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Chasing balance?
A brief history of time | Fall is for letting go | Focus | Libra Season | Poet's corner
Russ Jones
October 17, 2024
Ever feel like you’re clumsiest when trying to be careful?
Where your focus goes, energy flows.
Happy Full Moon in Libra.
R
This week
Words
A brief history of time…
Over the past two years, I’ve been picking at the edges of the conventional calendar, wondering if we missed something.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s what crazy people do—calendars are fine.
Sure, I agree. Calendars are fine. They’re accurate, they’re precise, and we all speak the same date. Helps with communication, keeps things moving. But what if, somewhere in the last 2,000 years, we overlooked something?
For most of human history, we leaned on nature for our timing—99% of the time. Then in 45 BCE, Julius Caesar scrapped the lunar cycle, gave us a fully solar calendar. Before that, we used the moon, the sun, the weather, and everything else around us to navigate.
I’m not some hermit. I still use a calendar like everyone else. But when I look at nature, it doesn’t lie. It doesn’t pull any surprises. It just shows me exactly where I stand.
This month, I’ve been paying attention to the trees and the moon. Tonight is the Hunter’s Moon, a signal after harvest—a last call to hunt. The trees are shedding, the ground’s piling up, and the rain-soaked leaves of summer are starting to rot, becoming fuel for what comes next.
My calendar says it’s October 17th…
Fall is for letting go
The leaves fall, branches start to equalize.
But beneath, the roots keep growing, sharing what they need to make it through the winter.
Some of those branches that bloomed this year? They’ll never bloom again.
If you’re into orchids, you know this feeling too well. Their intimidating beauty fades, and the fear that it might never come back creeps in.
Winter demands preparation—cutting loose the weight we can’t afford to carry through the darkness.
Nature lets go of what it doesn’t need, without hesitation.
It drops it to the ground and turns inward.
There’s no compromise in that, just a sharp understanding of what has to happen.
Hibernation isn’t just sleep—it’s the focus shifting inward, feeding the growth that comes next.
If you’re feeling the pressure to hold everything together, remember that nature just released a year’s worth of effort.
Come spring, she’ll return with stronger roots, a clearer sense of where to send her energy, and how to bloom when summer comes.
So, enjoy the release.
Enjoy letting go.
Focus
This week, I had a studio visit, and they left me with a question:
How do you balance all your projects?
If I’m being honest, I’m not there yet, but I gave them the best answer I could piece together.
Balance doesn’t come first. Focus does.
If you need more of something in your life, go get it.
The most agile fighter jets are designed to be unstable.
A monkey swinging through trees never stops moving.
Even a flamingo, asleep on one leg, has half its brain turned off.
And the most balanced moment on a see-saw? It’s when one person’s feet are on the ground, and the other is suspended in the air.
So when we talk about balance, remember—it doesn’t have to look level to be balanced.
Paints
Libra Season
I took a deep dive into balance and found some inspiration through our current star sign.
I created these pieces to capture my thoughts.
I’ll be framing them for next week, but if you’re interested, reply to this and I’ll let you know when they’re ready.
As always, they’re made with highly polished stainless steel—not sure if anyone else is crazy enough to use such a tough material for their paintings.
If you’re thinking about it, I’d recommend something less time-consuming.
But what I love is the time I get to spend polishing both the metal and the paint.
I’ve also been experimenting with some aging processes, and I love how aged they look up close.
Nobody wants a painting that looks new…
Both pieces are sized at 300×420mm (A3) and will be available next week.
If you’re a Libra, or know someone close to you who might find inspiration in one, reply with the word “balance” and I’ll let you know as soon as they’re ready.
Two weeks left.
The First editions are now sold out, thanks to everyone who supported this first month.
The Second Editions are priced at £10.
Poets’ corner
Every week for the next month, we’ll be inviting a poet to respond to the current theme we’re exploring together.
It’s a curated, unfiltered space for raw exploration, and I hope you enjoy what unfolds.
This week’s poem delves into the theme of Identity.
Roots Grow Ripe
Looking at the mirror,
at myself,
will this combination ever happen again?
Ancestors in yesterday’s order.
What are the chances? What were the chances anyway?
What’s the use? Where are the roots that clutch
to all of me that is water?
Roasted mother fucking fathers
On plates
Clucking then dead
Pecked by chickens
Worms in the land
Mountains green, from white cliffs,
Grinding the sand, from the sea,
Of me that is water.
Forwards again,
Sea, sand, cliff,
mountain, land, worm,
chicken, plate, father, mother, water.
Looking in at the mirror at myself,
Will this combination ever happen again?
Our roots grow ripe and grope surrounding soil,
Insurmountable surges of starch.
Sliding the earth of past recollection
Settling by Ashes of easy affection
Unmetered rhythm, crawling the march.
I wrote this better yesterday,
But that’s all left in yesterday’s head,
This is written today,
So this is what will be read.
Info
Next Installation - London
26th October
Private View, Chelsea - RSVP by replying here
30th October - 2 November
Various Locations
With love
R
Teaser
Limited and numbered edition of 111
I wanted to make something special with these. I’m toxically competitive in everything except art, the quality of these tees is ridiculous.
Inspired by the 90’s box cut, vintage feel, heavy-weight Organic Cotton, made in Portugal to the highest standards.
They’ll be available end of the month.
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