To Autumn

Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness...These lovely old lines from John Keats come to mind this morning. The trees are starting to flame up, the air is heavy and earthy.

And to mark the turn of season, I have a clean studio! Thanks to hosting an art studio tour and workshop for a group of 15 women yesterday. It was crazy hearing 15 scratchboard tools all working at once! It is usually so quiet with just me scratching away. It was fun to share my space.

Fall Back

It has been stunning weather these past summer months, more than midwesterners ever hope for. But signs of change are floating down from my birch tree. The garden looks tired. The geese are honking goodbye. And nothing's lonelier than a firefly in September. The cats are also becoming more cuddly and making nests in the blankets indoors for late afternoon naps. I captured one in this little spot yesterday.

Acorn Trilogy

Looks like a "mast" year for oaks this year. Acorns are littering our lawn. Little harbingers of autumn. Snacks for squirrels (deer eat them like popcorn, too!) Here's a threesome that I colored digitally. Scratchboard line art.

School started last Thursday, Oh Bittersweet day! Bitter, as she is growing up so fast...sweet, as I enjoy seeing her become the person she is.

It's also nice to be back in the studio again, with more time to loose myself in new projects.

A site called "Wordle" let's you create "word clouds," stunning little graphic representations from a text sample you provide. It's an interesting visual exercise for writers and illustrators alike! The words appear larger the more frequently they were used in the text. Here's the one I created from my birds book manuscript. Somewhat tree-like, don't you think? Appropriately so! Wordle is free, too.

http://www.wordle.net/

How nice it is to paint the elegant shape of the season's first eggplant. And a couple pear tomato thrown in as well. I love curves.

Abstract Thoughts

Cleaning up my studio, I was looking at all my scrap paper paint palettes I used to blot my brushes while painting the final illustrations for the birds book. I labeled each palette as I finished the illustration. I was struck by how every "scrap" palette was in spirit like the tight detailed scratchboard piece I was working on at the time. Only abstracted. Hmm- maybe I should loosen up a little more often! Here's a couple I'll share.