Life book artwork for Elsabet and shout-out to Lynda Barry!

 So, I've not been doing a lot of "making images" in the last few weeks and obesssing about the fact, unsure what the hang-up was and almost not caring.  Which is really odd for me.

Yesterday, rummaging around a pile of books, stumbled on "Picture This" by Lynda Barry, which I'd bought weeks back but never even glanced at.  What a gently inspiring thing!  She's created this whole complex, gorgeous work around the questions of "What makes us start drawing - and what makes us stop?"  Just seeing that effort honored and investigated gave my recent internal queries some validation.

I encourage any kind of artist (and I think that's all of us) to check it out and embrace her messages. 

After reading the book and feeling like someone REALLY understood me and my weirdness about creating images, I checked out Lynda's blog and did some of her video exercises.  Also well worth the time!

Shortly after that, I found I actually had the energy to clear out the boxes and laundry that were creating the wall between me and my drafting table.  Then I opened a sketchbook and just let myself make some marks however I wanted and just to see where it would go.  I had Elsa's lifebook project in the back of my mind, so started with this outline of Ethiopia and then just kept going. 

So thank you Professor Lynda!  You are my new hero and virtual mentor.  Bless you a bazillion times for your generosity of spirit.