Flower Moon: New Growth, Change

Here are some of the highlights of this lunar cycle, which finds me reconsidering how to: continue to explore abstracting the landscape for my lunar cycle journals in the midst of a new home build, chronicle the new house building process, observe, learn and write more about nature and native plant wildscaping for our new home. I have also been spending Wednesdays at an area hand building studio, where I am currently following Paulus Behrenson's practice of making meditative pinch pots described in his book, Finding One's Way with Clay.

4.27.25 - New Moon

4.28.25 - Signs of life are emerging everywhere on our land and in my pollinator garden. It's so intense, I can barely keep up with how quickly all the changes are occurring. All the trees are leafing out. As the trilliums poke their leaves out, the wild ginger is sprouting. As the new shoots emerge, I'm breaking off the old stalks that I left for native bees to winter in. I take a quick walk outdoors and count 11 trillium growing; one actually is starting to bud! I planted 18 trillium in the Fall of 22 - in spring of 2023 only about six sprouted and nothing bloomed. Trilliums can take 3 years to bloom, so seeing more plants and a bud this year was exciting.

I went out every morning to check on the progress of this first trillium that first appeared in April. I was so excited to see it. Then one morning when I went out the whole plant had been bitten off and left laying on its side on the ground. Evidently whatever sampled it didn't much like the taste; I was so disappointed. Then, an unexpected surprise! A second trillium - I wasn't even sure it was one, because the leaves were so different from the other trillium - budded and blossomed over the next few weeks and by the time we reached the New Flower Moon, it was fully open.

First Quarter

I'm finishing up the Earthworm Moon journal, adhering the small landscapes to mixed media paper pages and making the cover with Japanese printed paper.

That means journals one through four are now complete and all I need to do is bind them, but I'm holding off on that until I'm sure I want to do that.

Second Quarter

For the Flower Moon cycle, I decided to try a 9" x 12" format, room to make the works in them larger and be able to choose to do square or rectangular orientation. I'm also making the Flower Moon cover using prints of several of my paintings in the Earthworm Moon journal as a bridge between the cycles. I like the idea of a transition and am enjoying creating the new size

This new format for the blog, sharing notes from each quarter's entries in my daily journal, is also an experiment to give me more time to share process and experimentation in my blog. The ideal scenario is that I start each new lunar cycle with a fresh new book ready for filling.

This cycle's 9" x 12" book cover was created with collaged prints from the previous cycle's landscapes - which creates a bridge from one cycle to the next. I also completed the final artwork from the last cycle on the New Moon, so that will be the first page in this cycle's book.

Full Micro moon

With so much rain and cloud cover over these two quarters, I hardly saw the moon at all this lunar cycle. But on the night of the Full Moon I was wide awake at 2 AM, the sky was clear and the moon was visible in the southern sky, . My efforts to photograph it without any clouds didn't work at all though!

The next day I realized how much I love getting up at night to step outside and witness the moon shining in the night sky. I want to get better at exploring and writing down my thoughts as I experience nature more directly. I need to take more time to reflect on how nature inspires my creative process and dive a bit deeper into my feelings as well as chronicle what's happening and when.

5.18.25 After an intense two weeks putting all the finishing touches and completing the covers on the three previous lunar cycle books, I hadn't created anything new. Somehow I had reverted to a product orientation - how attractive does it look? - instead of a bold adventure into my own creative psyche. I wondered, if I knew that no one would ever see them but me, how would that affect what I create? What more freedom might that offer?

I know I am looking for a deeper, more personal expression in my art and writing. Perhaps I'm trying to force my practice instead of just allowing whatever happens. By embracing that idea, I can enjoy myself and learn from my efforts.

How can I be anything but in awe when there is such beauty unfolding every where I look. These are the grape vine leaves unfurling.

Third Quarter

Although I am full of ideas and directions, with so much suddenly needing to be decided about the new house, very little exploration is happening creatively. I am writing and documenting my observations more, but the spring continues to be a rainy one and it is hard to mobilize my energy to do more.

5.23.25 Since I have so few paintings to put in my May book, I am going to continue using the pages and the 9" x 12" format for the next Strawberry Moon cycle, so book five is now also book six. I feel OK with being less productive; completing the three previous books took half of this lunar cycle. I said I would honor my process no matter what and so this month has been spent catching up. It is what it is!

