Summer So Far

My kids don’t start school for another four whole weeks, so I get to be in denial about autumn creeping in for a little longer. The goldenrod started blooming last week and our last 8pm sunset was Monday, but my tomatoes only just started turning red and I still have a whole beach vacation ahead of me later this month. Fall? Don’t know her.

I had intended to really lock in this summer and pop back up in September with a new collection of both paintings and photographs, but the only thing I’ve been locked into is logging as many critters as I can find in iNaturalist (140 species on our property alone!) and eating cucumbers like it’s my job. Which it is because I’m pulling 3-5 from my garden a day. I have painted twice, I think. I have picked up my Nikon F100 once.

Instead I’ve been making little felt collages with the girls, experimenting with bead weaving, teaching myself applique techniques for my quilts, growing vegetables and flowers, and reading a lot. I was sort of beating myself up about how I have no real work to show for this summer, but summer just isn’t a season for locking in. Summer is the dillying dallyest of all the seasons. I can’t stay hunched over my desk with my paint brush. I have to go walk around the lake and say good morning to all the baby bunnies eating clover.

Next month I’ll be back in the city, studying at the Art Students League again carting my children to their various activities. Back to the business of making art. My days will no longer be an amorphous blob. The routine will be good for me, but for now I’m holding on tight to our unstructured days.