“Gigi definitely belongs to the Bloomsbury Group.”
Or, how a flash of unexpected inspiration led me down the rabbit hole—and into to my dream side-hustle: creating bespoke historical pet portraits!
When I posted my first flash sale of custom “historical pet portraits,” I had no idea what to expect.
The idea popped into my head—like all the best ideas do: out of the clear blue while I was out walking my dog.
To be honest, prior to that moment, I had been a creative slump—a depression, really—for a LONG time. After many years of doing freelance graphic design and illustration projects, I had completely lost my spark. Working professionally in a creative field can sap you of your creative energy. Client work always takes priority, and personal projects always take a back seat. After a while, the well of fresh ideas just dries up. Over the years, I had a few children’s book pitches make their way into the hands of agents and publishers, but nothing moved past the initial stages, so I began to wonder if that was kid lit was even the path I wanted to pursue. Then…
BOOM!
Along came this idea, fully-formed, out of the fog! It was silly and fun, and for the first time in a while, I felt a little burst of creative energy. I hurried home, designed an announcement (pictured above), shared it with my modest Instagram following, and overnight I found my inbox bursting with adorable pet pictures and endearing stories, along with the most ridiculous and delightful requests. I knew I had tapped into something special when I got a message from a talented writer whose essay I had once illustrated for Longreads.com. It read:
“
Hello!!! I am so excited about this lovely pet portrait you have no idea. My Springer Spaniel, Gigi, is named for Virginia Woolf (Virginia Woof). So she definitely belongs to the Bloomsbury Group.
”
Everything about this message made my heart do somersaults.
First of all, what a gorgeous dog! Those soulful eyes! Such pettable ears!
PLUS, she’s named after one of my literary heroes— (also, bonus points for the dog pun, always)
AND she reads tarot.
Best of all, she is a member of the Bloomsbury Group, the legendary circle of progressive writers, artists and thinkers from early 20th-century England. Gigi, I am smitten! If only I could write you a sonnet! Alas, the best I can do is try to paint your portrait in a style inspired by the post-Victorian Bloomsbury aesthetic. This is where the fun begins: research.
First stop: Charleston Farmhouse, my interior design/creative hub/communal-living dreamscape.
Interior of sitting room at Charleston Farmhouse. Image source: Tatler
In 1916, the artist Vanessa Bell, at the suggestion of her sister Virginia Woolf, moved into a run-down 17th-century country house in East Sussex, England. Bell transformed the space into the vibrant, idyllic Charleston Farmhouse along with her lover, Duncan Grant and his lover, David Garnett (polyamory isn’t new, kids! As Dorothy Parker famously said of the Bloomsbury Group, they "lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles.”) Together, they turned the property into their shared country home and studio space. Bell and Grant frequently hosted their London circle of friends, collectively known as the Bloomsbury group, at the Charleston farm. There, the radical cohort was free to kick off the stodgy moral shackles of the Victorian era and explore alternative domestic and sexual relationships, gender roles, new art and literary styles, philosophical and economic concepts, and all manner of creative personal expression.
Vanessa Bell's beautiful murals and paintings, influenced by modern European artists like Gauguin and Matisse, cover every inch of the farmhouse. SWOON! I borrowed colors and decor ideas from her work for Gigi’s portrait, and put Charleston on my bucket list of must-visit locations.
Detail from Charleston Farmhouse Image source
Fun Fact:
Not only was Charleston a sanctuary for the Bloomsbury free spirits to live out their alternative lifestyle choices; it also served as a sort of shelter for Garnett and Grant, both conscientious objectors who were able to avoid conscription by applying to work as farmhands. Anti-war and anti-establishment; pro-creativity and domestic reimagining: very ahead of its time.
Back to Gigi and her namesake, Virginia Woolf.
