Highlights! I don't know if these were my best performing pieces, but they were the pieces that made me feel I had mastered what I set out to do. 
I don't know if you have ever painted lava or an ocean wave, but it takes a bit of wrangling to have it come out looking right. And the series of reinterpreted card suits was an excellent challenge that allowed me to slip a bit of mysticism into something ordinary. 
Lastly: REPEAT PATTERNS that I have then printed on fabric via Spoonflower. I mean, COME ON. My heart goes pitter-pat every time I hold those fabrics in my hand. And Baba Yaga is both terrible and wonderful, so it feels fitting that her house on chicken legs round out this trio. 

It's fun to look back on what I have been making. It feels a lot like looking at old family photos: a bit of nostalgia and a bit joy all rolled into one. 

​That's all for today, friends.

Day 7 is a Sneak Peek Crop. I decided instead to show you a collection of color swatches. I love color. I love that we have available to us every color imaginable. I love that from the colors available, we can mix new colors. Over the past two years, I have been trying to break out of my color comfort zone and make work with new (to me) color combinations. This has led to some really beautiful and really meh artwork. 

I really wanted the Hooker's Green to work here. From the color swatch above, I thought it might. But it's just too cool to play with the Quidnacrone Rose Permanent. Some things you don't find out until you're in the thick of it (thank goodness for sketchbooks). This sun-and-moon piece is also my Peptober day 11: a Lowlight. At this point, I can't figure out where/when I will use Hooker's Green. I prefer Sap Green for my yellow-greens and Viridian for my blue-greens and I usually mix everything in between. If you are a Hooker's Green fan: give me the details on how this green works for you because I am stumped. 

You may notice that I'm not doing ALL of Peptober. That's on purpose. I had a busy weekend, and decided to skip a few days of the Peptober challenge. That's one of the bonuses of being an adult: you can choose to not do things. It's a choice I make frequently, because I value my downtime. I need unscheduled time in which to relax and play. 

​That's all for today, friends. 

Peptober Day 5 is all about process. Before I make anything, there is at least one page in my sketchbook that looks like the above image. I try to work out all of the composition, colors, and structure before I begin so that I can just work straight through on my final piece. Sometimes that plays out, and sometimes I wind up coming back to the sketchbook if I think I have a better idea.

My sketchbook practice started in high school with my art teacher, Mr Spicer. Fridays were "Sketchbook Fridays" and we would spend the entire period working on whatever prompt he gave us to explore. And then when I was in AP Art, he started to show us what sketchbooks could look like if you made them into a daily practice. The way people can think with their hands has never ceased to amaze me.

After high school and college, my sketchbook practice was sporadic for a while (being a sleep-deprived mom will do that to you), but now I am carrying one with me almost everywhere. I have one that goes to work, I have 3 or 4 at home. Being able to rough out ideas when they strike is extremely satisfying. Not all ideas become finished works, but it's nice to have a physical record of my progress. 

Peptober Day 5 was supposed to happen on Tuesday, October 5, but I had a full day of work followed by metalsmithing class. That's why you're getting a 2-for-1. 

I am currently working on a winter series of fabrics for my Spoonflower shop, and in preparation for that I drew all these winter icons. My question to you is: which of the above symbols do YOU want to see on some fabric? 

​That's all I've got for you today friends!  

Today, Facebook had a very, very bad day. As far as the internet has been able to figure out, someone deleted a bunch of code that tells your device how to get to Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp/Oculus. 
The downside to this is that I can't post my Peptober post on Instagram. I was really enjoying seeing everyone's posts and art styles. 
I'm going to try and post the rest of Peptober here, and if/when Instagram comes back I will post there too.

WHAT IS PEPTOBER? 
Hey, I'm so glad you asked! It's a challenge from Andy J Pizza via his podcast Creative Pep Talk. The idea is that you don't have to be a content-generating machine in order to engage folks on social media. The hilarity of this being interrupted by a social media blackout is not lost on me. Each day is a new prompt, which Andy outlined in podcast episode 333. Today's prompt is Do a Part Two.

In my planned Instagram post, I had really pithy things to say. Trust me.

I chose to showcase these folk-art inspired flowers because they have led to a part two, three, and four. When I was in undergrad, our art profs were always telling us to make a series of work. Never just one! And it turns out they were right. The more you make, the more opportunities you have to explore the "what ifs". When you're in the "what ifs" things start to get really interesting, your art starts to expand, and you find yourself in a completely new place of making. 

So the next time you sit down to make some art, don't just make one. Make three. 

Until next time, friends!