A Short Pause

Celebrating Summer Solstice by Slowing Down

A Short Pause | Acrylic & Ink on Wood | 2008

I can only imagine it’s a throwback to happy memories of my own childhood - thinking of summer as some magical elongation of time passing through flower-filled meadows, over warm sandy beaches, and peacefully landing on impossibly long lazy sunny days folding into evenings with a sky full of stars. My dad taught High School and my mother stayed at home. We didn’t have much money but we did have summers together hiking, fishing, and camping throughout the Northwest. Those long-lost summer days together are some of my most cherished memories and certainly shaped the nature-loving person I am today.

As an adult, I am amazed at how fast summer goes by! Having spent the last 15 years as a traveling art festival artist while raising two children seemed to make summers even more compressed with frenetic art-making, long road trips, community pool days, sporting activities, day trips to the coast, and vacations for four. And yet, as the solstice brings its overdue light to a northwest still recovering from Winter’s long sleep and steeped in what seems to be a neverending Spring rain, I still perennially hold onto the notion of leisurely loping through the slow sunny summer days ahead. And now, today, on this summer solstice day - I celebrate the beginning of my 53rd Pacific Northwest summer, still ever hopeful!

Happy Summer Solstice
to my fellow Northern Hemispherians!

With this year I have entered a new phase of summery optimism. With only two art festivals planned for this year and adult children managing their own plans and activities, I can easily imagine a summer full of leisure. For even though we are spending the next few weeks downsizing and moving our home (and my studio) to a new location - I am also temporarily “downsizing” my workload - hoping to still capture some of that slow nostalgic fun in the Northwest sun.

Over the years I have found that I can comfortably maintain about three main “threads” in my life. (I categorize threads as singular projects or commitments beyond any usual daily/weekly routines. Threads are things that are not automatic, but take effort and energy to integrate into the usual work, chores, leisure activities, or adult/parental responsibilities of life.) If I go beyond that number for any length of time I become noticeably stressed and distracted - no longer able to maintain anything well, I start losing healthy habits (such as walking/running, cooking/eating well, and sleeping well). And I have a habit of going over this magic number - trying to pack in everything all the time.

Deliberately Slowing Down for Summer

I am learning to pay more attention to these threads. For this summer, that means limiting my focus (which has once again been breaking off in several different directions - e.g. writing and video projects, new art techniques, new product lines, app development, and new home projects). Looking at all my work and personal goals and distilling them down to just three main projects is not easy. I keep a long list of side-projects that can be worked on when time is available or kept sidelined until they either take center stage or drop off completely. I also regularly save audio recordings with ideas and notes to review or reject later. As an artist, having ideas has never been an issue. Finding time to work on them without exhausting myself in the process is the hard part. Simpler projects may allow for more threads. More intensive projects may require a singular focus. If I’m losing sleep or forgetting to eat, I definitely know my numbers are off. The goal is to not wait until that point to see the imbalance.

This year, to mark the summer solstice, I’m making a plan to stay in balance. I will narrow my focus to (1) preparing new work for my upcoming July shows, (2) Plein air painting, and (3) moving. For everything else (that isn’t an emergency), I will give permission to either wait until Fall or naturally putter along slowly.

(1) My July shows will be showcasing my latest art practices with new Mixed Media work. I’ve been working on the main show-stopper piece for months (as many of you can guess, that is my currently in-progress “Uncharted Territory” project). I don’t know if it will be done in time for the Salem Art Fair, but I will be working hard to have it ready for the Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) Arts Fair. (I have a few smaller mixed media projects that are close to being done and should be ready for both shows.) I am also looking forward to sharing and talking about a myriad of mixed media pieces from the last couple of years, including pieces from the series: Visions, Fractured Stories of Hope, and BEING.

(2) I’ve only painted en Plein air two days so far this year, but I’m looking forward to joining the Vistas and Vineyards group again tomorrow and creating something for the Lavender Festival Paint Out later this month. As I’ve become more comfortable with oil paints again, it’s really inspired me to continue painting outdoors. As we’re packing up the house, I even recently unearthed an old slide of a long-lost painting from a summer college class at the University of Washington - shown here using a quick (low-quality) slide-to-image phone app. (It actually had a lot more purple and blue in it, if I remember correctly.)

(3) Moving - Yikes! We’ve been in our current house for about 13 years, which may not seem like much, but it’s definitely the longest we’ve lived together in 1 place since our respective childhoods. (This is our fourth home sale/fifth home purchase during our nearly 30 years of marriage.) And even though we’ve been thinning out our possessions for the past year, we are now really getting serious since our house has sold and we’ve picked out another, much smaller, one to settle into. While most cupboards have been cleared, I’m finishing up the yard, garage, and garden shed clean-up, organizing movers and cleaners, disconnecting and reconnecting utilities, and all the other many little things that go into making a move. It’s a lot of work, but we’re definitely excited for this next chapter which will enable our desire to live more simply and travel more freely.

What does this mean for “An Artist’s Notes”?

In the meantime, (getting back to the artwork featured at the start of this post), my Substack newsletter, “An Artist’s Notes”, will take a short pause. I plan to start writing here again at some point in August - after my July shows and my move are complete.

I’m incredibly proud of having continued this little studio publication despite my lack of writing experience and, often, lack of focus. I am happy (and a bit surprised) to have produced 45 articles since September 2020 and I have no plans to stop. With each writing effort, I find myself more comfortable with sharing my studio work in this format. I also find I want to become a better writer. I want to create something meaningful, useful, well-crafted, and consistent. Looking ahead, I am excited to seek out opportunities to learn more about this art form and seeing what I can offer as a visual artist creating in this format. I will be thinking about what my profession, experience, and perspective can bring to you, the reader. I will be working on my most direct and honest writing. And more editing!

I look forward to figuring out what that all means, and I hope you will be here with me when I do.

So, on this Summer Solstice, as I choose to slow down and pause this particular pursuit, I also want to thank you once again for still being here. For allowing this dalliance away from my usual art forms and letting me share what I do in this format. And I also want to take a moment to wish you many a lovely, leisurely day ahead (if that is your wish too) - or whatever the particular joy is that summer may bring to you!

Happy Summer Solstice ~ Jennifer