A Welcomed Guest...

Hi everyone!

Lots has been happening in the art world of mine, and in the next few days, I'll try to play some heavy catch-up. But before I post my art, I need to share a little inspiration that will hopefully nudge some new energy. It is about personal vulnerability, allowing ourselves to take chances and risk failure, to embrace fears, to stop striving to be perfect in our work and ourselves, and not be afraid to show people who we are. I came across Brené Brown's TED talks again. (Watch them if you've never seen them.) She talks about vulnerability being the essence of creativity, of living, and it takes courage to be ourselves and embrace our imperfections in all aspects of our lives. So I have decided to embrace vulnerability.

Being an artist, yeah, I expose vulnerability every time I make art. The safety lies in that it is WAY TOO easy to postpone my dream of "someday I want to..." or "someday when my work is good enough I will..." or "I'm not really writing, but someday I'll write my own books..." and keep it just far enough out of reach to never make it happen. It is too easy to always create "safe art" or "what people want to see" or "what I'm supposed to be creating" which means not being totally honest with myself, which means not taking a risk. For me, it also means not pushing a little harder to get where I want to be career-wise. I love creating the art I'm currently doing, but I haven't focused energy on seeing what comes out when I try to write & draw my book ideas, or haven't done art just for me in a long time and have forgotten what it is like to experiment and get messy... you know, make the art that nobody sees (and maybe now you will!).

So I've decided to make "someday" begin right now. Welcome, vulnerability!

One last thing to share before I move on with some art, a wonderful quote from Brené (actually parenting advice but I think it is a good daily mantra for everyone), "I know I am not perfect. I am worthy of love and belonging. I am enough!" Savor it and dare to be vulnerable.

Ok, completely switching gears now... with a little bit of art to share.

This piece I recently painted for a quilt to be sewn by Muriel Feldshuh of Brooklyn, NY. Quilts are her "Traveling Exhibit Celebrating Children's Books" that showcases many children's book illustrators and highlights the importance and joy of reading. My square will be on her 7th quilt and these quilts will be displayed all around the US. Thank you, Muriel, for asking me to participate!