on designing an addictive environment for artistic pursuits
Read Morea trip to the berkshires, meditations on commitment: how commitment is taking on the risk that it could all fail
Read MoreWe drove through these trees and it smelled like somewhere in the distance, a forest was burning. This was after a long day of visiting geysers, you and me and our friends, driving back to our campsite to cook fancy camp food on an open fire
Read Morethe ritual of a haircut as letting go, and maybe letting go is easier than it seems.
Read Moreon sudden spending sprees, joining a very fancy gym, and finding a sense of self in my physical presence
Read Morea solo getaway to Chicago, end of summer exhaustion, visiting soul friends, falling asleep too early, looking, again, for a sense of ground in myself
Read MoreSomewhere here, in Glacier National Park, we're still living the loop of our perfect day hike. We began in shaded trees -- where you dispelled my mirages of bears and deer -- stopped to rest at an icy stream (did I eat a plum?) and then ascended, breathless, above alpine level.
Read MoreI don't remember what this opening is called, this cavernous pass, but I do remember sitting here on rocks, eating an apple with you. The steep cliffs reminded me of Chinese mountains. There was a azure pool. Travelers below said that the trail lead to Canada; lodging and food were some hours down that way. We had just completed the most perfect hike of our road trip, and it wasn't even 2pm. I imagined a lifetime of perfect, nourishing ascents and descents, spread over long weekends and all ending in huckleberry pie. We went no further.
Read MoreThere were too many dark clouds for us to see the mountain that day. All anyone here talked about was the 1980 volcanic eruption, how it uprooted entire pine forests and stranded scientists and annihilated everything in its way. Nearly four decades later, I'm touched by the quiet fertility of the volcanic ash: small, bright wildflowers and young pine trees. Sometimes this is what it takes. There is always an after.
Read MoreWe laughed that the smooth, jewel-colored stones lining the lake were actually from Home Depot. Here in Indian country, the water was cold even in August. The stones hurt our feet. I scuttled on my limbs like a crab, from water to stone to grass, where you wrapped me in a towel. The next day we rented 1-person kayaks...
Read MoreThis week on Inspiration Logs: electro-swing music, an old Obama book, a Japanese storybook artist, a poem, and a new hobby.
Read MoreIt is a hot and bone dry desert landscape - the kind of place you emerge from parched and covered in white dust. I imagined Western movies being shot here, and hiking at night to the sounds of coyotes and a bright full moon.
Read MoreWe were actually going to Mount Rushmore. We went there for half an hour, had snapped photos of faces of white male presidents, when we saw Crazy Horse on the maps. It was an unfinished statue in the likeness of a Native American warrior, commissioned in 1939, completely still unfinished.
Read MoreFor this postcard, I decided to create an illustrated map of my brief stay in Chicago, inspired by one of my oldest side projects, Wandermaps, which captures illustrated narratives of cities.
Read MoreThis week on inspiration logs: my reactions to the film Moonlight, an On Being podcast episode with David Whyte, a map of NYC featuring subway stops named after women, a vintage children's book, and piano solos by Khatia Buniatishvili.
Read MoreMy first postcard of the series was for Karen, a dear friend I met while studying abroad in Mongolia many years ago. I painted her a watercolor scene of the living room at our Airbnb in Cleveland, Ohio
Read MoreThis week: a collection of things from my cross country road trip! Rock and roll posters, vintage posters from the National Park Service, the biggest log hotel in the world, an illustrated book on horticulture, and photographs of the Pacific Northwest.
Read MoreI wrote a personal piece about feeling like a fool while learning to dance, perfectionist tendencies, and being overly apologetic as a creative person. And some wise words that helped me with my creative confidence.
Read MoreThis week, I was inspired by tons of picture books! Surrealist illustrations from Shaun Tan, pencil sketches from Winnie-the-Pooh, ink drawings from Russian fairytales. Then there's Green Fingers and a delightful cover of Destiny Child's Say My Name. Inspiration Log is my weekly collection of 5 things that have inspired me creatively.
Read MoreWhen you’re working for yourself, the hardest part isn’t doing the work; the hardest part is juggling all the little things surrounding it. In this post, I’ll share how I compartmentalize, juggle, and manage all the different types of tasks I do as a one-person operation.
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