maddienicolas.studio

I've been a lifelong maker of things. When I was younger, my making included mostly drawing, photography, printmaking. Today, it's garments, accessories, soft sculpture, still photography, and a lot of software. Here's a look into my [virtual] studio.

Engineer by Training, Artist by Doing

Cotton, wool, and miscellaneous natural, cellulosic, and synthetic fiber woven fabric

Confronted with the waste created by my garment sewing projects, I attempt to reconstitute a new textile from scraps, but by weaving rather than piecing, before quilting the layers together.

8.75" x 10.25" x 0.25"


(Extra)ordinary Binary

An exploration of the plain weave, the basic binary system serving as the foundation of all woven textiles.

Feeling drawn more than ever to natural fibers and nostalgic imagery.

My mom took these photos of Dutch tulip souvenirs on her first trip to Europe in the 90s. Having just immigrated to the US, she saved up her hard-earned money to vacation solo all over Europe. Seeing these places through her eyes as I scanned her box of long-forgotten 35mm negatives was the wildest trip -- more come from this precious archive...

*   35mm film scan digitally printed on organic cotton interlock

*   Can be worn either way -- the front and the back are the same shape

*   French side seams & blind stretch stitch hem



Photographed wood, metal, clay on 100% organic cotton. 

Eternal Bloom

(Extra)ordinary binary

I took these photos at Abungan Falls, a massive waterfall and swimming hole that sits deep into the jungle off the eastern coast of Luzon (a few hours' drive from my mother's home province). After a refreshing soak and one tractor breakdown later, we sipped on buko juice until our straws ran dry and our makeshift spoons had salvaged every sliver of the sweet, delicate meat. Nature's candy -- packaged in a neat, green, handheld canteen.


Buko is the Tagalog word for young coconut, abundant in the Philippines and the source of island life. Made from denim printed with 35mm photo scans of Abungan Falls, Japanese cotton/linen, and Fidlock hardware closures.

Buko Bag

Navigating the transition from winter to spring by making this tote of all-season colors from scraps of my 2025 projects. (Still don't know what colors I am.)

Shoulder Seasons Scrap Bag

Visions and memories through many lenses. Fabric designed by me. Skirt pattern by Puff and Pencil.

Paris, Refracted

Bubble wrap, plastic packaging, grosgrain ribbon, thread

Functional fruit basket made by hand-processing over six layers of plastic waste (bubble wrap, shipping and food packaging) and then cutting and hand-sewing to use all material in the finished product.


Shelf Stable Fruit Basket

Single-use plastic packaging

Plastic collage made from food packaging, wrappers, and shopping bags from Tokyo, Japan. Experimenting with different types of plastic melted at different temperatures resulted in manipulation of the original material via warping and "lace"-making.


Tomato To-Go

Material research on upcycling soft plastic waste: melted, molded, sculpted & sewn.

A Place for Waste: Experiments in Plastic

4.25" L x 2.75" W, 8 pages, optional mending kit includes: assorted needles, thread, buttons

Beginner-friendly instructions (illustrations & video demos) on how to hand-sew and repair your clothes. Includes instructions for starting and ending stitches as well as six stitches for common repairs.

Available as a free digital download or as a paper zine + mending kit for sale [here](https://sayang.metalabel.com/try-cpr-zine).


Try CPR Zine

Save your clothes and learn how to bring them back to life with this instructional zine and mending kit.

Try CPR: Clothing Patch & Repair

Inspired by the details from original 19th-century workwear and made from some of the last American-milled denim. A poetic return to denim’s heritage and function.

My first pair of jeans.

Earlier this year I came across a bolt of indigo denim that caught my eye, though I can't exactly describe why. Was it the color, texture, or something else? It had that perfect mid-dark wash and a hardy handfeel that attracted me to it. I caught of a glimpse of the manufacturer's signature and felt even more convinced by its quality: "DNA FR," it said. *French* *denim*, I thought, *even more unique!* and purchased it before heading out.

<div style="text-align: center">•</div>

When it came to researching design details for my first pair, I was gifted a copy of TAUKO Magazine's No. 14 edition on denim, which featured a piece on original 1800s workwear rescued from Nevada mines. There was a fantastic reference image and modern replica of a back pocket, the  shape of which, I learned, was originally designed to fit a pointed spade. Further, I discovered that most original pairs of denim only had one back pocket, as most miners were right-handed.

