Daydream Dispatches

For nearly a decade, I’ve been making little illustrated worlds out of leftover swipes and puddles of paint.

Painted Terrain Daydreams began on a whim, when I was cleaning palette knives and started doodling tiny landscapes into the marks for my then-toddler. He’s nearly a teen now, and over time those stray bits of paint became cliffs and coastlines, villages and bridges, towering pine forests and impossible little places, always with at least one tiny explorer wandering somewhere inside them. They’ve become some of the work closest to my heart, and I’ve heard from so many people who have found their own wonder in them, too.

I’ve long wanted to turn the Daydreams into a book. I’ve started more than once, but somewhere along the way I became a little too precious about the idea. The more I loved it, the easier it became to overthink.

So, my friends, Daydream Dispatches is my way of working toward that dream instead.

Each month, I’ll create a new Painted Terrain Daydream and send it out into the world alongside a short dispatch from the the Apprentice Mapmaker exploring it. Think of these as first drafts from a world still taking shape. It’s a way for me to experiment, build the story as I go, and perhaps slowly find my way toward that future book.

And, in the meantime, I hope each envelope adds a little whimsy to your month.

What arrives each month:

For $12/month, each Daydream Dispatch includes

• A new 5” × 7” Painted Terrain Daydream art print, printed with a soft-touch matte finish

• A complementary letter or postcard from the Apprentice Mapmaker, sharing a little of what she’s discovered along the way

• A coordinating sticker, because even serious cartographic expeditions benefit from a little unnecessary decoration

Each month’s artwork and dispatch will be created together, so the story you receive belongs to the world pictured in your print.

How it works:

Enrollment opens from the 1st through the 10th of each month. Subscribe during that window and you’ll receive that month’s Daydream Dispatch, which will be packed and mailed by the 20th. The club is available to U.S. addresses only, and shipping is included in the $12 monthly price.

Because these are created as an ongoing project, each month will be a little different. You don’t need to begin with the first dispatch or collect every one to enjoy them, as each Daydream will stand on its own, but longtime correspondents may notice little threads, familiar places, recurring complaints about wet boots, and other bits of the Mapmaker’s world accumulating along the way.

A small note about where this may lead:

I don’t know exactly what these Daydreams will become yet, and that is rather the point. My hope is that this mail club gives me permission to make them freely again, to follow the paint, discover the places as they appear, and let the Apprentice Mapmaker find her voice without worrying too soon about what the finished thing ought to be.

Perhaps, eventually, these dispatches will become the beginnings of a book.

For now, I’m very happy for them to arrive one envelope at a time.

Welcome to the correspondence.