"...our gifts are not purely ours until they have been given away.”

—Lewis Hyde

I love to write hand-written letters. I have been an avid pen pal ever since I was a little girl, and I still have several wonderful pen pals in my life. Writing letters is an excellent way to stay connected with people, and to nurture deep friendships over a lifetime.

If I have the time, I also love to decorate the envelopes with little gouache paintings. I have been asked many times if I would consider selling these, but I always decline. It feels crucial to me that these envelope paintings remain always a gift, and only a gift. It is my way of creating for myself what Lewis Hyde describes as the “gift-sphere” in his book, The Gift:

“The artist who hopes to market work that is the realization of his gifts cannot begin with the market. He must create for himself that gift-sphere in which the work is made, and only when he knows the work to be the faithful realization of his gift should he turn to see if it has currency in that other economy.”

— Lewis Hyde

Lewis Hyde eloquently describes how the artist has to reconcile two economies, the market economy and the gift economy, the latter being the most important one. He writes:

"...unless we, the audience, can feel the gift it carries, there is no art."

—Lewis Hyde

My painted envelopes are gifts for the people who receive them. But they are also something that I do for myself. The act of letter-writing slows me down and brings me a sense of inner peace. It also facilitates my connection to my spirit, and to the source of my creativity. Painting envelopes gives me ideas for bigger paintings.

For some reason, the fact that the envelope is a gift makes me feel more free as an artist.

Lewis Hyde writes that “…to bestow one of our creations is the surest way to invoke the next…Bestowal creates that empty place into which new energy may flow.” I have certainly experienced this. When I paint envelopes, I can literally feel my spirit expand. I feel that I can paint whatever images emerge, and those images which come straight from the inner-spring of my heart.