Maple
It's the first day of fall!
As an artist, the concept of a steady paycheck is elusive, and I often have to get over my scarcity mindset. There are a few things I always splurge on, though, and one of them is 100% pure maple syrup. Growing up in central Pennsylvania, maple trees -along with oaks, beeches, and other deciduous trees- marked the passing of time much like the pencil marks on a kitchen door frame, inches grown and leaves raked all proving another year had come and gone.
Whenever I work with maple, a happy bubble rises in my chest. Like the sugar high I used to get from inhaling a mountain of pancakes smothered in maple syrup (okay let’s be honest, I still do this), I feel like my younger self charging into a pile of yellow, orange, and crimson leaves. Maple swirls and burls and shouts, “Let’s play!” and that’s exactly what we do together.
Amidst all of the fun, I also like to pause and remember that it takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to yield a single gallon of finished syrup. Photographers often say if they take one usable photo out of an entire roll of film, they consider it a win. On bad days, when nothing is coming out the way I’d hoped, I whisper to myself, “40 gallons,” and then get back to work.