I’m wrapping up my month-long at home fall residency; what a generative time! I’m so grateful to have been able to set aside this intentional time to make progress. Despite predicted and unpredicted distractions and challenges, I proceeded with my plan. I’ve added and subtracted things, found strength in sticking to some goals and letting others go. I’ve also found freedom in following unexpected inspiration sometimes too.
As part of my fall at-home residency, I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythms and routines, and how they can support my art-making and business, but more importantly how they foster well-being for me and my family. I’ve also been reflecting on invisible labor and mental load, which are both, for me, inextricably tied to the rhythms and routines in my life. I’m discovering that it takes courage and fortitude to slow down enough to identify the “sticky” points and seek out the vision for what I want in my practice and business and what “well-being” actually looks like and feels like for our family.
It’s not easy to face what’s holding me back in my work and keeping us from thriving more fully. It requires deep observation, deconstruction, gentleness and time, while also staying aware and connected to what’s actually important in the moment. As part of this month’s residency, I’ve been working on letting go of habits and patterns that aren’t serving and seeking out what I need to grow as an artist and business owner and what we need to flourish as a family, and letting this inform our vision as we put the pieces together day by day.
These images are part of the process in creating my “Steeped Wisdom Collection.” Painting images on the selected tea bags is the most visible part of the process, but there’s lots that goes into a piece before it gets to that point. Processing tea bags is meditative and satisfying to me, but the stages are time consuming and take patience, so I’m working on finding nooks and crannies in our busy life when I can fold it in.
I’ve made slow, steady progress on my Steeped Wisdom painted tea bags. The next series in this ongoing collection will be released in November. It will be smaller than I’d planned, but it’s going to be beautiful!
I’ve enjoyed slowness, discipline and connection with place through my new botanical drawing practice - getting to know the Plant Neighbors project. I’ve been incorporating observational drawing into my morning walks and I’m continuing to do so throughout the month-long at home residency. I can feel observation skills deepening, and confidence increasing in my sketches.
An unplanned, but fun part of my residency has been a return to the weekly local Ceramic Cafe with @bananna.ceramics through Questa Creative Council. Its start date coincided with the beginning of the residency, so I’m working on completing my “Bark Beetle Gallery” series!
Another important focus of this residency has been to make friends with updating my website and to lean into the writing of my artist newsletter. I’m striving to make it a regular routine. In this process, I’ve been facing limiting beliefs and blocks within myself. Using this time to face these things, and work through them has been invaluable. I’m pleased to report that my website has been updated! (This post is part of the update and my efforts to turn over a new leaf!) I invite you to check out the refreshed homepage, other blog posts and recent portfolio additions.
Sign-up up HERE for my Artist Newsletter to receive first access to collection releases, updates on my practice, and free printables from my “Words Illuminated” series. Thanks for following along on my residency journey! And thank you so much @thrivetogethernetwork for providing the structure, support, encouragement and accountability! 🌞
