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