The first jeans as we know them were the result of not the particular combination of pants constructed from duck cloth or denim, but actually a patent for rivets, those little round button-like fasteners that may or may not be affixed at the top of a pocket on your own pair of jeans. Purely for heritage aesthetic reasons today, that design detail was intended to secure pockets from wear and tear, when jeans were true workwear worn by loggers and miners in the West. Because the inventor of the rivet, tailor Jacob Davis (in conjunction with his financier and fabric supplier Levi Strauss), had the exclusive right to its use, competitors resorted to other inventive means of pocket fastening, such as the style I saw in TAUKO: a pocket with two straps on its sides extending upwards, anchored inside the waistband. Lacking some rivets in my stash (and somewhat fearful of installing them), I set out to make my own rivet-less heritage pocket on my pair of wide leg jeans.

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Later on, some quick Google searches quickly educated me on the true origin of my beloved French denim. DNA, it turns out, stood for Denim North America. Georgia-based DNA Textiles, formerly Denim North America, used to supply millions of yards per year to Levi’s, A\&F, and the like when it was a leader in denim production during the height of the cotton denim industry in the American South. Today, the company specializes only in technical fabrics, after it shut down its fashion fabrics division in 2017 (for pretty obvious reasons). This denim is part of their flame-resistant line for welding, hence, FR.

Coincidentally enough, I learned how to weld steel metal this past summer, and I'll wear these American-made jeans with pride the next time I'm in the shop.


The Remnants of Denim in North America

Ink on cotton/linen, copper, monofilament, clothespins

This plate shows a composite image of our respective grandmothers’ homes in Luzon. The textile installation references the drying of clothes and linens often seen inside open-air sections of Filipino homes. The hand-cut relief prints are silhouettes taken from architectural elements of traditional Philippine interiors, while the curtain and linens are treated with starching and pleating methods of fabric manipulation from traditional Filipiniana (traditional women’s dress).

Our ancestral homes were mostly inaccessible to us throughout our lives, given we live in the States. As such, we reflected on our elders' resolve to remain in their homes amidst increasing urbanization, displacement, and forced migration. We recognize that our ancestral homes are a reflection of our persistent lineage - places that hold personal history and material memory despite our spatial distance.


Remaining

Copper, polyethylene netting

This composite image shows traditional fishing methods on the western coast of Luzon. These images were taken from the University of Michigan's collection of Philippine historical photos from the early 1900s: the beginning of the Philippines long history as a pseudo-colony of the US.

Today, fisherfolk in the Philippines suffer from continuous loss of livelihood due to military activity and environmental damage on the coast. This is a direct result of the US installation of military bases along Philippine coastlines amidst rising global tensions in the region.

We recognize that, whatever the impending conflict, US presence in the Philippines will continue to put Filipinos in the direct line of harm and has already damaged our land's rich ecosystems. We stand with Filipino fishing communities in their protection of our waters, and in their ongoing resistance against the militarization of the Philippine Sea.




Despite

Copper, nylon, monofilament

This piece displays a composite image of a US military staging area and a sniper’s nest hidden in a mango tree. These images were taken from the Library of Congress archives, which have extensive documentation of the atrocities of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). Through the duration of the three-year war, over two-hundred thousand Filipinos were killed by American soldiers. At the close of the war, the Philippines lost its recently gained independence from Spain and became a colony of the US.

Further, the Library of Congress’ image captions from the 1900s demonstrate the villainization of the Philippine resistance against colonization, referring to Filipino fighters as ‘insurgents’. We reclaim these images to more accurately contextualize the grief and loss that resulted from the war, and recognize that US militarization in the Philippines today risks the same outcomes of violence.


Again

Three-piece installation and first-time collaboration with Mico Astrid at Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency, Saugatuck, MI.

Remaining, Despite, Again

Berlin & Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Camino del Norte, San Sebastián a Bilbao

Lisboa, Portugal

Scenes from Germany, Euskal Herria, Portugal. 35mm photography.

Buen Camino

Things I've Made

# How it started

My first film camera was a gift from my mom circa 2013, which launched many years of cataloguing my adolescence, high school escapades, travels on a college budget, and early adulthood. Most of this came to a halt in 2020, for obvious reasons—not much to photograph when you never leave the house!—but what began was a long journey in making: first it was face masks, then altered and upcycled clothes, then garments from scratch by following a pattern, then \_\_\_?