Here are a few samples I did work on during this part of the cycle and so I can say I enjoyed making samples with inks, pastels, acrylics, etc:

5.26.25 Dark Moon

The new house construction is intense. There is much to decide and rainy weather and molasses-slow bureaucratic building approval processes in the mix as well. For a time, other activities will slow down.

I am taking photos of the whole new house construction process. Clearing away the bushes and trees (mostly dead ash and invasive like buckthorn) got completed today. . The red ties show where the driveway will go; with the town's requirement we needed a huge raised septic bed, we had to do a lot more clearing than planned and move the house back another one hundred feet. Still the property looks gorgeous and will be even more so once we can begin the process of restoring native shrubs, trees, perennials and a meadow to the property. We drove Bob's four wheeler back to where the house will be. It is very wooded still at the back of the property and along the left side of the driveway to the stream and the feeling there is wild and beautiful.

This is a whole new chapter of my life beginning and I want to enjoy it. It definitely needs to be incorporated in my creative process, since it will inspire a lot of my creating. We got our new address this past week and it's 2450 - add those numbers up in numerology and it totals 11, which is one of three master numbers.

Here's what I read about the master number 11 online: "The number 11 can represent a gateway or portal, suggesting a home that is conducive to personal growth, new beginnings, or shifts in perspective.  Homes with a number 11 may foster a sense of intuition and creativity, making them ideal for individuals seeking to explore new ideas or tap into their inner wisdom." Sounds very aligned with my intentions for this new epoch of my life that I've entered!

So let me end this cycle trusting that any feelings of overwhelm can be transformed.

Breathing in, I calm body and mind.

Breathing out, I smile. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Wishing you a light heart and a sense of wonder in each day, thank you for your interest in my many projects!

Jeanne

Creative Explorations: Earthworm Lunar Cycle

Between generating twice a month blog posts, the planning process for the new home build (we hope!) , learning and practicing expressive abstract landscape painting - and the continuing craziness of current politics - my stress levels soared. My creative practice is central to my whole way of being in the world, so I am trying some new ways to stay centered in compassion and loving kindness and not succumb to panic or anger.

The pieces I make and show you are a visual diary of my explorations. They are meant to show the reality of my creative process - the attempts, victories and failures in the fall-down-pick-yourself-up-dust-yourself-off-and-try-again process that creating is all about. Some days I love what I do and feel exhilarated, other days I feel as though my hands and brain are made of wood, but I try again anyway.

Today's post is a synopsis of the Earthworm Moon cycle, now that I've had a few days to review and reflect. I'll share another new update a few days after the end of the Pink Moon cycle on April 27, 2025.

New Moon To Full Moon - 2.27.25 - 3.14.25

Being under the Earthworm moon raised a question in my ever-curious mind - how do earthworms live through the winter? It turns out earthworms can tunnel down to six feet (depending on the porousness of the soil) to spend the winter at a depth where the earth does not freeze (if earthworms freeze, they die). And then I wondered, exactly how fast can an earthworm tunnel, and it turns out the answer is, pretty darn fast; small ones can tunnel at 37 feet per hour and medium sized ones at about 185 feet per hour. Earthworms' pointed heads help them dig and their muscular bodies expand and contract like accordions to push them deeper. As the earth warms again, they return to live nearer the surface. So if you begin seeing earthworms this month, that is a very positive sign that warmer weather is indeed arriving.

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse 3.14.25

An amazing solar halo visible around the edges of the moon

Billions of stars visible in the crystal clear sky behind the full moon lunar eclipse

I got up at 3 AM to see the amazing full moon lunar eclipse on Friday, March 14 just 25 minutes after totality, so the moon was still quite orange and the sun's gaseous flames were visible around its edges. I've blown up this photo to show you what my eyes were seeing. A huge bonus was how incredibly clear the night sky was - I saw thousands and thousands of stars, near and far, stretching further and further into that vastness of space. How I wished that night I had a telescope to see it more clearly!

