March 2026: Past the Equinox, Open Hands

We are past the equinox. The light returns quickly, tipping us forward at a pace, and I have been chewing on a question I read somewhere, I honestly cannot remember where, that I cannot get out of my head:

What are you trying to fix that actually needs to be dissolved?

On the Table / New Art

No plans for a formal collection yet - and I've decided that's officially intentional.

Here's what I know about how my real collections form: they announce themselves. Kindling Season clicked. Brave Little World clicked. In both cases, a subject matter held the feeling of warmth and light, and pulled me toward the easel to learn more about painting it. That combination is the tell.

Good Neighbor felt like the right thing to do. And it was. But it didn't call me to paint. It called me to bake bread, show up, make the calls. Not a collection - not even a little bit. A different answer to a different call, and I think it was the right one.

Right now I'm following the pull to learn.  I want to understand light, to practice, to chase the obsession. But the subject matter that'll turn this into a collection? That hasn't announced itself yet. And I'm learning to wait for it.

What I'm Thinking About

The fix vs. dissolve question lands pretty directly here. What I was trying to fix was a missing collection plan. What actually needed to dissolve was the idea that I start with the subject matter first and then go to the easel.

What I'm finding is that it's much more natural for me to go to the easel first,  and then listen. I'm in a repetition and iteration phase right now, and it feels like exactly that. Listening. Following my hand and my materials and seeing where they take me. Over time I'm starting to notice threads. I'm trusting that those threads will lead me somewhere.

I've been rereading Betty Edwards and it's landing differently this time.  I think my Good Neighbor plans were coming from the wrong side of the brain the whole time.

I'm not interested in making work just to make it. My time is too limited and my energy too precious to spend on anything but what I'm genuinely pulled toward.

I want to find that click again the way it felt with Kindling Season and Brave Little World. I know what it feels like. I'm not locked into anything this spring. I'm just keeping the door open.

What I'm Listening To / Watching / Reading

Learning a lot from the Learn to Paint podcast (most recently with Susan Allard). Rereading Betty Edwards. Watching Buffy, Alias, and The Good Place with our kids - what does that say about where we are emotionally? 😅  Photographing the light in my house and yard in the morning and afternoon.   Something keeps pulling me back to it. Mon Rovia's new record on repeat. And an Ani DiFranco album my sister gave me for my birthday, which is speaking to exactly the part of me that needed it right now.  Oh, and I turned another year older with a wig brunch at our local breakfast spot - bringing joy and whimsy seemed like exactly the right antidote. I highly recommend this act of joyful rebellion. My bouffant followed me to the No Kings March.

Coming Up

Art in the Park, May 16 at Natick Common — put it in your phone. And the Natick Farmers Market this summer (dates coming soon — follow along so you don't miss it). I'll have new work at both. Come find me.