Milk First

It's cold here in the midwest, heading for sub-zero temperatures this week. A chilly afternoon makes a great excuse to cozy up and watch movies. Today we took in "Saving Mr Banks", currently in theaters.

"Saving Mr. Banks" is based around PL Travers (author of the classic Mary Poppins book series) early life, and a later time involving Walt Disney's vision to make Travers's work into a film. I love any film dealing with creative process. Those of us who are storytellers, why do we pick the themes we explore?  Horton Foote, a great American playwright, said that we don't choose the material we write about, it chooses us.  I was reminded of this in "Saving Mr Banks". What we create as writers and artists is never far from our core being. It's good fodder to ponder these last few days of 2013. I had a nice pot of tea over it this afternoon (milk first, as PL Travers instructed). I look forward to more chats about creativity here in the New Year.

PL Travers

Nesting After Christmas

Hope you had a happy one!

Straight ahead...Eastside Annual Art Show

I am approaching my tenth year as part of a local art show and sale. There are 22 of us scurrying around our studios right now, attending to last minute touches, pricing, organizing, questioning our sanity... At this point of preparation, less than a week out, there are times I wish I was anything but a participating illustrator. But the sale is usually affirming. People love to have art in their lives, and I love creating it. And it's fun getting out of my creative bubble and talking to the viewers of our work. See some of you there!

I design the postcard each year, using an Eastside artist's image of a cardinal (our official mascot) in his or her chosen medium. This year Patti Zwick created the fabric collage birdie.