More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026

Over the past few days I have been struggling to get my 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026 painting the way I thought I wanted it, entirely with collaged acrylic skins of photos of the individual flowers I got in the 5-week Dahlias CSA share I was gifted. It became obvious it was not going to work in a similar way as my 12 x 12 x 12 September painting which had photos of blue water access covers I saw on the street while I was walking in my neighborhood.

Last night I was talking to a dear artist friend, trying to explain my frustration. She suggested turning it upside down but that wasn't going to work because it's symmetrical, but I did turn it 180 degrees and went to bed. I woke up this morning with a solution I think will work, so I am making more skins, this time with two photos of fallen leaves on a shrub to collage on the surface. While this is a totally different idea from what I initially wanted to do, I think it'll work. Fingers crossed.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026

Work in progress on my 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026 painting.

I am collaging acrylic skins of photos of the individual flowers I got in the 5-week Dahlias CSA share I was gifted from a local farm when I retired from my day job a few months ago.

I was planning on filling each square on this fabric with flowers, similar to how I made my 12 x 12 x 12 September painting which had photos of blue water access covers I saw on the street while I was walking in my neighborhood, but now I am rethinking it, which is part of the process. To be continued.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026

I started removing the paper off the back of the acrylic coated paper with photos of the individual flowers I got in the 5-week Dahlias CSA share I was gifted from a local farm when I retired from my day job a few months ago.

These photos show how I removed the paper from skins and how the color appears as the paper is gone. It's a slow and gentle process where I wet the paper and rub it off the back acrylic photo with a sponge, and try to not rip the acrylic skin.

When the paper has been removed from each of the skins, and they are dry, I will cut each flower into the correct size and shape and collage them on a piece of fabric that has the texture of a gridded construction fence for my 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026 painting. 

This painting will be similar to how I made my 12 x 12 x 12 September painting, which had photos of blue water access covers I saw on the street while I was walking in my neighborhood.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026

Today was the last week of the 5-week Dahlias CSA share I was gifted from a local farm when I retired from my day job a few months ago.

Every week I took a picture of each individual flower. Here are screenshots of five of the flowers from today. Some darker flowers, which are rich and beautiful, are printing very dark so I decided not to use them on my 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026 painting.

I coated this printout with matt medium to create more skins that I will cut up and collage, along with the first print of flowers I already shared, on a piece of fabric that has the texture of a gridded construction fence. It will be similar to how I made my 12 x 12 x 12 September painting, which had photos of blue water access covers I saw on the street while I was walking in my neighborhood.

New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026

I was gifted a 5-week Dahlias CSA share from a local farm when I retired from my day job a few months ago. Since early September, I have picked up 4 beautiful bouquets and I pick up the last one tomorrow. Each week I take a picture of each individual flower. 

Photos of the Dahlias are the inspiration for my 12 x 12 x 12 October 2026 painting. This picture shows a grid of 25 of the flowers. I printed out 4 copies and coated them with matt medium to create 4 skins that I will cut up and collage on a piece of fabric that has the texture of a gridded construction fence, similar to how I made my 12 x 12 x 12 September painting, which had photos of blue water access covers.

More New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

I have blocked the dates out for October on my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026, a year-long painting where I document the number of steps I walk each day with different icons representing each 1000 steps. I'm always a little concerned that I will make a mistake so I use tape to mark around the area I need to paint, and I pin the calendar on the painting so I can refer to it as I paint.

More New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

 

Here is the month of September on my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026, a year-long painting that documents the number of steps I walk each day. 

The picture above shows how many steps I walked in last month. The yellow icon shows when I walked over 20,000 steps, red icons show the 16 days I walked 10,000 to 19,999 steps, and the 13 black icons are for up to 9999 steps. 

This amount of walking I did the last few days in the month (except for the the last day) was limited because we got a rain Nor'easter which resulted in about 6" or so of rain and high winds over three plus days. We were visiting friends on Cape Cod and it really wasn't "walking weather" so I walked circles in our hosts' basement to get a few thousand steps in.

In the picture below, you can see January through September with plenty of room of the rest of the year.