a post for the end of August

Hello and goodbye, August.   I couldn't let the month pass without writing something!

This summer, I put most of my energy into the school where I spend most of my time. Changes needed to be made. It was the perfect time for big transitions so I planned (and paid attention to many lightbulb moments) and worked really hard to put everything into place for my students. It's work that I love, but it consumed most of my creative energy. It has already started paying off, though. The first month of school has been great!

So my painting table wasn't really used, except for last weekend, when I created the painting above. I think this happens every summer. I have to practice to get back into the creative process. This painting started out as an experimentation of something new to me - but it *wasn't* me or my style. So I kept going until it looked like something that might look like mine. SO MANY LAYERS. And then it just felt finished-ish, and I don't know how I feel about it, and I'm not going to think about it too much. I like it more than I dislike it, and most of what I dislike is how long it took me to get to the end. And there were lessons learned in all the experimentation.

Similar experimentation is what got me to the end of this painting, which became the most pinned thing I've ever put on Pinterest:

So it's all good. And tomorrow, this girl who has lost her keys too many times this month and can't remember words is going back on vacation.

Have a lovely weekend!