A Self-Portrait

 

A Lil Drawing From Today

 

A Birthday

 

Something my five year old said on her birthday

This is the first year I've made a diary comic about my birthday. Making this seemed to ease the existential dread of entering a new decade. The other day a friend said, "Age just marks the amount of time you have been here," which I quite liked. I feel grateful to be able to spend each year making more art. 

Diary Comic / Illustrated Journal Page

 

There is something so simple yet magical about drawing with a pen. It helps me move along to the next drawing. A pen says it's valuable to have a record of your mistakes. The way a pen glides along paper can help one find the shape of thoughts and ideas. 

I made most of these drawings, pausing to look at clouds moving fast. Drawing, then looking up again at the sky. 

Juniper sat in the grass and said, "My thoughts are all blown away by the wind." 

Marker Experiments

One of my favorite things about testing new art supplies is that I tend to be completely in experiment mode. I relax into drawing a square and then something over it. I draw leaves and plants. I draw a profile of a person looking somewhere. There is something so relaxing about drawing scribbles and shapes, and sometimes they become illustrations. 

Painting A Self-Portrait

 

Here is a drawing

...from five years ago that I made during a 30 day challenge while waiting to start my parenting journey.

While Doing The Dishes

I've had this drawing in my head for awhile. While doing the dishes, while walking outside, while talking with my daughter, while preparing food for dinner. Ideas float around. Lately I want to make drawings of what happens in between art making. Where does the art come from? Does it exist when I am doing dishes? Does it exist when I am feeling stressed out and frazzled? There is something so reassuring that anything you experience can become a drawing; can become art.
 

A Sketch While Sitting Outside

 

Isn't Love Good? A Poem Comic With My Five Year Old

A poem comic written by my daughter, Juni. Illustrated by Juni & me (mom). 

Juni wrote this poem weeks ago. As soon as she wrote it I said, "This is amazing!" and hung it up in my studio. 

Since then, I’ve thought about how I would illustrate it. This morning, after marveling at several of her drawings- I asked her for help! You should’ve seen her face when I said “And we can use my pencils!” 

It was so much fun to color in her characters, draw beside her, and absorb some of her imaginative, spontaneous, five year old creative energy.