Mirroring and magnifying
August 2025
“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love - whether we call it friendship or family or romance - is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another. “ ~ James Baldwin
Hi! How are you? I’m so glad you’re here.
Mirror and magnify. Isn’t that the perfect way to describe it? How lucky are we who know how this feels.
The gift of August has been community. I’ve spent time with friends, new and old, whose insight, humor, talent, delight, care, and support have lifted me in countless ways. From the girls who came over to count bees in my yard and share their knowledge, to the friend who spoke honestly about heartbreak and hope, to the artist who opened his studio to the possibility of collaboration, to the groups who joined me for learning and laughing and who gave me the tools to improve, to the friend who listens and asks just the right questions to get my mind turning, and to the one who believes I will do exactly what I set out to do, and points out how I’ve been doing it all along. They have all shone a light for me, guiding me along my path. I cannot believe how lucky I am.
I’m pleased to say that the first partnership between Treeline Acres and Lil Fish Studios was a success. We had an engaged group of new friends join us for a farm tour and art project. We laughed, and explored, and enjoyed a fresh-baked galette and veggies from the farm while sipping green tea lemonade with fresh mint. The sun was shining and worked well to turn our cyanotype efforts bright blue. Candice and I are already dreaming and scheming about our next co-adventure.
My pollinator garden has been productive this year, and though it looks a little bedraggled now, it has continued to provide throughout the growing season with different plants blooming at different times. My friends Lisa and Marya, who participate in the Bee Atlas Project visited my small front garden recently for a count. We caught the bees in little specimen cups, 38 bees in 15 minutes, and put them in a cooler with ice to sedate them, separated by the kind of plant they were found on. We took them out, one by one, to ID them, log them, and photograph them. The vast majority of our bees were male, and were two-spotted bumblebees (bombus bimaculatus). The bees strongly favored the hosta flowers (though not native, plentiful in my yard), joe pye weed, bergamot, and coneflower.
I loved how the bees slowly came to life after their cold nap. They'd bumble away and occasionally fly back towards us again as if they couldn't figure out what the heck happen, needing a closer look at the perpetrators.
I can't help but imagine what an impact it would have if, say, every other house on the block planted a little patch of bergamot or joe pye. Such a small thing. I wonder how I might encourage that…
I had a full house for the Babe the Ox felting class at the Last Turn and the room was full of laughter and fun.
I have two more felting classes coming up with more classes in different mediums coming soon. I’m planning some fun ones for the coming holiday season. I’ve also been encouraged to put together an art retreat weekend and I’m excited about the possibilities.
If you are interested in some private group classes, I’m booking now for October - December. Shoot me an email and let’s figure out a date.
The article featuring my stones comes out next week so you may see a message from me after September 1 about that. A few stones have found their way into my shop in anticipation, and I will be adding some stitched stone workshops there as well. Work also continues in the collage studio and I have some fun things in the works that I hope to share soon. I’m very excited about what’s to come.
Until next time…
Lisa
Thank you for reading. It means the world to me.
If you think someone else may enjoy my work, I’d be grateful if you’d share this with them or encourage them to visit my website where they can sign up for my newsletter, consider workshops, and peruse past projects.
Have questions? Email me at lisa@lilfishstudios.com
