On My Nightstand, On My Easel 8/15/22

On my nightstand:

The Offering

August 21, 2015

These woods
on the edges of a lake
are settling now
to winter darkness.
Whatever was going to die
is gone—
crickets, ferns, swampgrass.
Bare earth fills long spaces of a field.
But look:
a single oak leaf
brown and shining
like a leather purse.
See what it so delicately offers
lying upturned on the path.
See how it reflects in its opened palm
a cup of deep, unending sky.

                            —Laura Foley

On my easel:

I am suffused this afternoon with the fullness of life, the single oak leaf, the art and creative experimentation of Michelle Burns.

I've returned to the sketchbook I hand-folded from a single sheet of paper earlier this month. Got going with an idea on the first two-page interior spread only to see that I've unwittingly set myself up with challenges I hadn't anticipated. Fun! Eager to discover what this piece has to teach me and how I might resolve it.

4.5 x 6", work in progress on paper