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Hi! I’m Brit. This newsletter is my favorite place to share my art and writing. Welcome!
My work is about learning to love this life. Being alive and mortal, loving and needing love, making art as the world ends/goes on — these are not simple tasks.
The sentence “Play is the opposite of survival mode” is one my favorite and tiniest things I’ve ever written. An epiphany that became a practice. And I want to share it with you.
I came to art when I was 30, finding myself at home a lot with disabling panic attacks and other health issues. I was also, according to people who loved me, in serious need of a hobby. I got a notebook and some watercolor paints and began making sketches I called “abstract diagrams,” which combined painterly mark-making with text to depict the inexplicable and overwhelming things I was experiencing in my inner world.
I became a bit obsessed with my art hobby, and soon it evolved into one of the biggest parts of my life. In 2023 I stopped practicing as a physical therapist to paint, write, and scroll Instagram full time. I’ve also been painting bigger and bigger too, and now release a series of large fine art paintings each year.
Every week or so, I come here to write to you, sharing my paintings and the stories behind them. It’s my favorite part of the whole thing. My body of work is one side of this years-long conversation between stranger-friends. I’ll never take for granted the good luck that our paths crossed and we get to do this together.
This newsletter is a labor of love, but it would be so cool if it was a labor of love and income. If my work means something to you and you’d like to see it continue, consider becoming a paid subscriber here, which gives you access to the archive plus some other perks, or subscribe to my Patreon where you can get monthly art & writing in the actual mail 💌
You can also support my work by sharing it online and buying art you love.
About Brit
I live in Oregon, USA with my wife Danielle and our puppy Miko. My name really is Brit, my last name is not Chida, and Britchida is pronounced brit-cheetah. I was born in 1986 and my pronouns are they/them.
Below is a photo of Danielle and me with Elsa, who was already a senior dog when she became part of our family. We adored her. We said goodbye in summer of 2024.
Formal education in art and writing could have come in handy, but instead I studied everything else. As a kid I was homeschooled in a fairly autodidactic format and would sometimes do two grades in one year, so I finished early and began college a few months after turning 15. I graduated with a bachelor’s in biochemistry at age 19, then a master’s in theological studies a few years later, and rounded it out with a Doctor of Physical Therapy just before buying my first sketchbook.
Every day I eat peanut butter cereal and go around listening to moody pop or podcasts in my sound canceling headphones. I try to spend time around people who laugh easily and help me get outside a bit. For every piece of art I make about heartbreak I hope to make at least one about contentment.
The Art
Here are a few of my favorite pieces. For more, follow along!
Britchida.com | Patreon | Instagram | Easy Does It | Contact