Digest = me + a possible glass of wine + reflection the previous weeks ongoings and a glimpse into future happenings. You're Welcome.
There's something about November that always inspires me to create beautiful things again. The way the light shifts, softer, more golden, and how the air carries that particular crispness that makes you want to light every candle in the house and pull out the good linens. It's the season of layering, of nesting, of making spaces warm not just for guests, but for ourselves.
Lately I am reminded both of the anticipation of preparing for the holiday season and all the years that have come before and all the details that are happening behind the scenes to make this one extra sparkly - although it will be tough to top getting engaged to my best friend and surprising all our friends and family at our annual holiday party!
So this year, I'm leaning into the details. The behind-the-scenes moments that make a season sparkly: the first test of garland arrangements, deciding which paintings to rotate into which rooms, sourcing the perfect vintage ribbon for gift wrapping and decorating, and yes, finally releasing a candle I've been dreaming about for months.
I've been working on something special. New England Estate is a new candle, extremely limited edition, that captures everything I love about this time of year in New England. Balsam fir, aged mahogany, and cashmere. It's the scent of inherited elegance, of polished silver and evergreen tradition, of the homes where generations gather.
This one feels different from anything I've created before. It's grounding and warm and just a little bit nostalgic. The kind of scent that makes a house feel like it's always been decorated for Christmas, even if you just lit the candle five minutes ago. I found this really lovely reproduction vintage green bubble glass containers and could only make so many, but I thought that was kind of wonderful too, to keep them special. Each one is boxed, wrapped in luxe tartan paper and ready for gifting.
I've been working on a project quietly for months now, and I'm almost ready to share it with you. It's called KRSTN Editions, and it's something I've wanted to create for years, a more intimate way to experience art, to live with it, to let it move through your spaces the way the seasons do.
I'm not quite ready to pull back the curtain completely, but I will say this: it's for those of you who've asked how to build a collection, who want to live with original work but aren't sure where to start, who believe that art should be part of the everyday rhythm of life.
More on this soon. For now, just know it's coming, and it's going to be beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful, I have been spending a few quiet days at the gallery during off hours putting together what I'm calling The Holiday Edit. Not a sale, not a collection launch, just a curated gathering of things I love: small paintings from the studio, hand-poured candles (including New England Estate), vintage treasures I've been collecting all year, and those perfect little objects that make a table or a mantle feel complete.
Everything is under $500, and everything has been chosen with the same intention I bring to my larger work. These are pieces you'll want to keep, the kind that become part of your own holiday tradition, year after year and certainly make the perfect gift.
The gallery is open by appointment. If you'd like to come by, just let me know. I love these slower, more intimate visits where we can actually talk about what you're drawn to and why.
A Few Things I'm Thinking About
The way afternoon light hits the gallery windows around 3pm these days
How much pleasure there is in setting a table, even when it's just the two of us
The smell of balsam fir and how it instantly transforms a space
Permission to rest, to celebrate, to create beauty for its own sake, to live extraordinarily right now
That last one keeps coming back to me. We spend so much time waiting for the right moment, the perfect circumstances, the ideal conditions. But what if this, right now, this season, this Sunday evening, is exactly the moment we've been waiting for?
As we move deeper into November and toward the holidays, I hope you'll give yourself permission too. To slow down. To light the candles. To use the good dishes. To make your home feel the way you want it to feel, not the way you think it should look.
That's what all of this is really about. Not the perfect aesthetic or the right trend or keeping up with anyone else's version of the season. Just the quiet, intentional act of creating a life, and a home, that feels like yours.
Happy weekend from our family to yours!
XO Kristen
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