A gathering in the Pennsylvania mountains to slow down, create, breathe, and return to yourself.
May 22, 2027 · Wellsboro, PA
The practice begins with one simple choice:
Stay.
I STAY is an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and begin a lifelong practice of relationship—with yourself, the living world, and what matters most.
It isn’t about doing more.
It’s about learning to return.
Before I knew there would be a book called I STAY, I was already watching something happen around tables. I.....
This morning I went outside to water the garden. The season is beginning to turn. There is still abundance everywhere—flowers,.....
There comes a moment when something you’ve lived with quietly leaves the studio and begins a life of its own......
There are some projects we create. And then there are some that quietly create us. I STAY began during a.....
Painting today with Alchemy Artistry™, the botanically scented watercolor pigments I make in the studio.
Scent. Color. Water. Attention.
I began making these from a simple curiosity: what happens when fragrance becomes part of the experience of color and making?
Today, I’m just letting the materials lead.
No outcome to chase.
Just the pleasure of staying with what is here.
A beautiful few days in St. Louis. ❤️
We came to celebrate Caroline and Drake at their bridal shower, and what a joy it was to be included in this gathering of family and friends.
Four generations. So much love. And time with my bestie, Bet, whose family has become so dear to me.
In between celebrations, there was time for a little wandering — the Saint Louis Art Museum, where I saw the Women Impressionists and Anselm Kiefer exhibitions, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, where, of course, I found myself completely captivated by the plants.
And that photograph of me on the grand staircase of our beautiful hotel?
A little author moment. My book, I STAY — A Practice of Return, was included as a gift for the shower guests. Seeing my work become part of a gathering like this was especially meaningful.
Friendship. Family. Art. Gardens. Celebration.
A wonderful few days, and so much to carry home. ❤️
Back at the worktable.
Porcelain drawings. Sterling silver. Small Northwoods observations beginning to find their way into finished form.
This is the part of the work I keep returning to — noticing something, staying with it, and seeing what it wants to become in my hands.
Some pieces are finished. Some are still becoming.
My October studio newsletter, Back at the Worktable, went out this morning with more from the bench, Scent Sanctuary, and I STAY Appalachia.
If you’d like future studio letters in your inbox, join Stay in the Conversation through the link in my bio.
A little look inside Scent Sanctuary. ❤️
The perfume organ is ready, the botanical materials are waiting, and there’s tea and something delicious to enjoy.
After more than 25 years of creating botanical perfumes, one of my favorite moments is still the moment someone recognizes the fragrance we’ve been searching for.
That happened with Janele. She knew when we’d found it, and we stopped blending. Beautiful!
And afterward, she shared these lovely words:
“Lucky me! Susan guided me thru an aromatic experience into my essence. 🙏 I highly recommend you try this too 💛”
— Janele Dupuis
Thank you, Janele, for a wonderful afternoon together.
Scent Sanctuary is a private bespoke perfume experience at Aromatic Traditions.
Explore the experience through the link in my bio.
Back at the perfumer’s organ!
It’s been a while since I’ve brought you into this part of my atelier. Books, retreats, jewelry, and a whole lot of making have been happening around here.
Today I’m preparing for a Scent Sanctuary client.
A beautiful presentation box, an empty perfume bottle, and a blank page waiting for someone’s story.
After more than 25 years of botanical perfumery, I still love beginning without knowing exactly where we’ll end up.
That’s part of the pleasure of creating a perfume together.
Scent Sanctuary | A private bespoke perfume experience at Aromatic Traditions.
Details through my website.
Back at the bench.
Tiny drawings on porcelain. Nests, moths, ferns, birch trees, and little pieces of the Northwoods.
Today I’m assembling sterling silver settings, sorting components, and watching these drawings become jewelry.
There’s something pretty wonderful about seeing a drawing become an object you can wear.
A little look at what’s happening in the Aromatic Traditions studio.
Artifacts — made by hand, one at a time.
I mean… WHAT a birthday camping trip! 🍁❤️
67 trips around the sun, and Lake Superior decided to throw me an 80-degree October beach day. In Michigan. In OCTOBER! 😂
Lake of the Clouds dressed in its autumn finest. Wind in our hair. Bare feet in the water. Family adventures. Campfires after dark.
I couldn’t have ordered a better birthday weekend.
And thank you again for all the birthday love. Friends old and new, family near and far. My heart is full.
Here’s to another trip around the sun. Still curious. Still exploring. Still getting my feet wet. ❤️
My view on my 67th trip around the sun. 🍁❤️
Autumn colors, blue skies, my sweet Astro, and a little time to simply be.
Thank you for all the birthday love! So many beautiful wishes from friends old and new, and my family, too.
Feeling very loved. And grateful for every bit of it. ❤️
Meet the Vargabond. 😂
Our new-to-us pontoon boat.
Still recovering from COVID, so life is happening a little more slowly around here.
But today there was a new boat to meet, a little four-wheeling, and the Northwoods putting on its October show.
Turns out you don’t have to be fully recovered to notice how damn beautiful it is out there.
Good to be home. ❤️
Robert Plant. Suzi Dian. Flagstaff. 🤯
I don’t have anything profound to say.
Just WOW.
What an extraordinary night of music — inventive, intimate, wild, beautiful.
And getting to experience it here, in my old Arizona stomping grounds, with my dear friend Chris @ravenseyecreatives ?
Damn.
Some nights you just let yourself be completely alive. ❤️
One year.
I hardly recognize the woman on the left.
Not because she disappeared.
She carried me here.
In the year between these photographs, I created a retreat. Wrote and published a book. Developed scented watercolors. Learned to work with metal and began making jewelry. Painted. Made perfume. Made mistakes. Lost my footing. Found parts of myself I hadn’t known I’d lost.
There was family upheaval. Rupture. Grief. Healing. A whole lot of making. And a whole lot of learning what I could no longer carry.
The woman on the right is exhausted. 😂 She is on the final leg of another trip to Arizona after a very long year.
But look at her.
I don’t think this year made me a new person.
I think it made me more visible to myself.
