

These days, I feel my life has churned into somewhat of a pollinator existence.

Enjoy.

Plant something beautiful.

Start with your heart, your yard, your neighborhood.

Vinyl listen for today.

Ethereal Time-Less Queen. Gawd how much I love the husky and hypnotic vocals of Stevie Nicks.

Wondering if anyone else lives with Gremlins.

Clearly the bag of coffee was chewed through to open.

Clearly a desperate act to reach caffeine, energy, and perhaps, hope.

Note, my “fix” with a nice even cut. Like a clean, clear, distilled poetic line.

This. My new substack title. I love my little blog, but you know as well as I know, I don’t visit you very often here. It feels, well, neglect-full at best. I will still visit, post something fresh for you here. Aim for my monthly engagement because I really love my website and love the positive responses here. Lovely. But a Substack newsletter offers more. Connection. Community. A broader…

Beneath my Free Little Library lives a little shelf/house where I gather and curate packets of seeds for my neighbors.

Here, an offering rooted in food security and food sovereignty. This type of work spans generations.

The seeds we share are more than resources—they’re invitations into relationship with land, memory, and possibility.

Think these girls are def up to something?

It's been a minute, but here's an update on Penny (brown and white) and Amelia (chocolate), two of my four (yes...I did not stutter...four) Newfoundlands.

This is THEIR window.

Hannah and I paused book-touring last Saturday and joined Polum Bolum at Peaceful Belly Farms for an incredible Indigo Shibori workshop with facilitator, Teal Gardener.

We dyed tea towels, bandanas, and woven napkins (or....place mats?)(I'm not sure how to use mine yet).

Are writers who take years to publish better writers than those who publish frequently? I’m asking for myself because I hear this fairly often. Because I hear this often, I assume the statement is targeted at me. I might be the target because over the last four years, I’ve published four books. (Thank you, Moon Tide Press). By some literary standards this looks like frequent publishing. Maybe…

Beyond excited to share this news. Tangled by Blood, my memoir in verse (Moon Tide Press, 2023), was just awarded the Literary Titan Award.

What Literary Titan to says about Tangled: "Rebecca Evans’s Tangled by Blood: A Memoir in Verse has been honored with the Literary Titan Book Award, recognizing a powerful and uncompromising work that brings lyrical precision, emotional depth, and fearless storytelling to the page. In this acclaimed memoir in verse, Evans delivers a deeply affecting exploration of betrayal, survival, motherhood, and the long, difficult work of reclaiming one’s story."

and:

"This award underscores the significance of Evans’s contribution to contemporary memoir and poetry. Tangled by Blood stands apart for its formal daring and emotional honesty, illuminating the realities of trauma while also examining the complexities of mothering, memory, and generational healing. Readers of memoir, poetry, and survivor-centered literature will find in Evans’s work a voice that is fierce, compassionate, and impossible to ignore."

I've been writing Tangled by Blood for about 40 years, struggling to find a path into my story. Poetry became my entry point. A shifting POV throughout the book helped me access my story in places I kept falling down, falling apart.

Vinyl listen this morning.

A bit of Lily DeTaeye with turmeric coffee and morning pages. Man oh man, is this a generous album (two) and how lucky I feel to have padded my way to the stage during Treefort Music Fest to buy/not buy this album, listen (and later kinda stalk) Lily. Lily's voice feels like a hybrid of Sinéad O'Connor mixed with notes of Sarah McLachlan - though, of course, Lily's voice, tone, lyrics are completely a singular experience.

I thought of Kathryn Ferguson's fierce work in her documentary of O'Connor and how critical it is to keep stories and voices alive in this world. Now more than ever.

Watch Ferguson's "Nothing Compares" (2022 documentary).

Listen to Lily and Sarah and Sinéad.

On a side, I penned a poem, “Shuhada’ Sadaqatm" ok, more than a poem, it is a love letter to the late Sinéad O’Connor (Shuhada’ Sadaqat), published in Nuts and Bolts and again in Oldster Magazine This poem (and a whole bunch of other more beautiful tributes) are part of the forthcoming anthology, Nothing Compares to You, edited by Sonya Huber and Martha Bayne.