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.

Each week I have taken 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 am now coating 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: 12 x 12 x 12 September 2026

These pictures show four stages of multiple copies of acrylic skins of photos of blue water access covers cut to size and collaged on the grid of monoprinted construction fence fabric for my 12 x 12 x 12 September 2026 painting in progress. Next is cropping the fabric down to 12" square and finishing this painting before the end of September.

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

The Water Department in the town I live in has been painting water access covers blue at the houses in my neighborhood that are in need of updated waterlines. Over the past week or so, workers have been digging in the street to find and replace the water old lines.

Photos of the blue water access covers are the inspiration for my 12 x 12 x 12 September 2026 painting that I am currently working on. This picture shows a grid of 20 photos. 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.

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

September is blocked out 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. 

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

When I retired from my day job in July, I changed the daily background color to Light Ultramarine Blue 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 August. The red icons show the 19 days I walked 10,000 or more steps, and the 3 black circles are for 9000 to 9999 steps. This amount of walking (especially in the summer when I don't like the heat) is a huge increase over last August when I was juggling working, walking in the heat, and whatever life events that didn't give me time to walk as much as I would have preferred.

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

 

Last New Work in Progress for 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

This is my last new work in progress post for my 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026 painting. I have some more work to do, but as I am close to finishing it, my next post about it will be when it's complete.

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

After sketching different ideas for next steps in Photoshop last week, I painted the green lines around the large "squares" from the construction fence pattern for my 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026 painting, and then I trimmed it down to 12" square. I could call it finished but I am going to do more painting. It'll be finished sometime before the end of the month.

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

 

In July, I retired from my day job, and changed how I document the number of steps I walk each day on my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 year-long painting. Starting then, the background color behind all icons for the rest of this year is now Light Ultramarine Blue. Each month, I am pre-painting the days of each month, month by month ahead of time, and each week I collage on the icons for each day walked.

During the brief time I stopped working but was still on the payroll, the background was Light Phthalo Blue. Up until my last day in the office, I was painting Florescent Magenta on the days I was off such as weekends, vacation, personal, and sick days.

In this picture, you can see the August 1st icon is already in place, a little section of July to the left of August, a little of the Light Phthalo Blue in the diagonal upper right of August. and the Florescent Magenta background paint before that.

More Ideas For New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

Yesterday I coated what I had done so far on my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026, with 50/50 watered-down matt medium. When wet, the bottom row was very badly puckered and I was considering cutting it off and replacing it with a different piece of fabric. 

While it is a fabric painting, and fabric does pucker, the amount was really bothering me. Thankfully it's reasonably flat today after drying overnight.

While it was drying, I played with a few ideas about next steps in Photoshop. Here are two sketches. I think I'm going to use the idea in the first photo and do more after that.

While I like the idea in the second photo, and might try that in a different piece, it wasn't the right thing to do with this one.

 

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

I started working on my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026, combining a piece of monoprinted and painted fabric of a construction fence from many years ago and a piece of fabric that has many layers of fabric paint from hand stamping the icons for my yearlong walking painting. I cut and stitched as you can see in these photos, and now I’m paused while I think about my next steps.

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

I’m considering using some of these fabrics for my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026. I think I may collage parts of the bottom left and/or top left fabrics which have paint from the icons I stamped for my walking painting, on to the blue and red stitched piece on the right.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 202

This is the month of July for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

In July I walked over 10,000 steps 11 times and came close to that as represented by the circles (9000 steps +) two times, because of hot weather. 

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

In July, the red lines are for hot days, and the orange is for when I was on vacation, which this time reduced my walking.

The base monoprinted grid is black. Before I retired from my day job, the Florescent Magenta background paint signified the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) when I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

On June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I technically on “vacation” and still on the payroll at work, but actually retired from my day job and my email access ended. On July 1, the background color changed to Light Ultramarine Blue when I was fully retired. It will remain that color through the end of the year.

The second image shows January through July and plenty of room for the rest of the year.

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

 

While watching Noah Kahan at his concert at Fenway Park in Boston in the pouring rain on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, I was also watching the rain in the spotlights in hope it would stop raining. This is work in progress for my July 12 x 12 x 12 mixed media painting which is inspired by my experience. Using monoprinted sections of two different construction fences as the metaphor for the spotlights, I added the dots which symbolize the wristbands that lit up on everyone's wrists (assuming their wrists weren't hidden under their gear like mine was so I could keep dry). Next I will stitch the "rain" in with my sewing machine, and then I'll stiffen the fabric and finish this painting.

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

 

We had a wonderful time at Noah Kahan’s concert at Fenway Park in Boston despite the pouring rain Tuesday evening! Besides watching him play, I was also watching the rain in the spotlights in hope it would stop raining. The top photo is work in progress of my July 12 x 12 x 12 mixed media painting which is inspired by my experience watching the rain and also from the photo that my husband took of the rain in the spotlight. I'm using monoprinted sections of two different construction fences as the metaphor for the spotlights. I will stitch the "rain" in with my sewing machine after doing some additional surface design on the fabric.

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

 

Now that it's July, and I have retired from my day job, I am making changes for how I document the number of steps I walk each day for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 year-long painting project.

For this year, when I was working, I was using Florescent Magenta background paint to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise. I painted it after I added the icons for the number of steps by the thousands.

On June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I was technically on "vacation" and still on the payroll at work, but actually retired. I pre-painted those 12 days.

Now I have not only changed the background color again, this time to Light Ultramarine Blue, but I am now going to pre-paint the days of each month for the rest of the year. This paint, and the Light Phthalo Blue, are opaque compared to the Florescent Magenta which is not, so it'll be a very different look for the black on white monoprinted grid of the construction fence. 

The second image shows a glimpse of January through July before I add new stamps through Saturday of this week, and the following weeks and months through the rest of the year.

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

 

This is the month of June for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

In June I walked over 20,000 steps two times thanks to being away and without a car on both days, and over 10,000 steps 13 times because of warmer (but not hot) weather.

The base monoprinted grid is black, was Florescent Magenta background paint to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

Starting on June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I technically on "vacation" and still on the payroll at work, but I actually retired from my day job and my email access ended. Starting in July, the background color will change again when I am fully retired.

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

The second image shows January through June and plenty of room for the rest of the year.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

I haven't had time this work week to work on my 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

Here, in reverse order, is what I painted last weekend. 

I'm looking forward to doing more painting this weekend, hopefully starting after work tomorrow afternoon.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day, I added red circles next to the black ones.

Currently I paint Florescent Magenta in the background of some squares to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I have not been at work, because it usually gives me more time to walk for exercise.

My days are going to change soon, and I’m trying to decide what color I will use instead of the Florescent Magenta so I can highlight that. By experimenting with one of the blueish paint colors in this photo, I will be able to make a good choice. 

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

 

This is the month of May for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016. 

In May I walked over 10,000 steps 19 times thanks to warmer weather, and more sunlight after work. On May 20, the high daytime temperature in eastern Massachusetts was 47 degrees and it rained just about all day. I didn't have wearing long johns on my bingo card for May!

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

The base monoprinted grid is black, with Florescent Magenta background paint used to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gives me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

The second image shows January through May and plenty of room for the rest of the year.