A Book of Days
back on the road, an artist book, the joy of creative collaboration, and a class on color
We are driving home from California with our sweet but demanding dog Rose, who’s passing the 16-hour drive sighing and off-gassing in the back seat. Our month away was a revelation. We’ve never suspended our lives for so long, and we soon discovered how much we needed this sabbatical to restore our lives and ourselves. As my friend Anne quipped about our time away: “You’ve been busy not being busy.” It felt great not to feel like I was chasing the horizon.
“Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin.” Katherine May Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
That said, I’m excited to get back to a house I adore, a greening garden, renewed commitment to a creative practice, and friends. Will I be able to carve out a simpler existence? Resolve is one thing, execution another. I’ll need help with this one.
Nor can I wait to step back into the studio. My friend and book artist, Jennifer Roberts, has been working on her side of our artistic collaboration. For those just tuning in, I’ve been keeping a daily color journal, a visual narrative of my native high alpine valley. Jennifer is transforming each month of card-sized paintings into dreamy, chunky books, twelve in total. The final step will be designing a display case for the full year with another artist and friend, Brad Reed Nelson, but that’s a ways off.
Soon I will be holding the month of January in my hands.
My parents introduced me to my first artist book. Warja Honegger-Lavate’s Le Petit Chaperón Rouge was always perched on a coffee table, no matter where we lived. This small accordion book enchanted me—a tiny childhood treasure with an enormous influence on an introverted artist-in-waiting. Years later, I tried my hand at bookmaking and made a sloppy accordian book, now mercifully lost to view. This was a skill that belonged to others. Bookmaking is a fusion of artistic prowess, engineering, curation, and tenacity. It’s also an intimate art form, one often overlooked in favor of big art and sweeping visual statements.
After spending the last two years pulling my mental and physical health together (still a work in progress that), this partnership with Jennifer helped coax me back into a regular studio practice and reminded me how much I need artistic community. Best of all, these books are not for any purpose— not for a show, not for a commission—just a color codex of sorts of a place I love. I live outside a town where the natural beauty is now often overshadowed by the commotion of change —constant growth, building, and escalating wealth inequity—so I want to hold onto and celebrate the native soul of the place.
When I showed my husband the photos of Jennifer’s progress, he wryly pointed out that making books is another way to self-publish. No agent or external approbation required. Maybe that’s the way to go.
Welcome to Living in Color, a one-month color class launching Saturday, May 30th.
My husband’s scheduled shoulder surgery has been pushed up, so I will have to postpone my first class to May 30th.
When: Every Saturday, May 30th-June 20th
What to expect: Weekly written posts on color theory, a video, inspiration, and a weekly color exercise. Daily prompts in chat that you can take or leave, along with invitations to share your work and, well, chat, and build community.
How to Join
Here’s the official guide on how to “subscribe” to an individual section on a Substack website. Follow the directions to select Living in Color in your settings (see the pink oval below) and then you should receive the class newsletter.
Preparing a class takes a great deal of time and resources, so this class is for paid subscribers, with some free content.
I will also be posting reminders every Saturday in Notes and at the tail end of each regular bi-monthly Swimming at Altitude.
Who Am I Anyway?
Good question. I don’t love left-brain bios or resumes, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve been a painter for 35 years, working in watercolor and mixed media. I’ve exhibited nationally and internationally and have taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, The Art School at Laguna Gloria, and the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI, among others. I also founded Isa Catto Studio, a design studio for textiles, homewares, and paper goods, which closed in 2024.
I hope to see you and your colors online!
Resources, supply lists, and more are rolling out on May 16th to get you ready for May 30th.
Beautiful- in every way!
Welcome home dear ones…