rushing out the door to catch the school bus one morning in early november, i noticed that our front porch halloween jack-o-lantern was past its prime.  the frigid nights of early autumn in the high colorado mountains had rendered our scary-faced friend puckered and wrinkley. it was time to toss it into into our compost wilderness, the forested area down the hill, just beyond the stone wall of our back yard. as i picked it up, i noticed that it was frozen to the bench on the porch, and once i wrestled it loose, i was visually treated to a round, primitively-shaped icicle, exactly the impression left from the soft bottom of our caved-in pumpkin.  i was smitten, and directed our half-asleep teenage son to snap a picture of it with his phone on his way to the car, as i rushed the sad black-orange corpse to its grave.

sam texted me the photo (below) once he got on the school bus. i mused on the image for weeks, and shared it with anyone who would look. the image was enchanting to me with its organic, irregular roundness, and i just knew that it would continue to inspire me.  the colour and pattern study (above) is my first foray into playing with this marvelous shape.

looking at things in the unplanned moments between life’s slotted activities, we gain access to a treasure trove of design resources: colours and patterns, textures and sounds, smells and unexpected juxtapositions and overlaps. enjoy your daily practice of looking between the tasks.  keep your eyes open –  you will be forever surprised and delighted, and you will find beauty in unexpected places — like under the decomposed pumpkin.

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