Autumn Walks

Each year it starts with a whisper, a quiet beckoning. As if a spirit took hold of my shoulders and turned me away from the distraction of lights and noise and the things that pull me away from a current that runs beneath my feet.

Suddenly, pops of gold are appearing, the sumacs glow a vibrant red, and the maples at the top of the hill are burning brilliant shades of vermillion.

This series is about a personal season. One that has been turning me sometimes not so gently. There is nearly always a deeper meaning for me in each series I create, a thread woven deep in this tapestry that holds the collection together.

Since the middle of summer I have found myself in a space where I feel something in my business needs to change.

It showed up first as a weariness in my bones, this sort of ache of exhaustion. And then things kept happening — a badly sprained ankle right before my fourth festival of the season, then other ailments that arrived at inopportune times, most of which are my body’s telltale signs to slow down. I started to realize I was craving a shift in the way I work. That there was something deep in my spirit, speaking through my body asking, “can we take a deeper look here?”

It was on my morning walks this autumn that I pondered this. That I asked the big questions of where I’m headed and how this will look for me. And while the trees and the field and wide open sky haven’t given me their answer yet, I realize that acknowledging a change needs to be made is actually the most potent part of it.

So right now, I’m in the waiting, I’m in the envisioning and in the imagining. Instead of rushing ahead to find out what is next, I get to ponder and know that whatever it is, however this goes, that life is unfolding in a way that is meant just for me…

This series of small works is a journey. Some reflect moments of stillness, of wondering, others of change in motion. I wanted the pieces to feel loose and dreamy, sort of the way I’ve been feeling through this moment in my life. Like everything is a little undefined. All but one of these are either under $250 and matted with leftover scrap matboard I collected from a friend at Lizzard’s Gallery in Duluth (always a treasure!). It was such a fun challenge to lay all these pieces out and then mix and match which colors go best with each piece.