Autumn, our most colourful season

Autumn is upon us and it’s our most colourful season. It’s also the one that signifies the end of my beloved summer and the coming of winter. In terms of weather and lighting, it’s high drama! (although our winter storms are pretty sensational). Time to say goodbye to summer for another year.

Autumn is the time to clean up the yard and begin to spend more time indoors, in My Studio

https://maijazemitis.com/studio-snapshots/

All of the house plants and outdoor furniture have been brought in and the garden chores are now done. I have yet to spread the apple chip mulch on flower beds. Today, I brought in the laundry umbrella; back to using the dryer.

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The days are getting shorter and darkness settles in sooner. It’s hard to tell the time in the morning, judging by the light.

https://maijazemitis.com/playing-around-with-photos-of-my-pond/

Several weeks ago, I brought in a Monarch butterfly’s cocoon

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We had several days of cold and wind and the beginning of frost at night. Maybe he would’ve survived, maybe not.

He hatched in the morning and I put him outside with the hopes of his leaving and still catching up with his friends. Alas, his wings didn’t dry properly and he is unable to fly. So he’s living indoors, in his basket.

I provide him with fresh pear to suck out the juice everyday. Today, he’s been at it for at least 45 minutes

He has plenty of twigs and what’s left of the autumn flowers, which I bring in for him. His name is Marley and he’s pushing 3 weeks now! In the wild, Monarchs live between 2-6 weeks. Aside from not being able to fly, he’s a quick crawler and he flutters his wings, sometimes landing straight up, others on his back, little legs flailing.

He readily climbs on my fingers and spends time on my sweater, while I watch some mundane tv show.

As I finalize the edit of this blog entry, Marley is no longer with us. It was a joy to have him here.

As always, I’m busy in my studio, daily

I’ve brought in all the outdoor pots and snipped the remains of the Marigolds. My outdoor dye studio has closed up now, until next spring.

For dyeing, I’ve been using primarily Marigolds and Goldenrod. As well, I’m ecoprinting with Walnut and Cotinus leaves, from my garden. I’ve been collecting a stock of others for the upcoming winter, including: Oak, Maple, Willow and Cotinus.

Over the past half year, I’ve developed the stages of dyeing and printing that have proven most satisfactory to me

I’m incorporating the techniques which I’ve been working on over the years.

My steps include: ecoprinting, dyeing, stencil designs with mordant pastes and/or shibori and dyeing again. I will surely reduce the number of steps, as I become more satisfied with the outcomes.

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While I’ve been working on small scale lately, using upcycled table napkins, I’m looking forward to other projects. These will include sewing together the napkins to create items such as lavender/barley bags and tote bags.