October Delights

Does it feel like Fall where you are? It's starting to set in here on the Central Coast. Current wardrobe: shorts with a sweater and sandals. This may last for just a few weeks, so I'm taking advantage of this warm/cozy situation while I can.

 

Current gratitude level: high. 

 

On a personal level, my family has made some moves that are super exciting and I'll be able to share soon. Spoiler: it involves trees and zero wifi.

 

Prioritizing in-person connection over online connection has made a huge impact on my well-being. I joke that pre-Covid I was a homebody with JOMO (joy of missing out), but post-Covid, I'm ready to be involved in real life. Finding clubs and groups locally, scheduling friend dates, and getting involved in my community has been life-giving.

 

How are you doing? How's your Fall? Sometimes these updates feel a little one-sided, but I want to invite you to reach out or reply if you feel a desire to connect. I've been told that I'm a very good listener. :)

 

Happy October!

 

2.  In August, as summer wound down and school started back up, I was finding myself lacking structure in my days with too many things rattling around in my brain and nothing written down. It was leading to days of languish where I felt like I had things to do but couldn't remember what they were or which were priority, therefore I did nothing. After burning out, I know rest is a good and necessary thing, because sometimes I have days were I can't even, but really setting up my Notion workspace has allowed me a ton of flexibility, ease, and accountability for both work and personal tasks. I love how it seamlessly syncs with mobile so if I'm out and about, I can quickly add a task or check off tasks that are complete. My brain thanks me.

 

For Notion users (it's a free platform), I published a simplified copy of my Weekly Task Template that you can duplicate and try out if you'd like!

 

3. It's Winter Squash Season! ← said in Oprah voice. How do I love thee, let me count the ways: roasted or sautéed, mashed or broiled, there is no end to my love of produce this time of year. I'm looking forward to making this stuffed acorn squash recipe this week. P.S. Hot tip: A lot of times Trader Joe's has the best price on winter squash because they are sold by quantity not weight. If you can find some big ones, it's usually way cheaper than buying by weight.

 

4. When I fractured my foot last summer and couldn't really walk (with ease) or drive, I decided to really dive back into making language learning a priority. For the past year, I've been using lots of different resources to improve my French: courses, apps (you know the one), books, magazines/articles, podcasts, music, movies and tv series, and an in-person conversation group. A couple weeks ago, one of my group members commented how much my spoken French had improved over the course of about 6 months. While I have a lot of work still to do towards being fully conversational, I have definitely noticed that my listening skills have also improved so, so much. Having a foreign language in my ears every day has been one of the most useful ways of learning for me. I'm not going to link to anything here, but I am curious if you are also learning (or speak) another language. Hit reply and let me know! I'd love to connect with you on non-art related things. :)

 

5. For parents with littles: my son and I built this Lego candy dispenserlast weekend and it was so fun! After we built it, we modified it a bit to incorporate a slide and some dinosaur figs (because why not?). The hardest part was telling my son he could only have one package of M&Ms to fill it with. I'm tellin' you, hours of fun.

 

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”

 

-Ray Bradbury

I've been back in the studio doing some experimental landscapes on paper on a smaller scale. My goal is to pull myself away from the desire to put in too many details and focus on form and color and the ways they interact on the canvas (or paper). 

 

I wrote a short essay on how I'm trying to simplify my creative process, knowing that old habits die hard, and reach for a practice that is more easeful, playful, and fun.

I've had so many requests for these over the years!

 

I'm excited to share that I've made a selection of landscape prints available as digital downloads for Frame TV (or other tv, computer monitor, or digital space).

 

Each download comes with a high-quality image to display on your screen, as well as a guide for getting the image to your TV and formatting it to look as realistic as possible.