<div style="text-align: center">![](/images/image1-90.png)<sub>Happy accidents from my early photography days. Left: The California desert taken on my Diana Mini, which had this fun double exposure feature built in to it. Right: Off the coast of Mactan Island, Philippines, shortly before I dropped my camera in the salty ocean, which resulted in this wonderful rainbow effect.</sub></div>

# Where it's going

I wrote about my goals/loose objectives for the new year in a previous post, and one of them was to complete a few projects focusing on a list of mysteriously unnamed techniques... one of which was to design and sew with my own fabric, created with scans of my aforementioned 35mm film photos. As I also wrote about, I've made quite a few big moves over the last two years, and I just miraculously re-found the USB drive with photos from the past 10+ years as well as the box of my negatives.

Up until a few months ago, I had always seen my photography and wearable art-making as distinct and separate disciplines... until I heard about a little service called Spoonflower. It's actually not little, but quite a large company, owned by its parent Shutterfly (you most likely know it for its print-on-demand paper products). Before it was acquired by Shutterfly, Spoonflower got its start in North Carolina converting inkjet printers to print on fabric out of an old sock factory. According to this [feature on TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/15/tc-makers-spoonflowe/), co-founder Stephen Fraser credits the idea to his wife, Kim, who wanted new curtains but was unsatisfied with existing fabric designs on the market.

I had mostly known of Spoonflower as a marketplace for surface designers to offer their designs to be printed on demand, and for customers who want to purchase fabric or other textile home goods with designs from the marketplace. They currently have [thirty types of fabric](https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric-shop) available for custom printing with a range of fiber content (maybe half are completely synthetic, some blends, and some 100% cellulosic) and weave/knit types (even the weird ones, like minky). Ordering fabric online is always a risk, let alone from a new-to-me supplier with mixed reviews on r/sewing, so I thought it best to order some samples before trying out a whole yard. (Spoiler: I didn't actually listen to my own advice and did order 1yd of something I was just really excited to make. That project is [here](https://maddienicolas.studio/projects/paris-refracted/)!).

## My process

### 1. The Images

I just started by picking out images I liked, whether I thought they would make for an interesting print on fabric or I really liked their colors and wanted to test the color reproduction of the images on fabric. I used a photo editor to create a canvas and start dragging in my favorite images and arranging them like a collage or a moodboard.

<div style="text-align: center">![](/images/Screenshot%202026-02-18%20at%201.39.17%E2%80%AFPM.png)<sub>Example of some of my "moodboards," or photo groupings I thought looked cool</sub></div>

If you've never used a photo editor before, I highly recommend checking out this great tutorial posted by Spoonflower on how you can use [free, open-source software](https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204265944-Tutorial-Create-a-Large-scale-Image-with-Free-Software) to set up your images. You could also use it to follow along and fill in the gaps on steps I won't mention in detail here. As stated in the tutorial, you technically need to have decided on fabric before you can finalize your image, so for the the purposes of this step, I would just start by creating a blank file and playing around with different images.

### 2. The Fabric

Once I had a few images/compositions in mind, I went back to Spoonflower's [list of fabrics](https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric-shop) and chose a few that I was interested in sampling. My criteria were

*   Fabrics I would already typically sew with and wear

*   Unique fabrics it would be interesting to see how photos would print on

*   Preferably natural fibers (what I typically wear anyway)

*   Anything I had in mind for a garment project already

Ultimately I decided to try the following:

*   Organic Cotton Knit (56" wide) — this has a natural (undyed) cotton base color, thought it would work well with the sepia-tone photos I took with some lomography film; think: dreamy and cozy t-shirts, secret pajamas

*   Organic Cotton Sateen (56" wide) — touted as having incredibly detailed print quality, I went for some photos with small figures and architectural details; think: crisp button ups, skirts or sleeves with pleat details

*   Cotton Spandex Jersey (60" wide) — I had a project in mind already that required a similar fabric and wanted to see how detailed this fabric could go; think: fitted tops and dresses with slits

*   Organic Sweet Pea Gauze (56" wide) — you rarely see prints on gauze! thought I would stress test the detail reproduction by choosing motifs with small details and repeats; think: airy summer layering pieces, maybe a swimsuit cover-up?

