Paper and Paint | Emily Kate Artwork

A love letter to
slow living.

A monthly ritual of original art,

personal essays, curated playlists,

and small reminders to notice

the beauty already around you

$15/month

For the ones who crave beauty, meaning, and a moment to breathe.

What's in July's edition

Original Art Print

A museum quality reproduction of an original painting.

Personal Essay

Honest, reflective writing on life, creativity, and the in-between.

Curated Playlist

A soundtrack for your month - songs that continually fuel my creativity.

Thoughtful Extras

Little goodies, prompts, and beauty to collect and keep.

A little bit of beauty,
delivered.

Each month brings original artwork, thoughtful writing, music, and small moments designed to help you pause.

Open something made with care.

Every detail is gathered and packed by hand.

Because you deserve something real in your mailbox.

Inside July's Envelope

•Original Fine Art Print

A museum-quality print created from one of my original paintings to bring a little beauty into your everyday spaces.

•Thoughtful Letter

Honest reflections that make you feel seen.

•Curated Playlist

Music chosen to accompany quiet mornings, long drives, or midday slumps.

•Pressed Botanical

A tiny reminder that beauty doesn't have to be permanent to be meaningful.

•A Monthly Reflection

A gently prompt that often becomes your favorite conversation with yourself.

A Note...

I started Paper & Paint because I longed for something slower.

Something tangible.

Something that didn't ask you to buy more, scroll longer, or move faster.

Just something beautiful waiting in your mailbox once a month.

Every month, I gather the things that have made me pause and smile and send them your way.

It's my way of sharing the practice that has changed my own life:

paying closer attention.

To the people we love.

To the places we call home.

To the small moments that quietly become our favorite memories.

If these letters help you notice just one more beautiful thing this month, they've done exactly what I hoped they would.

—Emily

"It's a love letter to slow living and to the parts of yourself that get lost in the busyness ."

-Emily

Kind Words

"I'm so sick of getting bills and spam in the mail. It is such a treat to be able to get something beautiful and full of meaning for a change." - Lori,. Ohio, Founding Subscriber

From my studio, to your mailbox

Hi, I'm Emily.

I'm a painter, writer, and mom who believes beauty isn't something we stumble across, it's something we learn to notice.

Paper & Paint began because I wanted to create something tangible in a world that constantly asks us to move faster.

Thank you for letting my work become part of your home.

The Why

Because somewhere along the way, we've stopped noticing.

We're surrounded by beautiful things every day, yet we're often too busy to see them.

A moth on the driveway.

Morning light through the kitchen window.

A favorite passage in a well-loved book.

The way wildflowers grow without asking anyone to notice.

Paper & Paint was born from the belief that these ordinary moments deserve our attention.

Every month is an invitation to slow down, look a little closer, and remember that wonder isn't something we find.

It's something we practice.

Ready to make time for you?

Join Paper & Paint and let each month bring a little beauty to your doorstep.

Cancel anytime. Always made with care.

$15/month • Museum Quality Print • Personal Essay • Thoughtful Surprises • Beauty Delivered

Every month, I put together the kind of mail I wish existed.

A fine art print.
A personal letter.
A curated playlist.
Thoughtful keepsakes.
And a quiet reminder to slow down for a little while.

Paper & Paint isn’t just something you receive—it’s something you experience.

If you’ve been craving more beauty, more intention, and a reason to pause in the middle of ordinary life, I’d love to send next month’s edition your way.

Join the Paper & Paint Club through the link in my bio before this month’s enrollment closes. I’d love to have you there. 🤍

#motherartist #beautifulmail #creativelifestyle #slowliving #choosejoy

Paper & Paint is, in many ways, the thing I needed myself.

A reminder to look up.
To notice beauty.
To create instead of consume.
To remember that a meaningful life isn’t built from extraordinary moments, but that it grows from the ordinary ones we choose to pay attention to.

Every edition is a little love letter to that idea.

Not just a print.
Not just a playlist.
Not just a letter.

A monthly reminder that your life is happening right now, and it’s worth slowing down long enough to really see it.

That’s why I made it. And I’d really love to share it with you 🤍
•link in bio

This edition closes July 16th.

Www.shopemilykate.com/paperandpaint

#CollectedJoy #BeautyInTheOrdinary #SeekWonder #creativelife #livewithart

I went into this summer convinced I’d have almost no time to paint.

I imagined mom mode would be all-consuming, and that any quiet moments would be spent lying on the couch, soaking up the silence.

Instead, something unexpected happened.

I’ve started protecting even one hour.

Sometimes it’s a large canvas.
Sometimes it’s a sketchbook.
Lately it’s been these small paintings on paper—little studies of color, light, and joy.

They don’t take all day. They don’t have to.

