Fall Morning

I finally got out my watercolors today, after having abandoned them since the start of summer. This is a small sketch in my Moleskine, which has been neglected if not abandoned. For me summer was all about traveling, gardening, and taking my pictures to exhibits and then bringing them back home again.  But now I plan to stay home for a while, and gardening will have to do with planting bulbs and cutting back spent plants.  I did go to the garden center and get a purple mum to replace the exhausted pansies that didn't survive August heat.  

It's funny, after all the painting I did from October last year until May this year, I thought I would be able to keep the momentum going.  Now after not being very productive artistically for four months, I feel nervous about sitting down in my studio to begin again.  I have ideas, reference photos I took in summer like the one I used for the little watercolor here, but my old anxiety about doing work I like has returned.  I've temporarily lost my sense that painting is re-creation, as well as creation.  Guess I'll just have to start throwing around some paint and giving myself permission to experiment.

Fall should be a good time to get back into a routine of drawing and painting, since the season is one of transition, and the colors in nature are turning gaudy.  It's a golden time, and one that is irresistible to try to put on paper.