Tweak, Tweak

I'm in that strange space between finishing art for one book and waiting for sketch okays on another. Time to pull out a story I've been needing to tweak for the longest time. I've missed it! It's funny how hours spent illustrating other people's stories gives you ideas on how to deepen your own. I love how creativity works sideways like that.

This was in the drawer. Drawers are good for when you need a total break in order to come back to your story with a fresh mind.

Now it's back on the wall.

Hard to ignore the wall. After a while your story speaks, sometimes softly and sometimes loud, and hints at ways to make it real. You can't rush the wall.

This is fun.

Children, Play & Things That Get Me Thinking

Remember being a kid and getting so excited when your parents said you could have that giant empty box that packaged some newly-arrived-on-your-doorstep appliance-or-such? It's a fort! It's an elf castle! It's a giant dollhouse! It's a... whatever you could imagine it to be.

Take a listen to this, from last week on NPR: Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills.

Turns out you didn't need the latest and greatest toy after all. And with all that unstructured play time you were learning, too. Who knew?

Along similar lines-- an excellent commentary over at Finding Wonderland, for those of us that are tired of the endless marketing of "stuff" to children (and everyone, for that matter...)