Rugged and Fancy

12/08/2024

Here are some of the commissioned pet portraits from the past few months. If you’d like to reserve one, here’s the link: https://ruggedandfancy.com/products/limited-offer-pet-portrait-commission?_pos=1&_sid=dc79036c7&_ss=r

12/08/2024

Hi friends, I hardly ever post on this platform and I realize that means I don’t often share what I’m up to creatively.

One of the things I do in my work as an artist is pet portrait commissions. It was how I first started working as a full time artist many years ago, and at a certain point I discontinued them for many years.

When I was in NYC doing a portrait art activation with Nine Orchard hotel, one of my sitter’s asked if I would paint her dog. For the first time in many years, it felt like a resounding yes.

I had so much fun painting her pet that I reintroduced the commissioned pet portrait offering. It has since become a big big thing and iv head the pleasure of painting for many people, including several celebrities. (I never saw that development coming and it’s a fun little development in one area of my work!)

I have a few spaces open now for early Fall delivery. Please share with someone you think would appreciate it! It helps me tremendously when you talk about and share my work. Thank you!

If you’ve followed along on my art journey over the years, you may remember that I had a season of painting pet portraits. It was actually my first public offering that really took off. I painted A LOT of pet portraits. And about five years ago I discontinued this offering. While in New York City ...

08/07/2024

Scene: The most picturesque couple invite all their friends to live in a Tuscan villa and celebrate their epic love, the lives we’ve all created, to stay up late laughing and crying and all the pasta and art making and blazing sun and big ideas and so much gratitude.




studio

02/07/2024

I’ve kept sketchbooks and journals for 25+ years. About eight years ago, I combined the practices so my sketchbooks are my journals. You’ll find lots of doodles, small paintings of where I am, lots and lots of lists and quotes and little things taped inside, many, many flowers and more.

I think about how one day my son will likely inherit these sketchbooks and how he will see all the ways I’ve observed him and loved him and wanted to capture these tender moments of his early years in the pages.

Pay attention to the things you find yourself drawing and painting and thinking about over and over and over. It reveals so much about your inner realms, your values and what you love.

I’d love to see a peek in your sketchbook! If you’d like to send me a DM or post in stories and tag I’d love to cheer you on! Xo

02/07/2024

📣PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT📣

Don’t give away your power by waiting on someone else to come along and be your fairy godmother! While it would rad to catch a shooting star and ride into the cosmos, you’re losing precious time sitting around twiddling your thumbs hoping for it.

Of course, don’t discredit the potential for the miraculous, BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY— don’t discredit yourself! You are capable of making everything you’ve ever wanted your reality. And it requires a lot of dedication, a lot of doing the hard work of showing up and getting curious and creating creating creating, and sharing it and unf*cking yourself and building trust and resilience in yourself and the universe.

More than wondering about the potential for a shooting star, visualize and get clarity on what you want to make for yourself. What would it look like? What would it feel like in your body? And then start taking action!

It will be challenging. And it will be the greatest gratification.

Can I tell you how many times I had a crazy opportunity come up and I’d think “omg, THIS IS IT!” like that one opportunity would skyrocket me to some expression of “success.” I’ve done some INSANE cool stuff. And you know what? I realized that I would kind of feel down when it was over, because I had this false expectation that each awesome opportunity and experience would be THE ONE.

I had to shift this narrative and perception because the ACTUAL REALITY is that each one of these experiences is part of the journey. I am ON the journey. I don’t actually want to skyrocket on one single thing and then, fizzle, that’s it. The success is in the whole journey, all of its parts and twists and surprises.

And when I shifted this perspective and understanding, WOW how things opened up for me.

I challenge you to really get honest with yourself— are you giving away your power by hoping and waiting for someone else to come along and give you a shooting star ride to success? Cool, keep on hoping (because shooting stars, while rare, are real!) AND IN THE MEANTIME… what are you going to do to start aligning with the vision you have for your life?

K, love you, byeee. Xo
Morgan 💫

30/06/2024

These are little glimpses into my creative spaces. 🪟🪞✨

I love having a studio at home, where I can pop in anytime I feel the inspiration, even in the middle of the night or as soon as I rise before the sun. That easy access also insures that I can’t come up with excuses to not be in there.

It’s easy to find excuses and not get in your practice, whatever that may be. That’s resistance driving the car.

It’s also easy to get in your practice if you look at all the ways you can creatively do what you do. That’s magnetism driving the car.

Don’t have a space? Work with what you’ve got.
I challenge you to create a small “kit” of portable essentials that immediately drop you into the creative movement/act of creation.

Don’t have time? Check how much time you spend scrolling your devices. Then cut twenty minutes off that screen time and devote it and guard it for your practice.

These are small hacks that lead to BIG change, IF you commit to it with enough regularity that you begin to see the positive impact of showing up again and again and again.

I’d love to see your space! Post it in your stories and tag me

Let’s cheer each other on! 🫶💎🔥🦋✨

25/06/2024

A few more of these miniature Chanel paintings I painted during Paris Fashion Week, each one scented by Chanel.

These pictured here remain. The others are now in collections across the country, which is so delightful! I love creating spontaneously inspired collections, especially while traveling.

I’m very much looking forward to my next adventure and what it will inspire! Any guesses where I’m heading next?