Earthworm Moon Cycle Creating

I felt like I was struggling creatively a lot through this cycle. I was doing something I had no experience in and started being judgmental about my efforts instead of playful, spontaneous and kind to myself. I did experience some moments where I felt new understanding click, but I forgot to celebrate them. Basically, I kept digging a deeper hole and climbing out, then falling right back in again.

In a used book I purchased, Creative Landscape Painting by Edward Betts, he writes,

"Simplify radically. Search out essences. Be ambiguous - get your ideas from what you observe firsthand. Develop your own system of gestures and marks. Assemble color, marks, shapes, lines to suggest landscape forms without being specific or 'readable'. Even when editing or revising, keep the spontaneity."

This is what the work ahead of me looks like and I'm confident I will grow more comfortable with these ideas as I practice them. This cycle I tried out a variety of approaches in my small studies and will continue to observe, work on spontaneity and "suggesting."

Some Earthworm Moon Cycle Images

Here are a few of the pieces now in Book 3, where the push-pull between representation and abstraction, comfort and tightness are pretty evident. I am still working on the text pages and cover, but all the works are in it, and I am happy with the many variations I attempted as the winter snows melted outside and the first buds appeared on branches. I felt thrilled when the final page was glued in - the project still absorbs me fully, and producing so many new samples is quite encouraging. I'm doing the work! These books will be a wonderful record of my explorations, challenges and discoveries.

abstracted landscape

abstracted landscape

abstracted landscape

abstract landscape

abstract landscape

abstract landscape

abstract landscape

I'm hoping the works I create each month during the 13 lunar cycles will show a progression over time; that my visual language for abstracting the landscape will become stronger and more confident.

Next Lunar Cycle Preview

A total month ahead of quick samples on paper from a daily walk-and-draw on our property, followed by a studio warm-up using inks with a variety of tools on paper. Yesterday I did my walk and draw with a 9B waterproof Lyra crayon and today I used a 9B graphite pencil, looking and responding to the trees, myriads of bare bushes and weeds, without looking at the page. After I sketch outdoors, I come indoors and work over the surface with inks.

The entire hedgerow is a mass of branches and bushes and weeds with stalks, limbs and branches going in many different directions.

Walking along the hedgerow quickly, everything is dense thicket of bare stalks and branches going in multiple directions.

My idea now for the next cycle is to sketch-and-walk and then do a warm-up with inks every day, responding to the changing landscape, then do a simple expressive ink piece with hints of landscape forms.

Since my state of mind fluctuates during a lunar cycle, I'm going to start a blog draft and add short entries every few days during the Pink Moon cycle, so that by the end of the cycle, it will be ready to post. I want to see if that will help me record more of the emotional moments and insights I have during each moon phase. At the beginning of the next cycle, I'll review and reflect on what is working and what I need to shift and try to include that as well.

Thanks for reading - its nice to share my process with fellow creatives.

The warmer weather will mean more time to get outdoors and enjoy the natural world, which is a growing source of joy and insight for me:

"Ten times a day something happens to me like this - some

strengthening throb of amazement -

some good sweet empathic ping and swell.

This is the first, the

wildest and the wisest thing I know:

that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness."

--Mary Oliver

May the Pink Moon fill you with appreciation for the gifts this new season brings!

Namaste,

Jeanne

Earthworm Moon: Shifting Landscapes

A light snowfall overnight made the morning light just before sunrise look other-worldly. I am eager to translate this reference photograph into a new drawing. Love the color palette!

The Vision Behind the 13 Moons Project

We are surrounded by farm fields and live down the road from a huge dairy and small organic cattle farm. Fields of crops have their own beauty and purpose, but all the forests and meadows that once filled this region and nourished wildlife here are long gone. There are still small patches of trees here and there, and some hedgerows to prevent more soil erosion, but we are primarily surrounded by crops, much of which are grown to feed cattle. And our own property is predominantly grass, at least four acres of which Bob mows and has mowed for 45+ years.

Our local government does make a strong effort to protect the water quality of the lake we depend on for drinking water, but with so much construction of housing developments over significant periods of time, wildlife and insect populations have fewer and fewer resources for survival here. And since this same destruction of habitats is happening everywhere across this nation, everyday citizens need to take action to increase food sources and habitats for birds and pollinators, or they will disappear.

