September Studio Recap
Tufted Pattern Pieces, A Painting Present, & More!
Hello friends! Another month behind us—can you believe they keep coming? I’m feeling v grateful for the cooler days September brought. My dog and I have been going for longer walks, and I’ve even started running again just to spend a little more time outside (not very far or very fast! It seems as though when you don’t run for months at a time it gets harder… still investigating this…).
I split my studio time this month between a couple of projects. Want to take a look?
Pattern Pieces Progress
Like I mentioned in my last newsletter, I’ve begun work on my first ever tufted sculptures! In order to make all the pieces I’ll need for the series I had to split my patterns across two frames, the first of which I finished tufting this month.
This project has been such a learning process so far! I’ve had fun flexing my (very mediocre) pattern drafting skills to figure out how to design each piece, and how to make everything connect correctly. I’m hoping that all this prep leads to a successful (and relatively painless) assembly process, but only time will tell!
For a bit of context, here are the original concept sketches that I made to help visualize where these pieces are going…
Hoping to finish tufting and start assembling in October—wish me luck!
A Painting Present
I had so so so much fun painting this piece as a wedding gift for a couple of my friends (congrats Matt and Clara!). This was my first time using a floater frame on a canvas and I think it makes it look so much more finished??
5 Things I Loved This Month
1. Reading: Kayaks and Superyachts by Oliver Burkeman
This short piece (I can’t find a text version of this online anywhere, it was sent in his newsletter! But there’s an audio reading of it) is an excerpt from Oliver’s upcoming book Meditations For Mortals, which I’m very excited to read once it’s out! His previous book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, was incredible and definitely worth a read if you haven’t yet. This chapter is about how hard it is to actually start doing something new (relatable alert!)—here’s a quick passage for ya:
The challenge, then, is simple, though for many of us also excruciating: What’s one thing you could do today – or tomorrow at the latest, if you’re reading this at night – that would constitute a good-enough use of a chunk of your finite time, and that you’d actually be willing to do? (Don’t get distracted wondering what might be the best thing to do: that’s superyacht thinking, borne of the desire to feel certain you’re on the right path.) Because the irony, of course, is that just doing something once today, just steering your kayak over the next few inches of water, is the only way you’ll ever become the kind of person who does that sort of thing on a regular basis anyway. Otherwise – and believe me, I’ve been there – you’re merely the kind of person who spends your life drawing up plans for how you’re going to become a different kind of person later on. This will sometimes garner you the admiration of others, since it can look from the outside like you’re busily making improvements. But it isn’t the same at all.
So you just do the thing, once, with absolutely no guarantee you’ll ever manage to do it again. But then perhaps you find that you do do it again, the next day, or a few days later, and maybe again, and again – until before you know it, you’ve developed that most remarkable thing, not a willpower-driven system or routine but an emergent practice of writing, or meditating, or listening to your kids, or building a business. Something you do not solely to become a better sort of person – though it may have that effect, too – but because whatever you’re bringing into reality, right here on the rapids, is worth bringing into reality for itself.
2. Listening: The Party by Andy Shauf
I’ve been listening to lots of Andy’s music this month, and this album is just really truly timeless and perfect. For those who aren’t familiar with his work, he’s most well known for his intimate, narrative concept albums, this one in particular being a collection of songs about feeling weird at a party (uh oh—another relatable alert!).
3. Shopping: Stoplight Lamp !!
Frankly, I’m addicted to Facebook Marketplace to a degree that’s concerning. But how else would I come across incredible treasures like this?????
4. Watching: The Boy and the Heron
I finally watched Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film this month and found it just as charming as I expected. I particularly loved the parakeets <3
5. Eating: Homemade Ice Cream
Got an ice cream attachment for my stand mixer recently and have been going crazy…
(Literally blown away by this bird ^ which is 2,300 years old (!!!), made during the early Iron Age from felt and reindeer fur. It’s so beautiful I could cry.)
That’s a wrap on September! Can’t wait to see what October has in store. Hopefully all good things and nothing even bad at all! I’ll let you know how it goes :-)
