I love the Carved Out Time for Art feed on Instagram and the minute I saw the post about choosing a word for the year I knew I wanted to find one. I hadn’t made any specific resolutions for the new year and having a word seemed much more real to me – and something I could hold myself to for the long haul (and easier than saying “less chocolate” and breaking that 5 minutes later. I’m pregnant. All I want is chocolate). 

But picking one word is hard!  It took me a long time (it’s mid February…) to choose. I knew what I wanted it to mean and have sort of been embracing the idea behind it, but wasn’t sure about ONE word that fit. I’ve finally settled on INTENTION. This word fits the goals and thoughts I have about all of the aspects of my life: art, motherhood, marriage, home, friendship – you name it.

Particularly on the art front, working with intention is an important goal for me. I have made some big plans for expanding my work and markets, and all of these require focus. Having intention for my studio/office time is crucial. Even more importantly, I want to approach painting with intention. This means making more art, more often, with more thought. I don’t mean to take the spontaneity or fluidity out of painting; that’s part of the excitement of standing in front of a blank canvas or letting the paints or mood guide my actions. I just mean that I want to work on my craft more, engaging more in the process rather than the product, and letting myself completely commit to new ideas. This isn’t easy for me – distractions are always around and my mood or energy level can definitely get in the way, but I’m trying to hold myself to the intentions I have and keep working.

As far as the rest of my life, living with intention means making my actions purposeful. I’ve been trying to increase this at home and I feel like it’s causing me to slow down and process things more. I’m starting my days differently and allowing time for small motions that I’d never really planned out. I’m enjoying simple actions like making coffee, writing letters, and watering plants, rather than trying to cram these things in without thinking about them. It’s nice to feel present and unhurried. I’m a natural “good intentions” person with a lot of ideas about things I can make, fix, do for others, or even logically maintain in a normal day, so I’m bound to fail regularly, but I think starting slowly and committing to some small intentions is a good beginning.

I’m hoping that being intentional with my actions will continue to help me be a more present mom. I want my time with Ren to be just about us and to not always be preoccupied with to-dos running through my mind. So far it has been a really good start. Obviously we still have A LOT of chaos (he’s two. I’m me). My intentions are always at the whim of his very strong opinions and my own forgetfulness/laziness/avoidance, but it’s something I’m excited to keep working on. There’s no way this can be bad for either of us.

I hope you see my successes reflected in my work. I think you will. It’s nice to have this one word idea to keep reenergizing me each day. I’d encourage you to participate and if you do, I’d love to hear what you decide to use as your word!  

One of my small “intention” projects for my studio has been to make some watercolor swatches to show the shades of different brands. This was surprisingly therapeutic, and something I should have done a long, long time ago. It will help me be more aware of my options as I paint and hopefully broaden my use of colors. 

I think nearly every post I make on this blog has a “wow, where has time gone…” theme. Again, WHERE DID THE END OF SUMMER GO? Well, it went to a lot of fun things around here, actually - farmers market weekends, trips to the zoo, baseball excitement, a 10-year anniversary getaway to Asheville for mom and dad and a funfilled few days with G&G DeVrieze for Ren, a Thomas the Train adventure with G &G Pearson, and recently pumpkin extravaganza around here. Now the fall is flying by with frightening speed and I’m stopping in to make a few shop announcements. 

I am thrilled to share that I’ll be part of two Holiday Markets so far -
the Habdash Market on November 13th and the Handmade Omaha Market on
November 26/27th. These are both great events filled with local artisans
and perfect holiday gifts for your loved ones. Please stop by my
Facebook page to see the shared events.

Also, I have been a painting machine lately and I am planning a small
painting release on October 30th. I haven’t set the time yet, but I’ll
be posting updates on both Facebook and Instagram (IG is my love, so
please follow me there if you want the most updates). Thanks as always for your support and HAPPY, blustery, beautiful, wonderful FALL!

I’m stopping by to update you on my series of poetry paintings. Here is the
finished piece inspired by Kevin Young’s “Ditty.” I really enjoyed making it –
especially exploring sort of the frantic image of magnolia leaves in the wind,
with the light against the dark.

I’m learning some things about myself through this project. One of them isn’t so
surprising, given my love of poetry and writing, but I really enjoy having
specific phrases to work from when I’m creating abstract paintings. I’m
thinking that sometime soon I’ll do another abstract series and pen my own
lines to work from.  

I’m also learning that there are some poems that I’m just too close to. I spent a
while trying to do a painting to accompany “this is just to say” by William
Carlos Williams and I finally just decided to stop. That poem is one of my very
favorites and I just can’t make anything that can capture the emotions that I
have for it. So for now I’m going to stay away from some of those and instead
use poems that are beautiful and exciting, but perhaps that I have less of a
history with. So, next up I’m going to embrace a beloved poet, but a poem
that’s newer to me. I’ll share previews on Facebook and Instagram as I go.
Enjoy!

Flying at
Night , by Ted Kooser

Above
us,  stars. Beneath us, constellations.  

Five billion
miles away, a galaxy dies

like a
snowflake falling on water. Below us, 

some farmer,
feeling the chill of that distant death,

snaps on his
yard light, drawing his sheds and barn 

back into the
little system of his car. 

All night, the
cities, like shimmering novas, 

tug with
bright streets at lonely lights like

his.

source -
poetry.org