Abigayle Rhodes

My newest Substack post for my paid subscribers is less about the actual artwork in my collection "Grow Up", as it is about the collection's concepts, in a thinly veiled attempt to overcome my shame around "taking a break".

How does ADHD tax affect you?

You can read about it, and stay up to date on this project by clicking the Substack link in the linktree in my bio!

This is 30. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Big shoutouts to all the people who made my party special, both near and far. It was a fantastic evening and I love you all so dearly.

Thank you to my in-laws for letting me host at their house, because there is a lot more space to fit snacks and a projector to watch Shrek on. Thank you to for being record keeper (because clearly Im bad at remembering to take pictures 😂) making an amazing birthday montage and using her magic powers to manifest Shrek and Donkey from the Shrek blind bags. Thank you to .soft.always of for the most incredible looking cookies and cake, and also GLUTEN FREE 🤤 Thank you to for escaping the dragon guarded tower with swamp pudding that I am currently eating for my birthday breakfast.

And because this is a crafty account and I know some of ya’ll are gonna ask:

Dress pattern is the Cowl Next Dress by , size 2x bust graded into a 4x waist and hip. Fabric is the silky sandwashed tencel from , of course. Belt is from .and.co. Boots are from VALUE VILLAGE (I know, I couldn’t believe it myself).

I love you all, here’s to making 30 the best decade yet 😘

I’m alive! I was in a three week time warp where everything moved both slow and fast and each day bled into the next, you know how it is.

Despite the creative slump I’m crawling my way out of I have been attending my CNC class at and having an absolute BLAST. Last week we plugged a couple of my illustrations into the laser cutter and engraved them on different materials! I can’t believe how well the pointillism translates, just looking at these makes my brain swim with possibilities.

I have no idea how I want to utilize this newfound technical skill but I know I want this in my repertoire, because, how cool do these look?! How would you want to see my art in this way? Jewellery? Keychains? Framed materials like this? Or some other way I haven’t thought of yet?! Let me know in the comments!

Before I went back to school (2021-2023) I had slowly started taking opportunities to be a vendor at various events, selling prints and stickers of my work as well as attempting to sell those same things online.

While I was in school I stopped working towards this and stopped developing commercial work for lack of time, but it’s something I’m very interested in doing again AFTER I’ve thought thoroughly about what I want that facet of my work to look like.

In the meantime, I have a TON of old stock taking up space in my office that I want to be rid of so I can start fresh. I have no idea what the best avenue is for me to sell off some of these old prints, and I would love to hear about your experiences with selling your work, however you find works best for you.

I know this may be a big ask, because some folks don’t like to give away their ✨ secrets ✨ but if you’d like to share, comment on this post or DM me! I would also appreciate you sharing with your other artists friends selling merch! I’d love to hear a lot of perspectives!

This is the piece that made me fall in love with acrylic painting again, it also has the best anecdote attached to it.

I painted this back in 2023, in my first semester of degree no.2 and it was part of a project in which we had to create a piece of art that represents a culture we’re apart of. This piece is 2’ x 3’, so almost life size, and it’s a nod to the Instagram account ***rnightstands , depicting my own q***r night stand.

As I was painting it I would send progress photos to my Bubbe and when it was done, she asked if she could have it. I said yes, without hesitation… before remembering that I painted a vi****or in the bottom drawer. It’s very subtle but I still got paranoid about giving my Bubbe a still life of my actual bedside table with a s*x toy sticking out of it. I asked my friends what I should do and all of them told me to lie about what it was if she ever asked, but I’m a horrible liar and felt bad. My mom then told me to tell her the truth about it, so I did. Scroll to read her response 😂

Anyway, it’s now in my Bubbe’s dining room.

Can you believe it’s been NINE YEARS?! One more away to double digits! First photo is from this past year and the third photo is from our first year together. You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I love our little family. Wouldn’t change anything for the world ❤️

I only got to check off 2 things from my 2025 bingo card (read 1 more book than last year and do well in school).
I’ve always had a love/hate relationships with New Years Resolutions. I so rarely fulfill them due to my own over ambitiousness setting unattainable goals for myself. At the end of every year I look at my New Years Resolution page in my sketchbook, a page I probably spent hours on, making it look unnecessarily pretty. I would curse myself for the things I didn’t accomplish, not being able to remember what happened past last week on a good day let alone remember anything I actually did accomplish that year especially with my lack of record keeping. Despite that I keep making these pages for myself and I always try to make my resolutions “easier” for the next year.
This year I’m less precious with the page. All I care about is getting it down. There are four blank spots because I can’t think of anything else (I’m taking suggestions)… but I also don’t really care if they stay blank or not. Regardless on if I’m able to mark any of these off come December, I can confidently say that I accomplished a big goal last year and I’m set up to accomplish more this year.
Thank you for giving me that.
Happy New Year.

I’ve finally succumbed to my end of the year, post burnout cold, but you know what could make me feel better?? Getting the last $350 I need in the last 4 days of my Kickstarter! I’m so close to my goal, every little bit helps! To entice you, here is a sneak peak at another of my pieces in this collection. This sketch really doesn’t capture the full magic of this piece - but I can’t make it come to life without reaching my full funding goal!

I’m so so excited to start talking about this project more.

Over the last 5 months .traplin and I have been working hard planning this collection of pieces and all the intricacies that come with exhibition. This collection is my most ambitious undertaking yet in both scale and concept. I’ve never before made something so personal and though it’s nerve racking to be vulnerable in this way, I’m also confident that a lot of you can relate.

If you’d like to learn more about this project you can pop over to my Substack and subscribe to get all the ongoing updates!

I’ve also put together a Kickstarter Campaign to help fund the first three pieces in the collection. If you’re not sure what to get me for Christmas, this is it! Links to all these things can be found in the linktree in my bio! If you can’t support monetarily, I’d appreciate a share 🥰

I can’t wait to share this journey with you.