Tomorrow I am starting a five-week healing course in yoga and this little break lines up perfectly with that. (Another sign from the universe, I think.)

Before my month off, I wanted to share one last thing with you: The new Emily Dickinson poster that I designed and illustrated for the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts.

(18×24 poster, available for purchase for only $15 here.)

This is the museum’s spring poster… and I wanted to capture the season and more of Emily’s world. Her poetry is a reflection of her, which I captured quite literally with her reflection in the water. I also thought that showing her upside down would be a good way to get people to reflect a little more on the image, giving just a small pause before the brain recognizes what it’s looking at.

And it’s the pause I want now for myself… I think this piece lines up perfectly with my little sabbatical to think, reflect and have a media detox.

Things seem to start lining up when you’re heading in the right direction…

See you in a month!

- putting on a poncho and scrubbing the outside of the house in the rain

- teaching two four year olds how to do a cartwheel

- them teaching me how to pretend to roll down hill on a flat surface

- saying goodbye to my brother and alison, who left for Indiana yesterday

- sitting out on the front porch with a sketchbook, coffee, and my favorite incense

- purchasing a chartreuse and white striped scarf just to try something new

- celebrating the downpour because of a new rain barrel

- noticing the miniscule bubbles in a dark beer

- seeing stars on the ground

- chinese food picnic on the floor

- expecting the safety net to eventually appear

- reading reading reading

- looking for a new bicycle on freecycle.org

My life in list form, over the past several days…

I have been thinking about taking a blog sabbatical lately. Wondering what I am contributing to this world wide web. Is it different? Is it worth anything? Am I just babbling here? I have been spending so much time outside lately and when I come back to the computer, I see so much overlap. So many good thoughts happening, sure. But there are just SO many out there now, and I’m wondering if I’m just lopping one more onto that pile.

I started blogging as a way to record my thoughts and my own artistic and human journey. I think along the way I got a little lost. I started comparing and seeking, rather than spilling my own truth. Or maybe I didn’t and that’s just how I perceive it now. And maybe that was just part of my process to get to an even more honest space. Maybe I am not supposed to judge it. (My new mantra lately has been : “don’t judge. don’t judge. don’t judge.”)

Once again I have been looking deep down to see what kind of life I want to lead. And I wonder if blogging fits into that. One one hand, I love having this digital record. It’s really cool to look back through the archives and see where I was three years ago and how much I’ve changed… growing up into myself and in my art. And I love the community aspect… getting to know you all in this medium.

On the other hand, I keep an analog journal for myself and maybe that’s enough. I also wonder what would happen to my career. Does blogging even affect it? Do I need it as a tool to help me connect with work? Does it help (indirectly) keep a roof over my head?

Perhaps I am just in a funk with it now. I actually feel a weight lifted by just writing this and hitting publish. (I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about this…) Maybe just saying admitting this out loud to myself and to you has helped chip away at the funk.

And oddly, an email just chimed in from a reader who recommended a book to me, based on what she’s been reading on my blog. A book I already own, strangely enough. So maybe she just delivered a sign that this blog, my truth, is doing putting some good into the world… and giving some back. Or maybe I should just read that book. :)

A windshield on a rainy day. That’s me right now. The wipers swoosh back and and forth, momentarily clearing the droplets from the glass and allowing a clear view. But even before the wipers are back at their resting place, the next rain droplet touches down and again starts the process of obstructing the view.

I appreciate your brave comments and hearing your reaction about the art I’ve been posting lately. For some reason I feel like these little pieces mark “where I am” to me. Little snippets of my mind captured for a second. They all come together with a story. The colors choose themselves. And it’s my job to just get out of the way and see what appears.

Letting go of the results. The need for feedback. The reason for doing them.

I like it. That’s why, really.

I suppose this might be coming off as depressed or down… but that’s not the case at all. I feel like my eyes are wide open and I have the world at my fingertips. Like I’m made of magic… And even if I can’t see clearly through the windshield, I’m still heading in a direction.

horrible music is playing here. But there’s a little girl rocking on the swing outside with dangly earrings and a pink skirt on. She has a spotted stuffed frog. And that makes up for it.

earlier this morning, holed up alone in the hotel I had a totally awesome brain storming session for my travel journal class at Squam. Eight or so pages of notes and prompts and ideas just poured out. One on top of the other… it was hard to catch them all. I am so excited about that class now. I just want to lay down in the grass and smile about it till my cheeks hurt.

Oh, now they are playing Dave Matthew’s “Satellite”. I like this one. That round cello note at the beginning.

Finished my book sitting outside. Made me feel bold inside. Looking at the world through fresh-just-finished-book eyes. yum…

I’m gonna go ask directions to the gourmet popsicle shop shari told me about now.

every day is a gift. it is.