Petra Monaco

Hello friend, I've been working on a new book, and I'm excited to finally share it with you. It's called The Resourceful Artist: Make More of What You Create. Build a Business That Fits Your Life. After more than twenty years of making, selling, teaching, and experimenting with different creative businesses, I've accumulated quite a few lessons about what works, what doesn't, and why there's no single right way to earn from art. This book brings those experiences together with practical ideas...

Hello friend, If you've been wondering where all my hiking adventures have gone lately, I promise I haven't given up on the trails. Life has simply been a little fuller than usual, and finding the time to disappear into the mountains for a few hours hasn't been quite as easy. Between work, creative projects, everyday responsibilities, and some exciting family news (my son is getting married!), there's been plenty happening around here. I've missed those longer hikes, of course, but I haven't...

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Hey there, Well, I completely missed sending last week's newsletter. I could probably come up with a good excuse, but the reality is that I had a lot going on, and by the time I realized Sunday had come and gone, I was already thinking about the next seventeen things I needed to do. The last couple of weeks have been a mix of working on new designs, getting October's Trail Side Post and Wild Mug Club ready, playing with watercolor, and trying to make some progress on the projects I've already...

Hey there, I'm 52 today, and apparently my way of celebrating another trip around the sun is to make more things. Instead of doing a birthday sale or sending you a discount code, I wanted to make something that felt a little more special, and a lot more like where Wild Ridge Studio is right now. So I made 52 Trips Around the Sun. It's a small birthday collection filled with the things I've been loving making lately: watercolor, pyrography, wildflowers, mountains, nature studies, and a few...

Hey there, I'm turning 52 on Tuesday, and apparently I've decided the appropriate way to head into another trip around the sun is to commit myself to making a watercolor every day for the rest of the year. Because obviously I needed another project. There are 100 days between September 23 and the end of the year, and I've decided to use them to get more comfortable with watercolor. I'm following along with watercolor tutorials rather than trying to invent 100 brilliant paintings from scratch,...

Hey there, Some adventures begin at the trailhead. Mine usually begin with coffee. September’s Wild Mug Club design, Adventure Starts After Coffee, brings those two things together: the morning ritual and the promise of whatever comes after it. A hike, a drive into the mountains, a day in the studio, or just finally convincing yourself to put on pants and leave the house. The Wild Mug Club has become my way of creating one new collectible mug each month, with each design available for a...

Hey there, Nothing particularly eventful happened around here this week, which, after the last few weeks, is something I am perfectly happy to report. I did, however, decide to start trail running with Zina. I use the word "running" somewhat generously at this point because we're very much figuring this out together, but I wanted something that gets us outside, gives her a job to do, and challenges me a little differently than our usual walks and hikes. So that's where we are right now. A...