This Year’s Harvest: Paper, Paint, and the Cycles of My Studio
- Linda Chido
- Aug 29
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 29
As we enter into September and the turning of the wheel of the year, we arrive at Autumn, the season of the harvest. The air cools, the light softens, and everything planted earlier in the year ripens. I’ve always been a cycles of the year kind of gal. My thinking drifts between linear time and cyclical time—the steady tick of the calendar and the spiral return of the seasons. Astrology, mythology, and the rhythm of the year have always been my frameworks. It’s how I homeschooled, how I teach, and how I live as an artist.
So when I think about harvest, I naturally think of Demeter, the Greek goddess of the earth’s bounty.
Demeter’s story is full of love and loss. She was the one who taught humankind how to plant and reap, but when her daughter Persephone was stolen away to the underworld, she grieved so deeply that nothing grew. Famine spread until a compromise was struck: Persephone would spend part of the year below and part above. That rhythm became the seasons: spring and summer with her joy, autumn with her abundance, and winter with her rest.
In ancient Greece, Demeter’s festivals — the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian Mysteries — were held in the fall. They celebrated fertility, renewal, and most of all, gratitude for the harvest. That gratitude resonates with me deeply. This season, I feel thankful not only for the fruits of my own studio work but also for the many hands, minds, and hearts that have made these projects possible.
As this harvest season arrives, I find myself reflecting on the many cycles I’ve moved through in the studio to reach this point. Each new experiment felt like planting a seed, each challenge like a season of tending, and each finished work like a fruit ripening in its own time. To fully appreciate this year’s harvest, you have to look back at what I planted over the last few years.
It started when I began painting with oils on paper. Back in 2022, I needed a long, skinny substrate for my piece Downtown Buda TX 1881. It was my first time painting oils on paper and I chose a sheet of Arches Oil Paper. Given that I work in water-soluble oils in the Mische Technique, this painting was a huge experiment. I discovered that the water-soluble oils behaved differently on paper than on canvas. The layers of glazes absorbed into the paper more smoothly and the drying times were quicker. Both were a bonus within my technique.
I didn’t return to paper again until 2024 with Remember Her?. Again, I worked on Arches Oil Paper. This time I made another leap: instead of starting with a polished underdrawing, I began with random mark-making. The figure emerged from playing with marks on the paper. It was here I first paired an abstract background with a single representational image. It was raw and improvised—a seed in new soil.
Remember Her? is an especially fitting piece to start this season. The image is of a little girl shouting, arms and legs outstretched, almost as if she’s yelling “Hey!”—much like I am now, announcing this slate of projects that are all coming to fruition. And the title itself poses a question: Remember Her? In a way, I find myself asking that of myself—remember that version of me, just a few years ago, who first started this journey on paper? I didn’t intend it that way when I painted it, but things have a way of lining up. The fact that this particular painting is going into an exhibition about works on paper feels like pure kismet—it’s the spark that kicks off this whole paper harvest season.
From there, I moved straight into more paper paintings. This time I used Canon paper, which wasn’t sized for oils. These became the Music Series Collection, where I collaged sheet music into the surface, letting music and paint intertwine. Because of the collage element, I began the paintings in acrylics, then brought the image to completion in oils. Once again, I kept a loose, mark-making underdrawing with a singular image in the foreground. Paper wasn’t just a support anymore, it expanded with collage to become the ground for storytelling.
You can read more about the Music Series Collection HERE.
And then came The Lemon Project: ten still lifes painted on handmade paper I crafted myself. Each one a small piece of fruit, ripened from the orchard of experimentation. What started as curiosity became an obsession and that obsession created a problem: how do I size handmade paper so it would take oils without dissolving? Once I figured out the solution, The Lemon Project took on a life of its own. Not only did I collaborate with Austin distilleries to create The Lemon Project: The Paintings and The Cocktails catalogue, but I also gave my framer (DTW) a challenge in framing with my unique vision for the collection. The project has since opened the way for other collaborations with Austin distilleries in creative and unexpected ways.
You can read the full story of The Lemon Project HERE.
The through-line is not just the paper, all of this work was created using the Mische Technique. It’s a slow, layered, alchemical process of tempera and oil, light and shadow, transparency and depth. The technique itself is cyclical: one layer dependent on the last, each stage building toward the completed painting.
Which brings me back to Demeter, the teacher. She taught humankind about the seasons and the harvest, and now it’s my turn to share my knowledge: this fall I’ll be teaching an introduction to the Mische Technique. The most beautiful thing about this method is how it has been passed from teacher to student through the decades. Now it’s my turn to share so the next generation of artists carry this rich tradition forward into the future.
Read more about the workshop and register HERE.
I recently heard a collector on a podcast say that what draws him most to art is not solely the object but the story of the artist and the art. That struck me, because part of my job is to tell that story. And now you have both the story and this season’s art: born from cycles—personal, seasonal, and technical. This fall, all that hard work comes to fruition.
Please join me in celebrating this season’s harvest:
Currents: The Language of Paper
Group Exhibition, Remember Her? on view
Curated by Pato Paez at 33 Contemporary Gallery, Florida
Opening September 4, on view September 4 – October 22
The Lemon Project Solo Exhibition
The Lemon Project collection
Ruby Hotel & Bar in Round Rock TX
Sept 24 – Oct 29
Happy hour reception: Sept 24, 5–7PM
The Lemon Project: The Paintings and The Cocktails Catalogue
Featuring each painting paired with an original cocktail recipe from local Austin distilleries.
The Lemon Project Tee
In Black Heather and Heather Deep Teal
An Introduction to the Mische Technique
A 1-Day Workshop in the Alchemy of Painting
Saturday, October 11, 2025, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
ArtUS Co. in Austin TX
Wild Gin Collaboration
Holiday bottleneck hanging tags with my artwork
In Texas stores this November
Like Demeter’s festivals, which celebrated the bounty of the earth, this season is a celebration of my own harvest: the paintings, the exhibitions, the catalogue, and the collaborations that have ripened into being.
And just as those ancient people once gave their gratitude to Demeter, I offer mine — for the art itself and for all those who helped bring my visions to life.
Please join me at the table to share in both the bounty and the gratitude that binds this season together.
LINDA CHIDO ART
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