*   Dogwood Denim (56" wide) — I have to confess, I wasn't originally interested in the denim, then I found the *chefs kiss* perfect photo + project for it and decided to go all in on a full yard.

### 3. The Maths

The dreaded part: seeing if my photos were high resolution enough to print at scale. Spoonflower recommends a minimum of 150 PPI (pixels per inch), so the formula to calculate how large the image needs to be is

<div style="text-align: center">***Desired dimensions (width x length) - multiplied by 150 = number of pixels (width x length)***</div>

Some of my film scans are from the photo lab (varying dimensions but I usually don't splurge for the hi-res), and some are scans I did myself on my home scanner, from the Epson Perfection series. I didn't feel like re-scanning any negatives at this point, but wanted to see if I could just make it work with the ones I already had.

There were two ways for me to figure this out:

1.  Start with the image(s) I wanted to print, assess their pixel dimensions, and see what dimensions in inches they would fill

2.  Start with the fabric and dimensions I wanted printed, then create a digital canvas to that size and resolution, and pull in images to see how they compare.

I went with option (2), which is what Spoonflower also details in their [tutorial](https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204265944-Tutorial-Create-a-Large-scale-Image-with-Free-Software). You will need to know the width of your chosen fabric as well as the dimensions you want to fill with it. I knew I wanted fat quarters, which is basically 1/2 the original fabric width x 1/2 yard (18"). Following the same steps in the tutorial, I set up a canvas with the dimensions in inches and 150 PPI for the resolution, which show you on screen how much of the fabric piece you can fill out. From there, you can continue to open as many images as you want and arrange them on the canvas.

<div style="text-align: center">![](/images/Screenshot%202026-02-19%20at%209.53.36%E2%80%AFPM.png)<sub>For some reason this image is no longer on the Help Center page, but it's a handy chart for finding the right width and pixel dimensions for any of the fabrics they sell.</sub></div>

Note: the images will appear exactly at the size within the fabric they *should* be printed at, according to the 150 PPI recommendation. If you scale the image up to fill a larger portion of the fabric, you're going to lose the original quality of the image when it's printed. I wanted to avoid that, so I chose multiple, smaller images for most of my canvases and used some at a larger size if the scans were large enough.

### 4. The Layout Editor

Once the file is exported as a JPEG, it's relatively straightforward to upload it to your "design library" and preview it in their handy editor. Ensuring the preview fabric and preview cut size are set to what you designed for, you shouldn't need to adjust anything else. In the case that your image size is smaller than the fabric cut size, you can choose from a variety of repeat options, which is neat. (The mirror option is ultimately how I chose to design the fabric I printed at a full yard on denim for [this](https://maddienicolas.studio/projects/paris-refracted/).) You can always scale down your image, but not make it any larger (since its PPI is already set to the largest you should go).

### 5. The Waiting Game

With my files prepared and orders in my shopping cart, I hit Purchase. Here's how long it took for me to get my orders in hand:

*   Jan 7th: Order placed

*   Jan 13th: The 4 fat quarters I ordered were shipped

*   Jan 14th: The 1yd I ordered was shipped

*   Jan 17th: The first package arrived

*   Jan 20th: The second package arrived

Based on their website, their printing facilities are currently in South Carolina and Arizona, and I'm based in Chicago, IL. Two weeks from ordering the fabric to it getting prewashed in my laundry machine is a pretty good turnaround, IMO.

### 6. The *Actual* Fabric (and my opinions on it)

Here are some photos, pre-wash:

<div style="text-align: center">![](/images/samples.png)<sub>Left to right, top to bottom: gauze, cotton knit, cotton jersey spandex, cotton sateen, denim</sub></div>

After one wash (cold, delicates—always) and a hang dry, I'm pretty happy to report the colors and quality held up pretty much the same on all five types (you'd hope so). I can't really speak to (yet) how they will look after years and washing down the line, since I've only sewn three things with my samples and washed them somewhere between 1-4 times per garment.

It's worth noting that I ordered exclusively natural-fiber-based garments, which are printed with large format inkjet printers: just like those that print on nice photo paper, they precisely print tiiiiiny droplets of ink that sit on the surface of the material. Even screenprinting fabric works the same way, except screenprinting ink usually contains specialty binders and additives that "seep" into the fabric more. And those still fade over time. Spoonflower does say they use "water-based, non-toxic" pigment inks, so I'm guessing they maybe don't use as much of the extra solvents that are present in other fabric screenprinting inks.

