how i live and love and relate to the world is through paying attention. like you, i am many pieces; stillness and motion, introspection and curiosity, in the clouds and on the ground. i want to remember everything, i want to hold it all. with one heart and two hands, i’m constantly learning how to see, when to catch and release, how to take notes. and so i make things: paintings, lines, colours, poems. i make these things because i’ve studied something or someone.

i find a lot of beauty in the ordinary and i find a lot of comfort in some of these consistent reminders. the sun falls and gets up again. always. my imperfectly penned line beholding a face it traces tells me human faces are remarkable. every time. written words strung together are a palette of their own, jotting down a pathway onto paper for my mind to see something in a new way. when my eyes stumble on a muddy or brilliant colour in nature, i carry it with me until i can create it later with the hope that it can last a little bit longer.

all of these forms of making are my field notes. they are my ways to notice, to hold (or let go), to remember. i want to remember this day, and i want to remember you.

Jilly Frances lives in Toronto - the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a post graduate diploma in Art Therapy, she has worked as an artist for Anthropologie, an art therapist for children, a set and installation designer for films and brands, and often finds that no matter what she’s making, she works best on the floor.