Curiosity Leads the Way

I picked up three maple leaves from our yard this morning. No plan. Just a moment of curiosity and color calling me to the studio.

45 minutes of zero decision-making and 100% playing, those leaves had become nine monoprint tokens—each carrying this message: FIND JOY. CREATE MAGIC. STAY CURIOUS.

I didn’t know what I was making when I began. But that’s the point, isn’t it?

I let myself notice the old voices: “This is weird. This isn’t real art.”

I thanked them for their concern. And kept going … layering colors, textures and messing up the backs with my fingerprints.

If you’ve received my tokens, you know there’s nothing perfect about them.

As I photographed the final outcome (second photo), I arranged them so you could compare it to the raw output from the gel plate session. Zoom in to see how I personalized each one.

These are little reminders I didn’t know I needed today and now they are ready to be passed on to people I meet later in the week.

No agenda. No plan. Just presence and a willingness to play.

Most times, that’s all it takes to make something meaningful.