Olá flower lover Reader

I have to admit that my summer didn't go quite as planned. I had imagined spending the season working on my flower journals, finally finishing my Spring Flower Journal and creating a Summer Flower Journal to complete my collection of seasonal journals. Instead, the months went by, and I barely touched either of them.

At first, I felt a little disappointed in myself. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that perhaps I wasn't simply failing to keep up with my art practice. Something else was happening beneath the surface.

When the plan stopped feeling right

At first, I kept thinking that I should get back to my journals. But as the weeks passed, I started wondering whether there was any point in finishing a seasonal journal after the season had already ended. If I started my Summer journal at the end of August, would it still feel like a Summer journal? And my Spring journal was now even further behind. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to pick them up again. Eventually, I had to admit that I simply wasn't in the mood to work on them anymore. I didn't have the energy or the desire to continue those pages just because I had planned to finish them.

So I kept postponing them. I told myself I would work on them when I felt more inspired, but that moment never really came. By then, the idea of finishing them had started to feel more like an obligation than something I genuinely wanted to do. I think that was the hardest part to admit, because I had enjoyed creating my previous seasonal journals so much. It felt strange to be the person who had carefully planned the next one and then simply didn't want to make it.

Finding my way back to flowers

Even though I wasn't working on my journals, I still found myself making things. I created some flower cards and, later in the summer, I made two little mini zines inspired by summer flowers. I even recorded a video showing how I created them, turning a single masterboard into two 8-page mini zines. These projects were much smaller and more spontaneous than the journals I had planned, but they gave me a way to keep playing with flowers, paper, color, and mixed media without having to force myself into a project that no longer felt right.

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And while I was making those things, my mind was also becoming increasingly occupied with the changes I wanted to make to this newsletter. For a while, I had been thinking about moving away from the monthly guides with several flowers and instead spending more time with one flower at a time. I wanted to explore its stories and meanings, look at how artists have interpreted it, notice its colors and forms, and then bring all of those discoveries into my own art practice. The more I thought about this new direction, the more excited I became about it, and eventually it was clear that my creative energy was already moving toward something new.

Looking back, I don't think I really lost my art practice this summer. It simply became quieter and took a different shape than I had expected. There were fewer finished pages, but there was still curiosity, experimentation, and a growing sense of where I wanted to go next.

And now I'm curious to see where this new direction will take me. I hope you'll join me as I slow down and get to know one flower at a time. We'll begin with the dahlia, exploring its stories, colors, and meanings, and seeing where it might lead us creatively. I have a feeling there will be plenty to discover.

Until next time,