We have already passed midwinter and yet I have so many memories of autumn that I want to preserve. September, October and November brought with them a time of intense creativity as I worked on my illustrations, commissions and the launching of my little art shop. I kept taking my daily photographs, though it is only now that a post-Christmas calm has settled that I have had a chance to write about them here.

Today I wish to share a story of a crisp October day, an attempt to write to a deadline and the sense that sometimes a moment of inspiration is too good to miss.

I was meant to be writing. When I looked up from my desk and out of the window, I could see a sharp breeze blowing the delicate late blooming flower petals to the ground. I pulled on my boots, grabbed a little wooden bowl and collected them all.

Sitting back down at my desk again with a cuppa, I set my finds up along my desk. The aster contrasted with the teal of my journal perfectly. My mind drifted back to a poem …

“…on the hills the golden-rod

and the aster in the wood

And the yellow sunflower by the brook

In autumn beauty stood.”

WB Bryant

When I added a second blossom, the petals intermingled, like the fingers of a couple holding hands, or the interconnectedness of loved ones. I called this photograph “Friendship.”

Even as I write this, on December 26th, the hebe plant outside my window still has a few little blossoms left. I most often regard hebe as a froth of lilac although, it is when you study it up close, that its true delicate beauty can be seen. The name, which this moment prompted me to look up, comes from the Greek meaning “bloom of youth.”

Verbena has self-seeded all over the raised beds and I cannot quite bring myself to uproot it, so there will likely be double the amount next year.

I can see a whole life etched out in a fallen leaf. A loss of crimson at the tip when the first frosts arrived. The scars of insect bites.

Eventually I set my lucky finds aside, ready to write. Sometimes I find that working creatively on a different project, ignites my imagination for another. One deadline has slightly slipped, but my stock photography assignment is now submitted two weeks early.

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Visit my little Art Shop: tinypotager.shop

Commission Enquiries: tinypotager@hotmail.com

A selection of my photographs are available as postcards here

I’ve linked below to where you can buy the journal mentioned in my post from Amazon. If you click on the picture and buy the item I will get a small commission to help support my art.

ZenART Faux Leather Dotted Journal – B5 Sized, 7 x 10-inch, Notebook with Vibrant Colors, Japanese Edge Motif – Lay Flat, with Grid for Journaling