taking a pause late in the year to think things through. when i took on STILL blog as a creative challenge for myself three years ago, my thought process went something like this:

• the kids are getting older and i have a little more time for myself each day
• i’ve been dabbling for a long time, i am ready to commit to something more ambitious
• austin kleon tells me to do good work and put it where people can see it, and i have only been doing the former.
• blogs like randel plowman’s a-collage-a-day and lisa congdon’s a-collection-a-day really resonate with me in a visceral way
• having little kids around means it’s easier for me to carve out 20 minutes three times a day, than it is to commit to an hour a day
• i need to build on something already in my daily routine–i keep a regular artist journal, and i walk the dog every day
• i could do: a collage a day, a pattern a day, a nature find a day
• in the end, i chose the latter, because i thought a collection or a collage would require that hour i did not have, rather than those 20 minutes i did have. plus a nature find a day gave me extra impetus to get outside and walk every day, even in deep winter, which would benefit both me and my very spoiled dog.

After almost three years, i have, almost in spite of myself, adopted some general and very personal rules.

• art is art but it has to fit into a life or it doesn’t get done and then it’s not art, it’s just daydreaming about art.
• a little sustainable bit every day adds up to more than an ambitious lot every once in a while.
• make it pretty, or make it interesting, or, sometimes when you’re lucky, both.
• wants are better than shoulds.
• let the process teach you. don’t try to learn everything first and then apply it. apply what you already know, however little, and learn from there.
• you can drown in equipment.
• get over yourself. be imperfect and then laugh about it. then watch how much people love that.
• there is a niche for everything. you just have to love your niche.
• the world is huge. statistically speaking, nobody really cares, which is very liberating.
• the world is huge. there are people out there right now who will love everything you do, which is very moving.
• narrow and deep is more interesting than broad and shallow. plumb one thing to its depths and that one thing will be more interesting than all the world capitals you’ve visited.
• addendum: just make sure you love that one thing.
• your bioregion will always be interesting, whether that bioregion is the costa rican rain forest, the yukon watershed, the north woods, or the lower east side.
• when in doubt, things lined up in a perfect grid on a white background is always satisfying.
• dogs
• chickens

a collage of november nature from my bioregion

saint paul, minnesota