It's fully, fully, fully fall.
The leaves are all in color – if not mostly on the ground! The air is crisp. The gloves and jacket have are waiting to be worn. Mini apple pies are on the kitchen table. I'm planning what soup will simmer this weekend.
I love fall.
But fall also gets a little crazy. Have you noticed? It seems with the turning of the calendar month, chaos decided to let itself in.
In activities.
In the email inbox.
At work and in relationships.
In the news. In the general hustle and bustle of everyday life.
There is a lot of talk these days around turning off phones, cutting back on technology consumption, decreasing social media. All good things.
But, my mum always said, you couldn't just have the negative, you can't simply cut out the not-so-good and leave a gap.
Something has to be added in. Something good and lovely and noble.
I suppose this is one of the reasons I paint.
Painting breaks the hold of the crazy world on me. A family member once told me artists were a little bit mad in that they can't stop doing their craft. Perhaps there's a bit of truth in that. But often I think we can't stop creating because we know the adventure of creating is good for us in ways we can't always express. Creating is a form of discovering.
Painting – and creating in general - gives me a reason to hunt for good things, golden moments, gifts from God. We explore this theme more in this year's "Thankful Home" online watercolor workshop. (
It's free. Sign up here!)
Walking is another way I break from chaos and find quiet.
Reading a book. Going to coffee with a friend. Writing a letter. Writing in a journal. Baking cookies from scratch. Putting a puzzle together. Staring out the window with a pet or baby or child next to you or maybe on your life.
Lingering in the glow of the golden days of autumn.
Finding the Golden in Our Days
One of the things grabbing my attention especially have been the golden sunsets mixed with stormy clouds coming through.
Tonight, the gray clouds were lit on the bottoms with a fiery pink glow (see picture above) as the sun descended behind the buildings, sending its final farewell with a sky the most brilliant artist cannot replicate on canvas.
The golden glow of autumn.
Have you noticed it lately? It might be all the fauna and flora are tinged with golden. The tree trunks have a warm glow. The orange and brown leaves of the trees seem to cast a golden shadow on everything else. But it honestly seems the light is different in the autumn season.
I've been trying to capture a bit of golden in the paintings of the season. I've included a few of them below.
It's an interesting experiment to leave out a color – such as blue – and work to compose a picture that captures a different feeling.
What is golden in life right now?
Or, where are your golden opportunities?
Taking twenty or forty minutes to paint or create is golden. A golden opportunity and a golden experience. Moving away from the chaos of life and spending time in the quiet with God is golden. We've got to move back into the chaos (and of course, with God in it), but it's amazing how our perspective on circumstances changes when we move away from the noise and chaos for a bit.
This post has been a bit of a ramble. It's also one of those seasons where my writing feels more of a ramble, like an escaping ball of yarn that keeps unraveling with no end in sight! But the rambling seasons can product golden moments. Often the sense of rambling, of chaos and general craziness are exactly the reminder I need to settle down and focus on what really matters!
We're entering into Thanksgiving week. This is the week to focus on what matters most - God, faith, family, gratitude for food and work and shelter and friendships and families. 2025 has gifted us in different ways.
One of the ways I reflect on the specific gifts of the year is to create a "thankful home" painting each year.
If you'd like to paint a "golden autumn" painting with me, come join me for the 2025 Thankful Home watercolor + ink painting project. The theme is "delight in this season."
Sign up here. It's free. Bring your supplies and your lovely self. It's great for all levels. Would love to see you there!
