When I was in art school many years ago, a painter professor came into my studio, looked at my pile of drawings and asked, "What are you after?"
Quickly I said "I'm after not being after."

I give myself Do-ables when I feel like I am spinning empty wheels not really gaining any momentum on any project. A Do-able is something I CAN complete and DO. It's not running the whole marathon, writing a whole book, cleaning out the whole house, it is writing for 10 minutes, maybe even 5, maybe even just opening up a notebook.

This is a practice in sharing 3 things that I’ve read, heard, seen, discovered, however small, which have somehow fed me creatively.

When I spend time in one of my anything goes messy sketchbooks my day always feels better.

There is so much inspiration every where. In books, movies, overheard conversations.
Here are 3 things that I've enjoyed this month.

I made this collage in my morning sketchbook the other day. Something about the suggestion of meaning and subtle absurdity I really like. The combination of drawing and words and imagery and color is saying YES to me.

I have this tiny plastic bucket on my desk.

Dang..it's really hard to do it all.

(this is what i tell myself when i have trouble starting- writing that is)

Chomp Chomp.

Last week I picked this one off my shelf and found myself pausing to touch all the beautiful textured pages. Love it!

Take a moment today, put on music, and let your body do what it wants with crayon marker paint in hand or just a wave to the paper may be enough to reignite that creative swirl inside you.

I'm always finding scraps of paper with notes or drawings in a pile I forgot about. It's like Forest Gump instead of life is a box of chocolates, it's piles....life is a pile of papers....you never know what your gonna get.

Love Maria Popova's definition of creativity on her about page.
"The core ethos behind Brain Pickings is that creativity is a combinatorial force: it’s our ability to tap into our mental pool of resources — knowledge, insight, information, inspiration, and all the fragments populating our minds —

Recently I spent a few hours for some reason researching humming birds. I don't know how it started but once I began looking at pictures and then drawing them I became completely amazed. These creatures are truly WOW material.

soooo, I feel since January I have been in a bit of a funk creatively. And the more I thought about being in a funk the more I felt I'm in a funk and I will never get out. And the more I thought I will never get out the more I felt in a funk.

There is so much inspiration every where. In books, movies, overheard conversations.Here are 3 things that I've enjoyed this month.

This one is about "The What", the WHAT I am creating, the WHAT I want to create, the WHAT i feel swirl around my heart and brain trying to shape it's way into existence. I have often beat myself up, not literally, but energetically, in that I feel I don't have a defined one thing, one WHAT. My WHAT shifts and changes.

I haven't posted or shared much about my pursuit to create children's books. I'm not really sure why. It is something I have been working on for many many many years. Did I say many, well it has been. But it is also something that I work on for months and then put away and take out again and then put away.