🌈 Back from Peru & Seeing the World a Little Differently 💚

Hi friends!

A little update before I dive in. Going forward, this newsletter is going to become biweekly! I realized it's hard to capture everything in just one week, and honestly, I have so much more to share when I give life a little more time to happen. I think this will make these letters feel more meaningful.

✈️ The Journey to the Andes

I landed back in Los Angeles around 7 a.m. yesterday morning and wow... what a journey it was to get home. Every long flight and sleepless airport hour was completely worth it.

We flew from Los Angeles to Lima, survived a not so quick six hour layover, then boarded a 4 a.m. flight to Cusco. From there, we explored the city of Cusco, wandered through the Sacred Valley, trekked the Inca Trail all the way to Machu Picchu, and climbed what everyone lovingly called the Monkey Steps. Let me tell you, they earned that name. I don't think my legs have ever questioned my life choices quite so much.Reaching the Sun Gate and looking down over Machu Picchu was one of those moments that makes everything else disappear. It felt surreal.

We also visited Huilloc, a small Quechua weaving community where we reached the highest altitude of our trip at over 12,000 feet above sea level. The people there continue many traditions of the Inca civilization. They speak Quechua, the most widely spoken Indigenous language family in the Americas, wear traditional clothing, weave beautiful textiles by hand, grow crops on mountain terraces, and care for alpacas and llamas just as generations before them did.

🌎 Pachamama & A New Perspective

One of the most inspiring things I brought home wasn't something I could pack in my suitcase.

It was Pachamama.

Many of the Peruvians we met spoke so lovingly about Pachamama, or Mother Earth, and I found myself completely captivated by the way they see the world.

In Quechua, pacha means world, universe, or time, and mama means mother. Pachamama is the living source that sustains all life. She represents nature, fertility, time, and space. The relationship isn't about taking from the earth. It's about caring for it because it cares for us.

With climate change becoming impossible to ignore, I couldn't help but think they might have figured something out long before the rest of us. Take care of the land, and the land takes care of you.It gives us air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and endless beauty if we choose to notice it.

🌈 Why I Can't Stop Thinking About Color

Another thing I absolutely loved was how much they celebrated color.

Rainbows are everywhere. They symbolize happiness, and while they also represent fertility in Andean culture, what stayed with me most was their belief that color has the power to bring joy.

I don't think I've ever needed an excuse to love color.If you've followed my work for a while, you already know it's probably my biggest source of inspiration. Sometimes I joke that I look at color the way a cat stares at something fascinating in the dark, completely locked in with huge dilated eyes. I can sit and study the natural pinks of a sunset, the impossible greens of the mountains, or every bright woven thread in a textile for what feels like forever.

I've always felt like I experience color a little differently. Maybe that's why I paint the way I do.

This trip reminded me that color isn't just something beautiful to look at. Across cultures, it carries history, hope, celebration, and connection. It has the ability to make people feel something before a single word is spoken.

I think that's exactly what I've been chasing all along.

See you in two weeks. 💛🎨

With love and color,

Rosalie