20/06/2024

It’s true, I was invited to exhibit in a gallery show during the Venice Biennale in Italy and while I was SO EXCITED, the more I sat with it, went through the fine print, etc, it became a resounding no for me. Now some of you might read this and be like “WTF MORGAN, You should say yes to an opportunity like this!” And past me would’ve said yes to everything, and got me into some sticky situations when I knew in my gut I shouldn’t have done that thing. I’m talking about dreamy, shiny things that got me into bad contracts, got me compromising on my values, ended up being financially not good.

So now I’m in my era of allowing my intuition and energetic gifts to help determine if something is a yes or a no. This may sound crazy— and it sort of is. Because it goes against the rugged individualism and meritocracy of our times. This won’t make sense to many. And that’s okay. I’m doing things a different way.

Here’s some of my thoughts and tools I employ in this process of life:

1. Ask yourself: What do I want? What do I want my life to be? To feel like? What do I care about? What are my real dreams, outside of what the world tells me to do and be? Write it down. And always be refining it as you go. This clarity is a declaration. It is a motivation and vision you’ve cast, calling in your Future Self to meet you in your present.

2. Do your unf*cking. (Lol). You don’t have to be your trauma, and the only way to shed it is to do the work of unfurling it, releasing it, repatterning it. This is BIG STUFF. Don’t be scared. You can do it.

3. Resource yourself well! Find the right resources and tools for you. It will be different for each of us.

My top resources are - a neural and energetic repatterning program that I’ve done for 5+ years.

Human Design has been SUCH an incredible tool in understanding how my energy works, how to best make decisions based on my unique circuitry, how to be in relationship with others, where I take on stories or conditioning from the outside world. It’s like the ultimate biohacking tool.

There’s so much more, but now I’m out of caption space! 😹 Is this resonating? Let me know in a comment! 🫶

19/06/2024

Creativity begins the moment we start challenging ourselves to see something differently.

Creativity isn’t just on the act of making. It’s in the shifting of perception, the tapping into our senses, the challenging of ourselves and the ways we see things.

If you look at it that way, the opportunity to connect with your creativity exists every second. And it’s something available to each of us, whether we identify as an artist or not.

My new workbook “Create Anyway: The Average Person’s Guide to Igniting Your Creative Spark” is an invitation, opportunity and framework to support you in this journey. Through guided prompts, reflection points and encouragements, you’re going to find that wonderful flame within! This is for everyone, especially those of you who claim you have no creativity at all.

Available at www.ruggedandfancy.com

And be sure to listen to my podcast interview about creativity, life as an artist, strategy and more on , available everywhere you listen to podcasts.
Xo
Morgan

05/06/2024

Making beautiful art, playing in the wildflowers, tending the one I love. This is what May and early June have been. When all my best laid plans suddenly have a radical change, I can trust wholeheartedly that it’s a cosmic redirection. And while it can be challenging/hard/maybe even scary, this deep knowing and the deep trust in myself and my capabilities gives me peace and courage.

In the first day of Summer, my sweet basically shattered the bones in his radius and wrist, having to wait 9 days for reconstructive surgery. It’s been brutal, tbh and will take one year to recover. It’s been around the clock care, which I’m not great at tbh. I’m endlessly thankful to my sister, a nurse, who has stayed with us and helped us through it.

At the same time, I’m celebrating the release of my first workbook, “Create Anyway: The Average Person’s Guide to Igniting Your Creative Spark.” This is something I’m so proud of and it’s so amazing to see and hear from people around the world who have ordered it and are experiencing the magic of connecting with their own creativity. I’ve got several podcast interviews coming up, carving time to work on and complete my Summer commissions and I’ve got a ten year old who I’m trying to still give a special Summer (even though it all changed with his dad’s accident).

Our capacity to experience, feel and hold many things at once is so wild. This has been HARD. And yet, we seek and experience the magic in it (while also being SO READY to get past the hard part). There are tender moments of looking at the flowers, a beautiful sunset, hearing our son’s laughter, visits from people who love us, the deep comfort of falling into bed at the end of the day and letting the body rest.

This is the end of May and early June 2024. 🫶

29/05/2024

I loved creating these custom lampshades for designer and client 🌠

I let the curve of the existing lampshades shape the vision, paralleling the curve of an eyelid. I used a Manganese blue on the shades, pulling from that blue in the mirror.

I have so much fun doing these. It’s like making magic.
Thank you to Danielle and Jess for coming to me for this gorgeous project!

19/05/2024

We are each born with innate creativity, whether we feel “artistic” or not. Remember being a little kid, the worlds you would create and the freedom with which you moved through life and imagination.

As life goes on, we can get separated from this inherent creativity. It can get squashed down by life and stress and exhaustion, and you may find yourself feeling just so worn out. So frustrated. So BLAH.

I think this is a critical symptoms of our body and spirit trying to get our attention, asking us to do something differently.

Creativity won’t solve all your problems, but it will reconnect you with these vital parts of yourself. Creativity will rekindle your imagination, shift the way you see yourself and the world around you. It will give you a more robust toolbox that impact the way you walk through life, problem solve and spend your precious time in your body, in your mind, in your spirit.

CREATE ANYWAY is a 29 page interactive workbook that I have created, based on years of my own practice of art and life and resistance, years of traveling the world as a working artist, creative mentor and someone who talks A LOT to people who are want to try something and feel a lot of anxiety and resistance around it.

This workbook contains accessible prompts with activities, suggestions and support, reflection points, supply lists, tips and tricks, encouragement and more.

What happens when you reclaim your creative spark?
I dare you to find out!

Comment below if you’d like me to send you the link.
Available at ruggedandfancy.com
🧨✨⚡️🕯️🐦‍🔥