January 2022 Free Wallpaper

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For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

It’s a new year!!

A friend shared this poem from Lucille Clifton yesterday and it spoke to me.

i am running into a new year

i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twentysix and thirtysix
even thirtysix but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me

—Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)

I appreciate the part where the poet speaks to her past ages. We are each full of so many versions of our own selves. How can we get to know and understand others when we are such vast mysteries to our own minds sometimes? Do the work friends. Clear the clutter. Wake up early and climb the mountain. It takes the time it takes.

By the end of a year, I often fill bogged down by too much everything. But it’s the excess of the holidays that makes the contrast of January feel like crisp clear air. We get to start anew. Clear the table and begin fresh.

Happy New Year friends!

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

December 2021 Free Desktop Wallpaper

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Here we are at the close of another year. How does it go so fast? This morning on our early sunrise walk around the lake, Tim and I wondered together about what our guiding word for December should be. We talked about how we want this month to feel slow and sacred. How we want to hold still in the moments of advent and steep in the favorite activities and bustle of Christmas. This time is special. It carries great gravity. And it also goes so fast.

So we decided to lean into the word “Sacred” – to honor the significance of both the simple and supreme.
For this desktop design, I was inspired by faded Christmas postcards I have collected from antique stores and my grandmothers stashes over the years. I like the way these colors make me feel. Hopefully it brings good memories to you as well. Feel free to choose the color scheme you most resonate with. Praying that you can find your own “Still, Still, Still” this holiday season. Much love always, Betony

November 2021 Free Wallpaper

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For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

This morning in my Facebook memories, a picture came up of our family gathered around a table lighting a set of candles. For the last several years we have celebrated All Saints Day (November 1st) by taking a moment to pause at the end of our day and light a candle for someone who has been a light to us. It’s been a simple act that has felt deeply grounding.

Poppies are often used as a symbol for “Remembrance” on Memorial Day with roots in WW1. But something about these vintage 1950’s poppies made me feel like November. The image is pulled from a cutting board I found at a Thrift Store (and sadly didn’t buy) but just snapped a photo because I loved the colors. That the flowers speak to remembering those we love and that they were originally on a tool for preparing food seems perfect for this month of feasting and family. Happy November friends!
-Betony

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

October 2021 Free Wallpaper

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Double double toil and trouble!! Welcome to the spookiest month of the year. Hopefully this wallpaper puts you in an October mood! I enjoyed weaving the connections between the imagery – delicate webs, to antique lace, to the glow of a candle, to the sliver of the moon I saw on my walk this morning. I particularly like how the iphone wallpapers coordinate with the desktop this time (that check pattern is very similar to my grandmother’s cloth napkins we used when we were kids!). Makes me feel a little nostalgic. By the way, in case you were wondering, our theme for this month is “Core” – like getting to the heart of things, and staying centered.

Happy Haunting everyone!

September Free Wallpaper

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For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

Hello friends! I am sorry this design is so late in coming. Maybe it’s because we all have just needed to hang onto a few more days of summer before jumping into fall. But the truth is just that I have suddenly found myself a bit over my heads with busyness. How does that happen so quickly?!

This little apple painting is from a workshop I taught out of my home studio this last Saturday. It was such a treat to get to make art with friends. The recipe for “Pie Crust” is from Tim’s grandmothers recipe files that I inherited from her.

Our word for September is going to be “Immerse.” And too be honest I am still reflecting on what exactly that looks like for our lives, but I see it as a deep dive. As a letting go-of time worries and anxieties to climb into our own existence, to fully give our focus and attention to what is in front of us. I love the quote by Simone Weil,  “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

Take that which is in front of you, and turn your attention to it. Immerse yourself in September. 

Much love,

Betony

P.S. We are planning on some apple picking later today and I couldn’t be more excited about it

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

August 2021 Free Wallpaper

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For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

It’s August!! The whole world seems to be kicking off this month. We are jumping into the first theater projects in almost two years, our kids’ choir is happening again, we will start school up in a couple of weeks, and the kids don’t beg me to take them to the pool every day because they are tired of it. So many new projects are getting rolling and even though we are still struggling with how exactly to maneuver this crazy state of the world, it feels good to have some familiar. That being said, I have talked to so many friends who say “I am not sure how to do normal life” any more. And that’s it, isn’t it? We are hopping back into the flow, but we are changed. And that is OK. We are going to be OK.

Our theme this month is “Swing.” It’s the feeling of jumping back into the “swing” of things. It’s being able to stay centered in the midst of forces pulling against us. It’s the feeling of flying and then of falling, replayed on an endless loop.

Happy August Friends! You’ve got this.

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

July 2021 Free Wallpaper and Playlist

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We have spent the last two weeks in Kansas. Hot humid days filled with time in the best swimming pools, savoring melting popsicles, and the chaos and joy of so many cousins. This wallpaper is pulled from a little painting I have been piddling around with, painting glazes in layers with no clear intention or direction. Just enjoying the movement and relationships of the colors with that leisurely rhythm we all hope to find in summer days. The little rainbow at the bottom was painted by my three year old niece, Miss Lila.

Happy July friends!

For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

(Playlist hopefully coming soon!)

June 2021 Free Wallpaper and Playlist

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Our calendar this next month is filled with camps, road trips, summer projects, and family visits. And I couldn’t be more happy about it. Our pool opened yesterday and at 8 a.m. the kids were already in their swimsuits ready to dive in (even though it was only 50 degrees and didn’t open until noon ha ha ). I love the enthusiasm and lightness of June days. Our theme for this month is “Play” and that is my wish for you – that you wake up filled with excitement and that you find moments to just play. Happy June friends!

For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

May 2021 Free Wallpaper and Playlist

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Recently I have been holding things a little too heavily. I get wrapped up in the to-do lists that never end. The messes that seem to multiply of their own accord. I forget to stop and laugh. So this month we are leaning in to Levity. With this desktop design, I want to remember to sit and have a cup of tea and notice the world around me. I made it pink simply because it delighted me to have a pink teapot.

Be light friends.

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.”

― C. JoyBell C.

For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

And here is our “laughter-filled” Levity playlist for the month! Enjoy!!

April 2021 Free Wallpaper and Playlist

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As we make our way out of winter and into the very beginning of spring, our blessing for you is that you begin to “Awaken” – to rise and meet the day that is given to you. Vaccinations, new leadership, breathing easier – the world is waking up again. Take it slowly, but notice the green shoots pushing through, the light coming in the window a little earlier, the strength you have gained from the hardship you have navigated, and walk out into the sunrise of a new day.

I keep thinking about William Blake’s poem – “Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!
I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine:”

We are moving into new places, friends. May you walk boldly with eyes open wide.

For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

This month’s playlist is themed “Awaken” – go have a listen!