I decided to infuse some of Woolf’s presence into Gigi’s portrait, and luckily, there are plenty of archival photos available for inspiration. My favorites are the pictures of Woolf with her own dog, Pinka: a cocker spaniel who was gifted to Woolf by her gender-fluid friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West (herself a style icon and inspiration for Gigi’s portrait). Is there anything better than historical figures pictured with their historical pets? Also, how much does Pinka look like Gigi?
Vita Sackville-West with her Alsation, Rollo. Photo source: National Portrait Gallery
Virginia Woolf with her cocker spaniel, Pinka. Photo source: Blogging Woolf
Now that I had pinched some of Vanessa Bell’s palette, Vita Sackville-West’s attitude, Virginia Woolf’s innovative spirit, and some pattern and decor inspiration from Charleston farmhouse, I was off to the drawing board to try to do Gigi justice. The finished portrait is still one of my favorites, in part because of the way every part of the process, including the reference research, lit up synapses in my brain. I began to see a little light at the end of my long, dark creative tunnel. And to think that all this inspiration flooded in after one spaced-out moment in the park, picking up dog poop!
This magic often happens when our brains are on autopilot.
In neuroscience, there’s growing research that shows that when we’re doing mind-wandering tasks (showering, driving, walking the dog), the brain’s “default mode network” (DMN) gets activated. Disparate thoughts, mental images and other memories might suddenly spark up and bind to generate a fresh new idea or a solution to a stale old problem.
Not every dog walk will yield a new creative spark, of course. And not every creative spark will lead to a viable idea that’s worth pursuing. Even if you’re lucky enough to be visited by a fresh new idea, there is still the Herculean task of pulling yourself up off the couch to actually DO something with it. This is where I often get bogged down. Sparks don’t stay sparky forever; if you don’t nurture them a little, they will eventually sputter out and die.
In this case, I didn’t trust myself to keep this spark sparking. Follow the trail of dead ideas and eventually you will find me—on the couch, doomscrolling. Even though I didn’t feel 100% confident or comfortable exposing my half-baked idea to the world, I knew if I didn’t share it quickly, it would probably soon join the dusty trail of dead ideas. So I alley-ooped it out into the Universe, and to my surprise, it came hurtling back to me with Gigi and the Bloomsbury group in tow.
Now, this is where curiosity comes in.
Completely inadvertently, I had created a project for myself that harnesses my distractible, puppy-with-an-espresso brain and uses its powers for good! For once, following my curiosity and getting lost in the details might actually be a benefit, rather than a handicap.
I had accidentally created a workflow for myself that kind of promises to keep the spark sparking :
1. Receive adorable photo and description of a beloved pet.
2. Chat with the pet’s human to determine which period in history best suits them.
3. Follow my curiosity down the rabbit hole, threading together obscure facts about art, history, and culture as I go…
4. Share the portrait, and any fun facts I’ve learned along the way, in this here blog. Rinse, repeat!
With this website and this newsletter, I’m taking another wild leap. Does anyone really want to read these random musings? Am I whistling in the wind? Have I lost my final marble?
I can’t be the only one whose Venn diagram of interests includes radical literary collectives of the early 1900s, the mysteries of the brain, and Cocker Spaniels—can I?
If this Little Pet Project experiment has taught me anything, it’s that My People (human and otherwise) are out there, and the key to keeping my creative spark alive is to keep volleying creativity, curiosity and silliness back and forth with them.
I hope you’ll sign up for more trips down the rabbit hole with me, and please share it with anyone who might welcome a little levity in their inbox once or twice a month. I promise not to spam you more than that! Sometimes I might have some free downloadable goodies to share, or a special discount on some animal-themed creations. You can feel free to get in touch with me, and of course you can unsubscribe anytime!
For now, I’ll leave you with this quote from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. So much of what she writes about in this book resonated with me, and I recommend it to anyone who is still struggling to reconnect with their creativity, or stuck in the dark tunnel like I was.
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert,
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Thanks so much for reading!
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Your friend,
Missy