The first thing I’ve been doing regularly is taking a walk in the citrus grove. The four artist studios at the CCA face out towards a tiered hill with multiple varieties of oranges. I typically try to have some grapefruit juice every morning back home, but while here I’ve replaced that with some freshly picked fruit. One of the stray cats that lives nearby usually joins me too…

After my morning citrus walk, it’s time for breakfast and journaling. Here, I’ve mostly been eating cereal, with the occasional baked good indulgence from one of the fantastic bakeries in town. Both here and at home, I like to start my creative day with journaling. It’s a great way to clear my head, organize my thoughts and start laying out what I’d like to work on. I’ve kept a journal/sketchbook since I was a teenager but started doing it daily again early into Covid.

Time to make some things, whether doing a little drawing or getting into painting or just sitting in the studio and staring at stuff. When drawing, I’ll usually keep a video game stream or some music on. When painting, it’s either music or an audiobook (presently, The Body Keeps the Score, based on my partner's recommendation—she’s a social worker/therapist).

All the paintings are in their very earliest stage. Eventually, they’ll be scraped down and painted on again and again, but for a short stint, like a month-long residency, I can just get new works started.

I’ll eat a light lunch, typically a salad, and maybe some bread or whatnot. Sometimes, I’ll walk into town to get a little something. On the way, I’m always taking pictures of the surfaces and textures that catch my eye. Being in a new environment lets me see so many things that I’d normally ignore, all these gestures and bits of collaborative labor in the architecture, and so many of these things eventually find their way into my work. 

With my partner, Beth, I’m trying to explore the island. In the afternoon, we like to take a hike or find a new spot to watch the sunset. Yesterday we followed a trail recommendation from a previous resident and came upon some great views. The day before that, we traveled to the north side of the island to explore the ruins of an ancient necropolis with tombs from 1500 BCE. I’m usually trying to get some Caspar David Friedrich-inspired shots of us.

After hiking and watching the sunset, we’re usually pretty mellowed out and will decompress with some reading, cuddling, or screen time, and then figure out what we want to do for dinner. After dinner, it’s reading and/or watching.

We’ve been binging Succession this trip since I was behind on that. Otherwise, I’ve been re-reading Cultish by Amanda Montell and also slowly making my way through The Occult World, edited by Christopher Patridge, which is a tome tracing the history of the occult and western esotericism through essays by religious scholars. Beth is currently reading The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and also The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin.