Sketchy Breakthroughs

I don't have to organize something to enjoy it.
I don't have to be the one that people expect to get what I need.
Sometimes it is just ok to show up and draw.
It was hard- but I stepped down and that feels a lot like stepping up!

The muddy, messy way forward

 It's all pretty muddy right now.
But there are little spots of clarity and reflection here and there.
And the path, though messy becomes more clear.
Now we need to try to take steps
without getting stuck. 

giving in to summer

Jumping into summer.
breathing in the heat. 
immersing myself in sultry days, cool bits of shade
water and frogs and dogs and bits of beauty-
and summer fun.

Bits and Pieces

image from etsy artist available here http://www.etsy.com/listing/80949996/chicago-original-collage

I am determined to form the year ahead of me into shapes and adventures that thrill and satisfy
but for now it is all still bits and pieces.
what do I want to do? What do I want to learn? Where do I want to go?
How do I want to celebrate and what do I want to take into my soul?
Questions, and snips of paper- but no answers yet.

inner child

Hands down, my favorite book when i was a child was this one, "The Tall Book of Make-Believe." This book was brilliant in every way and this copy has been well loved. The book is no longer in print but should be. I think this more than anything else fed my imagination and formed some of my long term day dreams.

It was not a story book but a collection of fantastic poems and short tales by famous and not as famous writers. Robert Louis Stevenson, Tennyson, Eugene Field, Carl Sandburg. Brilliant stuff, but what made the book magic was the illustrator! Garth Williams illustrated each and every entry and his work is magical in this book. You completely loose yourself in each drawing. Sugar plum trees, kids in mischief, A Knight fighting a giant Ant, Bears on scooters, Mr. Nobody. Each drawing expertly puts your heart and dream mind right in the brilliant poems or stories.

I want to do something with this book someday, find out if it could be reprinted, or maybe shared with new children in a new way. I think for now I will share some of the pages here in my blog.

My friend has a little girl, she is a star of her mom's blog and says the most wonderful, horrible, amazing, scary, gorgeous things. Lovely to think of her and children like her having a chance to enjoy this book.

Finding the ROOT

I have been cultivating a big love for all the DIY, indie craft, Hackerhouses, make it yourself, sell it and tell stories cultures that are springing up everywhere. We just got back from SXSWi where I went to a number of sessions talking about that kind of thing directly or tangentally.

And today I have a new passion. TO get a bottle of ROOT somehow here to Japan to serve in my tiny restaurant that will re-open in April. ROOT is made by the folks I just discovered, based in my hometown of Philly "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" they have a shop, make art, clothes, support artists AND make a great organic Liqueur. Gotta get me a bottle.

Other recent things I need to find out more about are WALKING-PAPERS.org and THE NEWSPAPER CLUB, as well as THE KAHANI MOVEMENT. People doing awesome stuff because they love it and because they can. I heard all these folks talk about their projects at sxsw and was truly inspired.

Gotta get going on the MAKE-O-MATTIC project. And do some more DIY ideas myself. My want to do list is getting longer and longer.