Uncertainty and the unknown are the raw materials for the artist. - Mary Oliver

It is a fall tradition that I must make time for. In these lingering, balmy autumn days, I opened the windows of my dear South Minneapolis home -- and washed them! I know that I will be spending more time inside, looking out, during the winter -- and I want that clarity. I feel the shift to darkness too, that calls me in, to go deep, to seek silence. And then there is the ringing of the holiday bells -- beckoning me to make wonderful gifts, take part in all of the possibilities, jump into the fray. And so I begin this dance of balance -- this tightrope of opposites. As I sit here now, with this glorious October of color and change, having had many hours in the studio immersed in making, and so happy with the figures who have danced into creation -- I am ready for the flurry of November.