What surprises me most is how restorative they are. An hour at the easel doesn’t take me away from motherhood—it helps me come back to it feeling more present, grounded, and like myself again.

Don’t get me wrong… I’ll happily welcome those long fall days when the girls are back in school and I can disappear into a painting for hours.

But this season has taught me that creativity doesn’t have to wait for the “perfect” schedule.

Sometimes one quiet hour is enough.

💕

I think that’s a breakthrough.

#artist #floralartist #contemporaryart #paintingprocess #artistlife creativepractice motherhoodandart acrylicpainting makersgonnamake artstudio womenwhocreate flowersofinstagram

I keep hearing people talk about the “beige epidemic.”

Minimal. Neutral. Quiet.

And while I understand the appeal, I think we’re craving something else too.

We’re craving color.

Not because it’s trendy, but because color makes us feel.

It reminds us that life isn’t meant to be lived on mute.

Every painting I make is an emotional landscape. The colors aren’t chosen because they match a room, they’re chosen because they carry something. Joy. Grief. Hope. Wonder. Courage. Peace. Restlessness.

I want my work to feel alive.

To interrupt the scrolling.
To wake something up.
To remind you that beauty doesn’t have to whisper.

If color is making a comeback, I’m here for it.

Not because it’s fashionable.

Because I think our hearts have been asking for it all along. 🌸

#motherartist #fineart #creativeliving #emilykate #collectart

I painted a magnolia this afternoon during quiet time.

We have a magnolia tree just outside my studio window, so it felt fitting to bring a little piece of it inside.

There were a hundred other things I could have been doing. Website updates. Laundry. Vacuuming. Dishes. Emails. Meeting agendas.

The list is always there.

My mind is rarely quiet. But I’ve realized there are only a couple of places where everything else falls away.

Painting.

Horseback riding.

Horseback riding wasn’t an option today, so I painted.

With my girls home full-time this month and no childcare, these moments of stillness are brief. They’re easy to convince myself I should skip.

But they’re also the moments that help me show up as the person I want to be for everything else.

Sometimes the most productive thing we can do is make space for what quiets the mind.

#artistsoninstagram #momswhopaint #motherartist #acrylicpainting #contemporaryartwork

The whole Wild Wonder collection is finally home after spending time at the @bathcountyartsassociation. 🤍

Josie was very determined to help unpack everything (and made sure I knew, once again, that the cockatoo is her favorite 🥹).

Seeing these paintings all together again reminded me how much joy and energy they hold. Now they’re just waiting to find the homes they were meant for.

They’ll be available on my website later today… just as soon as the girls are down for their naps. 🫠

Www.shopemilykate.com

#contemporaryart #emilykateartist #wildwonder #originalartwork #artforyourhome

Maybe whimsy isn’t something we lose.

Maybe it’s something we stop making room for.

We become busy. 
Productive. 
Responsible.

We stop looking up at the moon in the middle of the afternoon. 
We rush past flowers we’ve seen a hundred times. 
We forget that music can change the feeling of an ordinary drive.

I’m still chasing big dreams.

I’m just learning that I don’t have to wait until I reach them to experience wonder.

That’s the heart behind this month’s Paper & Paint.

A little more noticing. A little more beauty. A little more whimsy.
🌿 July Edition is open through July 17.

#Artistletters #creativeliving #motherartist #everydaybeauty #emilykate

For a long time, I thought joy was something I would eventually arrive at.

After the next accomplishment.

After life felt less chaotic.

After I became a little more successful, a little more rested, a little more “there.”

The funny thing is, I don’t think I was wrong for dreaming. I still have big dreams. I hope I always do.

What I’ve been learning is that I don’t want to miss my life while I’m building it.

This month, I found myself noticing little things that would have once slipped past me, a peach tree heavy with fruit, my daughters’ excitement over something small, songs that made long drives feel shorter, flowers that somehow seemed brighter because I stopped long enough to really see them.

Those moments didn’t solve anything.

They didn’t make the hard things disappear.

But they reminded me that joy isn’t something I have to postpone until life is perfect.

That became the heart of this month’s Paper & Paint.

A letter.

A soundtrack.

Original artwork.

Small reminders that ordinary days deserve to be remembered, too.

If you’ve been feeling like life has become one long checklist, I hope this month’s edition feels like permission to pause—not because your dreams don’t matter, but because your life is happening while you pursue them.

I’d love to send one your way.

🌿 Paper & Paint: July Edition is open through July 17. Link in my bio.

#artistsofinstagram #findingjoy #beautifulmail #emilykate #artcollector

A little glimpse into what’s been growing in the studio lately.

New paintings.
New ideas.
Lots of layers.

