What I’m working on – October 2026

It’s my birthday month! It feels really lovely for it to be my birthday month and have art out in the world at a show. I’m also headed on a big trip later this month where my plan is to do a bunch of writing and thinking so I’m very much looking forward to that as well.

Where you can see my work

My work Into the Unknown both the book and the video are in the Decatur Arts Alliance show “The Book As Art v.14: Ghosted” in Decatur, GA. It runs September 11 – October 24, 2026.

Sam and I did a promotional video for the show and it’s set to premier Thursday, October 15 on the Georgia Center for the Book YouTube channel. It’s us chatting about the making of the video and what it’s like belonging to a bookish family.

Open calls I’m working on

I just passed on an opportunity to submit to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts because they don’t allow for mailed submissions and the art work delivery date is the Monday after we return from Thanksgiving holiday. I didn’t want to spend another six hours in the car back to back with the holiday drive home. Certainly I am jumping ahead of myself presupposing I would get in but just the prospect of the drive demotivated me to such a degree I decided it wasn’t worth applying.

This likely closes out the year for me since I don’t see a lot of shows gearing up over the holidays or me spending time over the holidays working on applications. Regardless, I’m really excited about the shows I’ve gotten to participate in this year. My work has been in four shows this year spanning nine months. It’s my best year yet!

Paper Things

Here’s a couple of things I worked on in September:

I’ve been working in this sketchbook off and on since 2024. Mostly off though because I took like a year long break from working in my art journals/sketchbooks. I feel called back to it now so I’m guessing you will see more of this in the coming months. I’d like to finish the pages in this wide boy because taking photos of it is kinda terrible. I bought it in an art shop in Scotland so while it’s terrible to take photos of, I still love it for reminder of that excellent trip.

In a different kind of paper thing, I’ve been journaling for myself so much this past month. This is the bit about it from my September newsletter:

This past month I’ve been doing a ton of personal writing. I’ve been digging in and exploring a part of the creative cycle that I’ve never spent a lot of time on. I’ve been focusing on reflecting on my own work, writing about it, and then integrating that knowledge for future use. Social media makes us think that producing work is the only thing artists do but what I’m learning from this time is that there is more quiet, introspective work to be done. I’ll probably write a blog post about it later but for now, it’s enough to spend my time on it and relish what is coming up for me in this space.

Crochet Things

I made this magenta fidget dragon in September and promptly dropped it in the mail to my kiddo at college. Then I started this multicolored shawl. The yarn is so fun to work with!! I can’t stop marveling at the colors as they change while I am crocheting.

The pullover raglan sweater I told you about last month took a turn for the annoying. I realized that I was increasing the size accidentally so had to pull out MANY rows. I put that project in time out for a while to recover from the trauma of frogging over a week’s worth of work. If it ever starts to cool down around here, I’ll probably get it out again.

What I’ve been reading

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently. I finally finished Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing. Then zipped through Find your Artistic Voice by Liza Congdon. From that book I found Manage your Day-to-Day, Build your Routine, Find you Focus, and Sharpen your Creative Mind edited by Jocelyn K. Glei and read it in about 3 days. I’ve also been flipping around in The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad. I’m reading and writing from the prompts in this book as I feel called by the topics.

On my to-be-read stack I have Rest Easy by Ximena Vengoechea, Move Slow & Make Things by Marian Parsons (birthday gift from my Mom. Thanks Mom!), Magic Maker by Pam Grossman, and Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.

What I’m understanding more and more is that creativity and leaning into your own creative journey is incredibly individual. Your best practice might look like my worst practice. Reading about other people’s practices can help you find your way to what works best for you but it is no substitute for working out your own way. I think I’ve always hoped that I could recreate someone else’s habits and also be successful but no, of course it’s not that easy. So if you are struggling with this same thing, I get it! Cheers to us for staying on the path even when it’s awkward and hard.

Thank you for stopping in! Nothing on my website is AI generated. Not the art I make and not the words I write. If you’d like to keep up with what I’m working on, I’d love to have you as a newsletter subscriber. I include blog posts from here, cool things I find online, and occasionally pictures of my dog. Sign up here. Or if you want to drop me a note to catch me up on what you’re working on, email me here. Lastly, if you like what I do and want to support my work you can buy me a coffee.