• Does your art making vary with the seasons?
• Do you have outside and inside projects?
• Does the changes in weather and atmosphere affect you tools or ideas?

As the fall weather settles in on New England, I get inspired to quilt or work with fabric and threads.

I always have cotton sheets in my studio, so plenty of white fabric to do some experimental dyeing with. I got a bottle of liquid Rit Dye, a mason jar, and some salt. And then I had some fun folding, twisting and tying some small pieces of fabric.

I think they will be pieced together to make some sort of quilt.

With the same kind of inside nesting instinct, I have been stitching some small denim patches. Not really sure what I am going to do with them, but I like looking at them. So maybe they will become a placemat. That way I can enjoy them everyday.

It was also time to make a new gelatin plate. I had some plates that had been unused for quite a while and I tried to melt them down and reform them but they were just too fragile. So now let the fun begin with this fresh new gelatin plate!

Maybe some holiday cards or a new freshly preserved fern?

I also have a few things that I am working on that have deadlines coming up.

This image is about the theme, “what’s in my garden?” I don’t have a garden, but I am attracted to the cast shadows of roadside flowers and weeds, as I go on my regular cycling routes.

Do you remember the inspiring 1200 foot wall I saw last spring at the Children’s Hospital in Boston?

The other thing I am exploring is a book with the theme, “When I was 57” That is my current age and some changes are happening this year that I giving me reason to think about what is important.

I am thinking about making the book pages in the shape of 57.

• How is your art practice changing with the seasons?
• Would it benefit from a seasonal adjustment or inspiration?
• Could you feed your art practice with some new ideas, or tools?

Enjoy!

SaveSave

Black Out Poem on an Old Book Page, while having breakfast.

• Do you bounce around from one interest to the next?
• Do you have some many inspirations you can choose what to do first? or
• Do you have a single focus and know exactly what you are going to do next?

screen printed napkin and coffee and sketchbook – alway time to make art.

I think as a mixed media printmaking I am inspired by a lot and often have time choosing what to do next, because there are so many things that I want to do:

• collect
• draw
• rip, tear, collage
• build
• burn
• sew
• scribble
• print

Cast shadow to inspire stencils. Capture them with your phone.

I have been told that I need a focus. Hmmm? Sometimes I take that advice and consider it’s value. And I have reframed it to mean:

I choose a focus for this moment/project.

It does not have to be forever. It does not have to be right or perfect or even the”one” focus. It is just for now. This choice gives me the freedom to work and let go of all the other things that I want to do. It directs my attention to the present project.

My take away:

When someone gives you advice try being open to re-shaping that “advice” in a way the empowers and supports your vision for your art/life.

Shadow shapes for printmaking stencils.