If you order synthetic fabrics, those are printed using the sublimation method, which uses heat to convert solid ink into gas that bonds permanently with the polymers in synthetic fibers, so those prints will most likely never fade because they, well, won't disintegrate for a very, very long time. I think Spoonflower's options for performance/sport fabrics for swimwear or athletic wear look pretty solid, so I may try those out in the future.

#### A note on pricing

No, the fabric is not cheap. The most affordable fabric is their signature quilting cotton at $20/yard and their most expensive is the Belgian Linen, at a whopping $89/yard. The common fabrics for garment making fall in the $20-30/yard range with some fancy options like Essex Linen, a cotton-silk sateen, and sport lycra hitting above that.

In addition to the base fabric costs, I'm not sure what percentage the labor and equipment and ink costs make up of the price, but I'm guessing it's more than the fabric itself, in the case of the cheaper fabrics (less so in the case of the expensive fabrics). For the same price per yard, you can certainly buy much higher-quality fabrics than the base white fabric off the roll from Spoonflower, but what you're paying for is primarily the custom-printing service. Since $30/yard is usually my upper budget when it comes to buying fabric for my projects (and that would be for a special occasion...), I think it's only worth it for me for very intentionally planned, specific projects. Those will almost certainly include samples of the print on fabric as well, so it's important to factor that into the budget here too.

### 7. The Projects

Knowing that I mostly ordered fat quarters, I didn't really have anything in mind I could make with them (except the denim skirt I made out of 1yd that I've now cited for a third time). Turns out the knit pieces were *just enough* to squeeze out a piece of headwear (traced from a balaclava I already own), and a shortened version of the [Titillating Tank pattern by Gracie Steel](https://graciesteel.com/products/titillating-tank-dress-pdf-sewing-pattern?srsltid=AfmBOoo7irFg6dgRr7XX1XGbroUHr62MJ8exJshaN16zDE4a-APyRutR).

![](/images/image1-7.png)

### 8. The Next Thing

As I noted above, the fabric isn't cheap, and ordering custom fabric certainly feels like an even deeper commitment (and sunken cost) than buying already produced fabric. So, I'm letting the ideas marinate while I work through some other projects. But, I will say, I have the bug! I love seeing my photos manipulated and recontextualized whether through the material properties, garment design and fit, or fabric placement.

I recently watched a video about a Japanese textile designer who said he loves seeing how his large-scale figurative prints will get transformed as the composition is cut up and shaped into a home decor item or clothing. I also recently met a designer in my city who creates unique and colorful prints intended to be worn as garments, an extension of one's bodily expression.

As a sewist whose fabric options are typically limited to what's in store or online (already milled and produced), I have been completely removed from the people who meticulously design the fabrics themselves (whether through yarn or weave choice, or what prints and variations and in what colors and at what scale—so many decisions I'm already overwhelmed). This felt like a watershed moment in terms of owning more of the design process behind the fabric itself, one of the critical ingredients that goes into making a quality garment. (I'd consider the other two ingredients garment design and technical construction skill, the triple-venn-diagram of which is now forming in my head and might be the subject of a future post...)

*Just an update: while researching what other sewists think of Spoonflower on Reddit, I came across another fabric print-on-demand service called* [*Raspberry Creek*](https://raspberrycreekfabrics.com/)*. They seem to offer a large range of fabrics as well, including things that Spoonflower doesn't offer (French Terry sounds particularly interesting!) so I may give that service a try in the future as well...*

### Other Resources

*   [A Guide to Shopping for Spoonflower Fabric](https://www.seamwork.com/fabric-guides/a-guide-to-shopping-for-spoonflower-fabric?srsltid=AfmBOopvfpokIP_GV8uUuCmklnQbFdyzOz0vL-GxUOv3Wh0n-8Tiks8g) by Seamwork
*   [This guide](https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204444610-Sizing-Your-Design) on the Spoonflower Help Center, Sizing Your Design, which I found the most helpful and relevant to sizing images



My first time designing and sewing my own custom-made fabric. Here's how it went →

Anyone familiar with famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright has undoubtedly felt the effect of his signature compression-and-release design ethos. Similar to the tension and resolve of a compelling narrative, Wright's works often involved introducing the viewer through a crouched archway or tight quarters before opening up to a grand entryway or living room. Walking through a singular building may involve another series of compress-and-release cycles. Through its cycles, one is able to both tolerate the claustrophobic quarters and simultaneously appreciate the breath of air release affords.