I knew very little about ecology when I first became interested in native plants and pollinators but I am making a sincere effort to learn more, now that I realize caring, creative individuals need to take responsibility for how our actions impact life for all beings. We can make small changes that add up into huge movements. I will do what I can to protect and rewild this land. I'm committed to restoring and rewilding our property to create a thriving ecosystem for birds and pollinators, whether I live to see it to fruition or not.

Intention combined with loving action are powerful tools and I feel certain we will see countless others nationally and worldwide making the same choices to help restore the earth. It's a movement that is kind and restorative and flexible. Every person can do something to help on any scale.

During the winter months I've been reading Douglas Tallamy's The Nature of Oaks and Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard. They are valuable resources to learn more about the natural world so we can appreciate how amazing and complex it is.

We have some young and one mature oak already on the acreage next to us where we hope to build our new home. Oaks attract the largest number of caterpillars of any native tree in this area and alhough we don't find them appealing, birds love to eat caterpillars! And the caterpillar explosion that native oaks offer comes just in time to feed hungry birds building nests and rearing their young in the spring. . Adding more native trees to our property can create a small forest here over time - along with a beautiful meadow and numerous native plant pollinator and vegetable gardens. As Doug points out,

"If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants, we would create the equivalent of a 20 million-acre national park, nine times bigger than Yellowstone, or 100 times bigger than Shenandoah National Park."

Douglas Tallamy

Deepening a Connection to Nature

These are the intentions that are driving the 13 Moons project, a desire to observe, to pay attention, to see with gratitude and appreciation the beauty in the microcosm of the property I live on. The more I learn how to do that, the better I can become at being a good steward of the natural world, and help restore natural habitats we humans have destroyed so ruthlessly over centuries.

Sharing the vision, the progress of the new native plant and wildlife habitats as well as creating mixed media responses to nature and its cycles are very important to me. I appreciate your interest in these creative projects as they take shape.

The Full Moon and Fourth Quarter Explorations

The period between the Full Moon and the end of the lunar cycle got exciting. I let go and really started to relax and enjoy what I was doing and it felt freeing. I worked from memory of the photos I had taken outdoors and abstracted them. I could visualize the landscape in my imagination and it no longer felt important to me whether anyone else could see what I was seeing, and gave myself permission to interpret "landscape" in any way I choose.

Interestingly, the more I played, the more excited I became, and the easier and more fun it got to work. I collaged right onto the pages, no longer trying to make even sizes and borders. Loved that. Because the book pages are still not bound together, it was way easier to work on the pages and then move them around than glue them into a book that was already bound.

The Snow Moon book currently has all the artwork in it but none of the texts that I had selected to include, so it still isn't finished. I'm good with that, it will get there and you'll see it soon.

The new lunar cycle has started, and I'm working again with loose pages that can get bound later. Because a new cycle starts immediately after the previous one ends, I tried stopping making new pieces several days before the Dark Moon, glued pages I had made earlier in the month into the book and cut new pages to start the new cycle. Then I started crafting this blog, which takes a good amount of time to create, edit and do the SEO entries, and yet I enjoy doing it immensely.

Although Snow Moon's pages aren't dated, they do form a time line of my creative evolution. However, I want to express that passage of time and process more visibly. Do I want to date them? I can but that will happen only if I decide to keep working on Cycle 2 at the same time I'm working on this cycle. I collected notes and quotes each day through the Snow Moon cycle, so I've got those in my journal if and when I get time to add them. I do think it will be more possible to do that this month.

I took reference photographs of our property on several occasions, particularly to capture the play of light and shadow on the land in the brief hours when the sun was shining. Light and shadow are quite amazing on a sunny day after fresh snow has fallen!

Catch Up Video - January Cold Moon

Here's the first completed 13 Moons handmade book. I'll send you a video of the Snow Moon handmade book #2 for February in the next post.

Cycle Three Begins

I completed the 2.28.25 page today and it looks like text DOES want to join the images, at least that's how this cycle is beginning!

First Earthworm Moon Journal Page for the March lunar cycle

Blessings and Peace to all beings,

Jeanne