I disappeared for the summer and had so many opportunities to be with the people I love, to think and to create. What more can I ask for than time to be in the moment doing the things I love to do - being with my family and making art. Fall is here and it’s a time for transitions. I always feel so inspired by the changing leaves and the shift in the weather. When I see all the green make way for the electric colors of the new season I feel so inspired like I can be new again, too. I can grow and evolve, shed moments and experiences of the past, and start fresh with the promise of something else to come.
I’m already looking forward to the new year and making plans for what I want to achieve. I know we’ve still got time but I feel like it’s weighing heavily on me while also making me feel excited. It’s a new year AND decade, after all. Does that make sense? I had some highs and lows professionally this year - somethings that were amazing surprises like moving studios and winning Best of Westchester and showing my work at Art Market Hamptons - but other not as bright moments like having my work rejected 2983045 times and not getting into shows or not being able to afford shows or generally not making the work in the way that I had originally conceived. It’s all part of this process.
Artists often talk about their process and the things that they have to go through in order to make the work and a lot of my inspiration comes from limitations (real and imagined) and fear and how I can break through that in order to be successful. The fall for me has always been a good place to reevaluate where I am and to think about what I’ve accomplished in the year so far and how I want the new to look. I’m a planner and I like to give myself time always knowing that I have to be flexible and open to change and new ideas.
Every leaf falls, turns brown, and returns to the earth to be reborn during winter to sprout up again as something new and even more alive in the spring, and, I like to imagine myself doing the same thing. So here’s to fall and making plans and letting your leaves fall where they may so you can begin again.