Category: Creativity

  • Words from Sondheim

    As I assume you’ve long heard by now, Stephen Sondheim (writer of Into the Woods, Company, and Sweeney Todd among others) passed away last week. A hero and a pillar in American theater. On a plane, two days after his death, I watched Six by Sondheim on HBO. A documentary covering the life and career…

  • Energy Out, Energy In

    A few days ago, I posted about a painting of a hand I’d done. It had been a few days since I’d worked on the painting at all, and the initial surge of energy had long passed, so I decided to send it off into cyber-space unfinished. Just sitting myself down to write those few…

  • A One Inch Picture Frame

    In her brilliant book, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott describes a piece of her writing routine that has had a great impact on me. She outlines, for the reader, a day of languishing at her desk, thinking about anything and everything but the book she is trying to write. “I start to think about learning…

  • Busyness Band-Aid

    It is a lovely and mysterious moment when an idea strikes. Whether it be a video I might make, or a novel that I will never write, or a drawing I could finish. Last weekend, I perused a multi-story vintage warehouse with my sister, and came across this small Band-Aid tin in the search. For…

  • The Art of the Find

    On a rare scroll through Twitter the other night, I stumbled across a blog I’d never seen before. Created by a designer and web developed named Reagan Ray. Reagan is a curator. He collects things he loves, category by category, and shares them with the world. From famous Texans, to comic book super hero lettering,…

  • Imaginary Instruments

    I’ve had a couple tedious work days in a row. The kind that felt like I could not, for the life of me, figure out a solution to the problem I was working on. The sort of hours spent pondering how anyone could every possibly be so pitiful as to pay you for anything you…

  • Beautifying Scraps

    This is Nicole McLaughlin, 27 year old designer based in New York. She specializes in upcycling and sustainability in her bizarre and fantastical apparel. This video dives into Nicole’s thoughts on sustainability in design and fashion, and her making-process (you can skip the in-video ad from 0:45-1:27). I happened upon Nicole’s work within the last…

  • Sharpie and Newsprint: A Collection

    I spent a chunk of my evening alone in the apartment drawing these 18×24″ sharpie-on-newsprint scenes. It was quite a fun process, and, as always happens when I pick up a pen or a paint brush, it made me want to do more traditional work. But it makes me want to draw with sharpie and…

  • Author Talk with Austin Kleon

    A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to watch a conversation between Austin Kleon and Jessica Abel live. Here are some of my key take-aways from what Kleon had to say: “I’m a student who never went back to school.” “The only way I can [write] these books is ask what I’m trying to…

  • Finding the Purpose

    Upon reading a recent post where I discussed pens and an old friend from high school, my sister Lauren pointed out her wish for a broader why? in the writing. “As it stands,” she said, “it’s warm and innocent and beautiful.” Stop it, I’m blushing. “But if I had a wish,” she went went on,…