Compression and release are the words I'd use to retroactively describe my 2025. Cycles of grounding and expanding.

## grounding

In 2025, I began the year driving across the US to start a new life on the east coast, subsequently moved between three different "home bases" (plus a bonus month! in Europe), before moving into our first long-term apartment lease in over two years. I've spent the past three months packing, shipping, unpacking, moving, rearranging, hanging, cleaning, organizing. It was the most effort I've put into grounding myself into a home in some time now, but I can say I am ever happier for it.

![](/images/IMG_5703.JPG)

Every time I wake up and it's subfreezing (is that a thing? because it feels like it should be) and snowing out, I appreciate how lucky I am to (1) work from home and (2) have such a lovely home.

## expanding

2025 was also the year of a couple of more exciting firsts:

*   My first artist residency, done in collaboration with my cousin and writer Mico, at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency

*   My first creative retreat, hosted by the incredible Courtney of The Sewcial Connection in Tokyo, Japan

![](/images/2026.png)

Traveling (near and far) to spend uninterrupted, expansive time with the creatives at Ox-Bow (six other visual artists and a dozen or so writers) and with the other sewing ladies in Japan was the greatest gift to myself.

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At Ox-Bow, I embraced the spirit of the "hold space" retreat by letting the work evolve on its own time frame, contrary to my typical plan-oriented practice at home. I also had the opportunity to be surrounded by other impressive creatives whose work pushed me in professional and creative ways.

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My first solo international trip in five years, the Tokyo Creative Retreat with The Sewcial Connection was a trip to remember and cherish (and I will in the most materialistic way, almost 20 kilos of fabric). I met and learned from some incredible local artisans and took in the artful way of life in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo.

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By the end of the year, my world had both come back down to earth in our new home in Chicago and expanded, shifting my perspective of myself as an artist and creative. Entering 2026, I spent the past month contemplating resolutions/new year goals/guiding principles/however you call them and decided on an overarching theme, with two objectives, each supported by two key results. In the corporate world, this is known as the OKR framework—sometimes (or often) dreaded, depending on the workplace—and it's a brilliant system tbh.

## taking risks; being open to where they lead (...or don't)

> Objective 1: Embrace experimentation and play in my practice
>
> Key Result: Start and finish 1-3 projects in each of my 3 new materials/techniques
>
> Key Result: 1+ project with complete toile/muslin/fitting/repeat process

I have a confession to make: when it comes to projects or tasks, I lean more toward enjoying completing them than enjoying making or doing them. When I plan a garment sewing project, I often envision the design I have in mind (leaning on some strong visualization skills) throughout the process, a driving force pushing me to complete it, somewhat automatically, always according to plan.

This year, I want to push myself creatively in trying three new techniques/processes, starting and finishing at least one in each category\*. I also want to do at least one project with a complete toiling/muslin + fitting and repeat process—something I often avoid, though I know it's critical to refining and developing ideas.

\*and ofc I'm allowing myself to do other projects too!

> Objective 2: Do the work to take the work more seriously
>
> Key Result: Submit to 1 show/month (local or physical exhibit)
>
> Key Result: Choose a source of inspiration each month to reflect and write on

The second objective to Taking Risks is the more serious side of the work: strengthening the conceptual, professional, artistic. I want to push myself to take risks in applying or contributing to local or physical art shows/collaborations/popups—opportunities to showcase my work in my community and putting myself out there!

Secondly, to take the work more seriously, I'm going to motivate myself to write more, at least once a month, about a source of inspiration that has stuck with me (artist, film, exhibition, work, phenomenon). I've already compiled a shortlist for this month's so far—to be released in a future post.

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This might literally be the first time I've written down "goals" for the new year. I'm hoping that by publishing this, I can stay accountable to myself and to my commitment to the work, an ongoing journey.


Year End // Year Begin

Stay up-to-date with my words/ideas/projects

[maddienicolas.studio](https://maddienicolas.studio) has taken several previous forms: a WordPress blog (in college), a forwarded link to a Google Drive folder (when the WP site expired and I neglected to renew it, during my first job), and finally, its latest iteration: a real website (which I can continuously update during my abundant time as a freelancer)!