Thank you for noticing it all with me. 🤍

#contemporanyart #momswhopaint #artistsinvirginia #studioprocess #creativepractice

This one was painted today—layer by layer, mark by mark, with a lot of joy and a little bit of trust in the process.

One more reminder that some of the best stories begin by simply paying attention.

#artist #acrylicpainting #petportrait #dogportrait #contemporaryart floralart expressivepainting womenartists originalart artistsoninstagram paintingoftheday creativeprocess

Happy third birthday to my baby girl. The world is a more joyful place with you in it 🤍
You are a bright ball of energy, love and laughter.
My little mini me. My sour patch kid. My feral second born.
I love you 💕

I had planned to spend this week writing about joy.

In fact, I already had a blog written. It was a reflection on what my daughters had unknowingly taught me about comparison and joy, and I was looking forward to sharing it.

Then, unexpectedly, life changed.

This week has become one of grief, sadness, confusion, and moments of anger. It has reminded me that we don’t always get to choose the season we’re in.

Over the years, I’ve learned not to rush through those seasons.

So this week will be quieter.

I’m giving myself permission to create more slowly, to notice what needs noticing, to conserve my emotional energy for my family, and to trust that the words, and the art, will come when they’re’ ready.

Thank you for being here and for allowing me the space to create honestly, even when life doesn’t unfold the way I expected.

Today’s sketch.

A Rose of Sharon.

One of the strongest plants in my garden carries some of the most delicate flowers.

A reminder that strength and tenderness aren’t opposites. They can coexist.

Some of the strongest people I’ve known have also been the gentlest.

#sketchbookart #everydaybeauty #creativeliving #seekwonder #artistlife

The older I get, the more I realize that life isn’t made up of the big milestones we spend so much time waiting for.

It’s made up of little moments.

The first deep breath after a summer rain. 
Warm light spilling through the window. 
Wildflowers growing where no one planted them. 
Bare feet in the grass. 
The sound of my girls laughing outside.

These moments are easy to miss because they ask us to slow down long enough to notice them.

Breathe Again grew out of my desire to pay attention. Each painting is a reminder that joy doesn’t have to be chased—it often finds us when we pause, breathe deeply, and simply look around.

This collection is for anyone longing to reconnect with wonder, beauty, and the quiet rhythms of everyday life.

✨ Breathe Again is now available through the link in my bio.

Www.shopemilykate.com

This is exactly why I make the kind of art I do.

Not because I want people to notice my paintings.

Because I want my paintings to remind people to notice their own lives.

Yesterday, Brooklyn found a rosy maple moth before school.

We could have hurried past it.

Instead we stopped.

She studied every detail. We talked about its colors. I painted it that afternoon, and now it hangs in her room.

One tiny moment became a lasting memory.

I’ve spent a lot of my life chasing joy, believing it was somewhere ahead of me.

Lately, I’m learning it’s usually sitting quietly on the garage floor, waiting for someone to notice.

#motherartist #slowliving #motherhoodmoments #emilykateartist #wondersofnature

BREATHE AGAIN - a new collection

This collection began with a feeling.

That first deep breath after a warm spring rain. 
The way the light changes as spring quietly becomes summer. 
The warmth of the sun that somehow makes you feel more alive.

These paintings became my reminder to slow down.

They’re intentionally small because the moments they’re inspired by are often small too—the ones we rush past without noticing.

The gilded details catch the light like little pieces of sunshine, reminding me that joy is usually waiting in the ordinary.

Lately I’ve been realizing how often I move too quickly. Through my own emotions. Through my children’s emotions. Through the simple beauty of everyday life.

This collection is my invitation—to myself as much as anyone else—to pause. To notice. To breathe deeply.

I hope these paintings become little windows into wonder.

✨ Breathe Again is now available.

Www.shopemilykate.com

#contemparyart #artistemilykate #seekwonder #gallerywall #collectedhome

For years, I would have called this “running late.”

We were trying to get out the door for school when Brooklyn stopped and said, “Mom! Look!”

There, on the garage floor, was a rosy maple moth.

My first instinct could have been to hurry her along. We had somewhere to be. We were already running late. Backpacks needed to be grabbed. Car seats needed to be buckled. The clock wasn’t slowing down just because a tiny pink moth had landed in our morning.

But we stopped.

We crouched down together. We wondered what it was. We admired its colors. We carefully moved it to our butterfly bush.

Later that afternoon, I painted it for her.

That little pause somehow stretched far beyond those few minutes.

She told her teachers about it. She couldn’t wait to tell her dad when he got home. She proudly carried the painting to her room, where it now hangs on her wall.

The moth wasn’t really the gift.

The gift was what happened because we chose to notice.

Because I gave her the space to be curious, and joined her in it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how often my mind is already on the next thing. The to-do list. The emails. Being on time.

