Morning Page 9/21
/SUNDAY September 21, 2025
It is the Fall equinox, and also the day of a partial solar eclipse though we cannot see it in the West. A very good day, say astrologers, to start something new. I hadn’t been aware I’d chosen this particular date to begin. How interesting.
I’m excited to begin this project. I know I keep starting something new, keep developing new routines and processes…but instead of beating myself up for all these start-stop-stops, maybe I can see that I’m honing in on a Morning Practice that works for me and is sustainable long-term.
Today I copied some of the botanical shapes that Tasha Goddard made in her sketchbook (9/20) where she copied those shapes from a piece she’d photographed at a museum. Like she says, studying other artist’s work is an excellent exercise for learning techniques and developing our own ideas from those ideas.
I decided to devote today’s morning page to studying these shapes because lately I’ve been obsessed with shapes! I find that I just swoon over shapes. I love purely non-objective (abstract) works built on shapes, and in my own art practice I am leaning into drawing and painting with abstract shapes. I recognize the value of drawing realistically to learn to to see and draw so I continue to draw what I see for practice, but I mean no shade to artists who love realism, it’s not how I want to draw. I’d take a photograph instead.
I’ve found that' it’s harder to simplify and abstractify real life rather than draw it as it is and it does come down to shapes, so I’m always trying to find new approaches and new ways to create and combine shapes. And here was such a lovely opportunity to practice. I do love these abstractified botanicals very much and I’m thinking how I can push those ideas further.
Oh, and also, I think it would be fun to play with color in daily headers so I think I’ll continue this practice.
Meanwhile, can I just say that it is just so pleasant to sink into drawing. Between shape obsession and deep satisfaction in the drawing moment, today’s page is filled with bliss.
[that took 20 minutes to write).