Behind The Name
Why the name JuneLilly’s?
When I was around sixteen years old, I woke up one summer morning with the sun peeking through my curtains. It wasn’t shining as bright as I thought it would be since it was summer, and there was a chill in the air. I remember thinking at that moment while looking at my closed curtains, what if it snowed in the middle of summer, like really snowed. That’s when the idea sprouted and I created a story in my head called Good Morning December. In that story I created a character named Lilly who was somewhat of an outcast in her own family, except for her father who adored her, but it wasn’t enough. Outcasted by her sisters, Lilly also had no friends, so she was very lonely. Seeing her loneliness the King (her father) presented her with a friend, a butterfly named June who could talk but only Lilly could hear her. If you can’t tell already this story is somewhat of a fantasy story. Lilly and June became the best of friends and did everything together. When Lilly became a young adult her father the King passed away. In his will he specified that the kingdom would be divided into 3 separate Kingdoms with each daughter being the queen over their own Kingdom. So that means that they could name and essentially create their own little world for themselves. Now we are getting to the good part. When it came time to claim her inheritance Lilly didn’t hesitate to name her little Kingdom. She of course named it JuneLilly after her best friend who would be like a royal advisor and after herself. This Kingdom would be a place of warmth and beauty. Nature would work in perfect harmony and because Lilly loved the sun and June loved flowers JuneLilly was a place where it was summer all the time, where flowers constantly bloomed, and the butterflies fluttered about and the bees buzzed, and fruit and vegetables never stopped producing. It was a joyous and safe place to call home. Of course, there is more to the story, but I’ll stop here for now. To sum it up, to me JuneLilly’s is like my over the rainbow. It’s a safe place where I can be myself and create art that comes from my soul and share it with others. With nature being a big part of the place Junelilly, almost in all my artwork nature is incorporated either in a physical form or something inspired by it. There’s also a touch of whimsy in all my art pieces. So, although my store isn’t named after me directly, Junelilly’s encompasses my creative spirit and is a big part of who I am. I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I had the joy in creating them. All the best!
The creator,
Sarah Nealy