But wonder rarely interrupts our schedule.

It simply waits to see whether we’ll notice.

I’m really glad we did. 🤍

#emilykateartist #contemporaryartist #rosymaplemoth #seekwonder #mindfulliving

I’ve been thinking about how some seasons of life feel loud and demanding, while others ask us to slow down long enough to notice what’s already blooming around us.

These paintings came from that quieter place.

Soft florals, open skies, hints of gold, and layers built slowly over time. They’re a reminder that beauty doesn’t always arrive with a grand entrance. Sometimes it shows up in the ordinary moments we almost miss.

These originals will be released this Friday.

I can’t wait to send them out into the world.

#artistsofinstagram #floralartwork #slowliving #bloom #contemparyart

Do you remember feeling excited to check the mail?

I do.

A card from a grandparent.

A letter from a friend.

Paper & Paint was born from that feeling.

Every month I’ll send a carefully curated collection of artwork, stories, and small surprises from my studio.

June’s mailing goes out this week and tomorrow is the final day to join before the first envelopes are sealed.

I’d love to send one your way 🤍

Www.shopemilykate.com/paperandpaint

#artistsofinstagram #snailmaillove #beautifulmail #liveartfully #motherartist

“Joy Arrives” is now in the print shop! I have no energy left for further caption writing.

#happyfridayeveryone #artistsoninstagram #cockatoosofinstagram #contemporaryart

For years, I spent my days helping other people make sense of their stories.

Now, I spend my days painting, writing, raising two girls, and trying not to lose sight of the wonder hidden in ordinary life.

This little corner of the internet is where all of those things come together.

The art. The motherhood. The creativity. The messy middle. The beauty. The questions. The stories.

I’m grateful you’re here for it.

Whether you came for the paintings, the words, or simply because something resonated, welcome. I’m glad our paths crossed.

#artistsoninstagram #motherartist #artistintroduction #seekwonder #beauthenticallyyou

On the easel today.

Trying to give myself some space to flow and paint today. The website and releases are exciting and amazing but the screen time is killer.

It feels so good to get back to painting today.

#artistsofinstagram #creativehappylife #cockatoolove #wildwonder #contemporaryartist

Paper & Paint began with a feeling.

When I was growing up, I remember the excitement of checking the mailbox and finding something addressed to me. A card from a family member. A note from a distant friend. Something unexpected that made me stop for a moment and feel remembered.

For just a second, the day slowed down.

That feeling feels rare now.

Most of what arrives in our mailboxes is practical. Bills. Advertisements. Fundraising efforts.
I wanted to create something different.

Something beautiful.

Paper & Paint is my way of sending a little joy into someone’s ordinary day. A small reminder that beauty still matters. That someone thought of them. That they belong to a community of people who value creativity, wonder, and the little things that make life meaningful.

Every month, you’ll receive artwork, words, and small treasures chosen with care. Not because you need more stuff, but because sometimes we all need a reason to pause.

A reason to feel seen.

A reason to feel special.

Volume I ships June 25.

Join before the envelopes are sealed.

www.shopemilykate.com/paperandpaint

#Paperandpaint #artbymail #beautifulmail #slowliving #seekwonder

Did I mention I rebranded my entire website and added all my recent paintings (the owl, the heron, etc) as fine art prints?

Oh and started this whole new subscription of the most beautiful monthly snail mail? Don’t worry, there will be more on that later 🤍

I’m just really excited about these things and I hope you see how much they mean to me.

I’m officially done as a therapist, and I feel at peace with it. Art is my calling.

Oh, and where my fellow millennials on this song 😍

Www.shopemilykate.com

#artistsoninstagram #momswhopaint #artistsinvirginia #smallbusinesslife #artprints

For the past few weeks I’ve been quietly building.

A new website.

A growing collection of fine art prints.

Paper & Paint, my monthly subscription for people who still believe in wonder.

Every piece of it was created with the hope of bringing a little more beauty into everyday life.

Everything is now live.

I can’t wait for you to explore it.

We now interrupt your doom scrolling to bring you…

a moment of wonder.

One brushstroke at a time, this owl found its way onto the canvas.

Layers of color, intuition, and a feeling of peace. At least peace is what I feel when I gaze at it.

Thanks for stopping long enough to look 🤍

#owlart #contemporarypainting #wildlifeart #floralpainting #colorandemotion

Just a little studio upgrade today.
Who doesn’t love a new rug? Especially when it’s free.
And while I am so joyful that it has been sunny and hot, the ac in my studio is working SO hard. We’re embracing creativity at a solid 79 degrees up here.

#studio #artstudıo #artistsoninstagram #itsgettinghotinhere

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Follow along in the studio

@emilykate_artist

A love letter to slow living.