Coffee Dispatch Vol. 5
Welcome new subscribers! I’m so happy you’re here. I’m trying a new format this month which I hope you enjoy. But please go back and peruse previous posts to catch up on all that I’ve been up to. We are a work in progress, always~
This month I’m leaning into the Dog Days of Summer. The heat, the slowness, the heaviness we can only deal with by being slower and more intentional. A lesson I’ve needed for a longtime, so here we are.
I’ve realized I’m ready to be intentional about getting thru all my old stuff: 30+ years of school stuff, of old artwork, the family heirlooms & memories I’ve not been able to let go of as well as old beliefs.
Until now.
A purge. Like, bags to Goodwill, hard decision time purge.
Sticky notes on bins by the door purge.
Maria Kondo’s distant cousin - level purge. (I’m not a total monster! :)
I’ve been putting off the idea for many reasons, mostly to hang onto comfort and safety.
I was hanging onto the familiar in my surroundings to make the unfamiliar in my day to day life feel more normal.
It worked for a while, it helped me to heal a portion of my nervous system, (there’s still a portion that’s on continuous high alert unfortunately because, well….GESTURES BROADLY!) But with time has come a better understanding of how my system works, how I work when I given space and time to decide and it has been eye opening.
Suffice it to say, no one can prepare you for big changes even if they’ve been through the same experience. But the one thing that’s universally true is timing is everything.
Everything.
That’s why it’s taken me till now to get here to a place where I’m more comfortable with the idea of letting go of certain material things, culling through my memories and making fucking space for some newness. I have had SUCH amazing results in the studio as a result of this move and as foreign as it feels to resist planning everything within an inch of it’s life, it’s SO MUCH BETTER for my creativity & spirit.
So.much.better.
I have made unbelievably crazy goals for myself that were made when I was still in the teaching grind BEFORE I realized what was required to execute said plans. Both tangibly and energetically.
We have since learned better and we are trying to also release the need to over-plan, over-promise and over-extend.
Steady as she goes.
So for this newsletter I have just images of what I’ve been playing with. Easy. Simple.
Here’s to The Dog Days of Summer, may we allow them to be a place holder for our future selves that is rested
and carrying a little lighter load.
Thanks for being here.~
Playing with Artgraph Watersoluble Graphite. I’ve loved working with graphite since college. It’s got a lot of nuance and can be both super strong and subtle. Excited to see it’s potential on surfaces and photos.
Gelli printing on old ledger paper.
Testing some new techniques for transferring images to larger textured surfaces. Lots of possibilities.
Alternative Surfaces/Substrates
Experimenting with different surface treatments to cardboard to combine with some of my architectural photos. The textures and layers make a more dynamic surface for the images to exist on and I’m really interested in that.
