For a large part of 2025 I was traveling without access to a studio. Most of my time was spent in nature, observing, sketching, writing, and researching the flora and fauna.  Recording and note-taking became integrated into my visual work. Sketchbooks are catalogs of observations.  Handwritten text became a way to draw. Micrographic script became incorporated into the images.
For every location, I create at least one checklist. Written checklists turn into visual checklists.  I attended an artist residency at the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Greece. The flora and fauna of skopelos made its way into monotypes. The micrography is derived from research about these species, and my experience of being there: Observing a Hummingbird Hawk-moth at the trumpet vine, spying a group of migrating bee-eaters, eating ripe figs straight from the tree.
 To read a transcription of the handwritten text, click the red icon beneath an image
 
Micrography
Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
Ode to the Fig, monotype with graphite & collage, 26 x 19.5", 2026

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
Ode to the Fig, detail

There are three different text components on Ode to the Fig: Excerpts from the DH Lawrence poem “How to eat a fig”, several paragraphs of Sylvia Plath’s “Fig Tree”(from In the Bell Jar), and my own experience of visiting a local farm and eating fresh figs straight from the tree.

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
300 Days of Sunshine, monotype with colored pencil & collage, 26 x 19.5", 2026

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
300 Days of Sunshine, detail

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
The Walk to the Studio, monotype with graphite, 19.5 x26", 2025

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
The Walk to the Studio, detail

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
The Bee-Eater, monotype with graphite, 26 x 19.5", 2026
Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
Swallowtail, monotype with graphite, 26 x 19.5", 2026

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
Honey Bee, watercolor with graphite, 30x22", 2026

n to Bee-eaters, a new species of bird for me.
Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
Honey Bee, detail

Honey Bee contains research about the history and biology of the Fig species, my experience of visiting a monastery and searching for the Scarce Swallowtail butterfly, and my introduction to Bee-eaters, a new species of bird for me.

Cynthia MacCollum Micrography
One month of June, 2025, Watercolor Monotype with Graphite on translucent film, Diptych, 30x45"
Cynthia MacCollum Micrography