January
Beginning of a new year and beginning of a newsletter
If you’re reading this, we probably already know each other. But just in case we don’t, my name is Tessa Rose Rankin and I am an artist originally from Nova Scotia, currently living on PEI with my husband, daughter, and dog, Jojo. My daughter is a totally awesome almost two-year-old, and hanging out with her is an endeavour which currently absorbs much more of my time than making art does.
It is perhaps this lack of time, coupled with an abundance of anxiety, that has led me here, in the dawn of the new year, to this tentative project of creating a monthly newsletter. The process of sharing what I make on social media has always caused my already present heart palpitations to intensify; so, following an especially intense bout of panic over the holidays, I decided to try out a new way to share my work. A newsletter seems to offer a chance for more freedom in an organizational sense, but is also contained in its limited monthly release. We’ll see exactly how how it pans out, but my intention is to share some art, some thoughts, perhaps a vegan recipe, or some other project we’ve got on the go in the middle of each month. So here we go with…
As the holiday season winds to an end, I feel a little panic rise up to my throat. What will I do with my toddler in the winter months to come? Long, frigid, grey days without the distraction of learning carols, planning gifts to cobble together, and constant decorations to create. The holidays had been a holly jolly rodeo for my daughter, and here in mid January she is still belting out ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!’ on repeat.
Despite her persistence in caroling, by mid January my daughter’s wistfulness for the holidays has begun to fade, and together we are doing our best to lean into the peaceful seclusion of the winter months…though in truth I’m failing to unlock this elusive winter peace in my self. Wildfires roar in California, genocide continues in Gaza, and oligarchies seem to increasingly rule the world. My total lack of control in the face of global atrocities leads me to obsess over petty worries of my small world, such as cracks on the bathroom ceiling and the price I just paid for a bottle of pickles. During long days in the house, I don’t often do well to model calm behaviour for my daughter. Our best solace is, as always, to get outside. We scramble to find two pairs of matching mittens and boots in our milk carton full of outdoor stuff that sits by the doorway and venture out for a walk to put aside our worries and embrace the subtle beauty of the falling snow.
I’d planned to take a reprieve from working on art in January after a rush of selling Christmas cards in December, but have ended up finding a lot of joy in working on gifts for friends who are celebrating one thing or another. So many friends of mine in fact seem to be having babies in the upcoming months, and in my usual practice for new arrivals, I’ve painted a portrait of an animal for each of them. Not a practical gift for parents scraping together stuff for a baby, but perhaps these works will bring some delight and imagination to young eyes in time. Here is a donkey requested by my dear friend Matty. The bunny is for Katie.
Ok…The one last thing I have to share is an accidental muffin recipe. I have no idea if these muffins will turn out as well for you as they did for me, because I did not use a recipe and am admittedly making this recipe up after the fact.
Every time I seek out a muffin recipe (which is often) I only meet two extremes. First, there are the recipes for cupcakes posing as muffins that, while great in their own way, might make you feel pretty sick if you stuff one down before 9am. On the other end of the spectrum, there is the ultra health kick, sugar free, gluten free, oil free, rock like substance that you end up using as bait to lure your disobedient dog to do your bidding until he realizes this muffin is no muffin, and neither human nor dog would willingly consume it. As far as I’ve looked, a muffin recipe in the middle doesn’t seem to exist, so I had to make it up.
Blueberry ‘meet me in the middle’ Muffins
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground up oats
1/4 ground almonds
1/4 ground coconut
1/4 packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking Soda
1/2 salt
1 tsp cardamom
1 1/4 cup oat milk
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
Rind and juice of a clementine
1.5 cups blueberries
Hmm directions. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and get your muffin tins ready. You know the drill. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Add them together. Fold in blueberries. Add batter to muffin tins and bake for 25 or so minutes (I also added a little crumble to the muffins before baking - essentially vegan butter, brown sugar, flour, salt…probably not necessary but we love a little extra pizzazz).
check out my sous chef in this adorably messy kitchen!
Thanks for reading the first month of this newsletter and hope to see you in February.
Xo Tessa