I originally posted this six years ago. I just came across it again and my heart aches. This year (on November 8) it will be 8 years since my mom passed away. It can’t be possible. I feel her with me always. And I love that I feel safe to process our loving, deep, difficult…
Category: Quote
Quote of the month/week/day… (multiple sources)
The heart of it.
Practicing being heart-fully present and health-fully detached. And checking in regularly with my own heart journey. Getting up a bit earlier. Gentle time before facing each day. Then practicing stepping into the day with OPEN boundless bountiful boundary-full HEART. And always reminding myself to nurture the heart of my passions and gifts. “I’m filled with burning passion to experience life…
Creative mind mapping example: developing characters
A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam…
The healing power of journaling and “making sense.”
To me, the journal is an essential vomitorium, a depository, a giant worry doll that contains it, holds it- allows for LETTING GO. It allows me to make sense. I find that journaling is different from keeping a diary. The difference between diary keeping and journaling (to me): A diary is a record of events, happenings,…
Daisy’s dilemma. 1947 and dark Disney imagery.
My current book project, Molly, is a creative non-fiction tragedy that centres around a suicide in 1947. Suicides were well publicized back then, often featured on the front pages of newspapers. Searching online images “suicide, 1947,” the image that inevitably comes up is the photo titled “the most beautiful suicide“- a haunting and iconic image. But as…
I would encourage you to meditate upon the squirrel…
I’ve been obsessing about squirrels of late, knowing that my encounters with them hold a deep meaning- one I haven’t really understood yet. In time. Meanwhile, I am head-over-heels in love with @this_girl_is_a_squirrel . I can’t stop looking at her IG feed. MUST DRAW. So I did. I would encourage you to meditate upon the…
The 5 W’s. #Molly #GraphicNovel #Process
Working on Molly. Keep at it. Revise manuscript. Organize the collected research. Walk around the lagoon. Think think think. Massage the timeline. Spend hours in the coffee shop. Keep massaging that timeline. Rewrite introduction. Add it to the private presentation site. Work on treatment and elevator pitch. Review the theme of the month: committed choice. Spend hours,…
Custom Hand-Drawn Pet Portraits.
If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. James Herriot To honour pets and to celebrate the joy we receive from them, I am offering 18″ x24″ pet portraits for only $57.00 CAD ($40 USD) Chinamarker and acrylic highlights…
Ponderings on the “idea.”
As a creative, I find it as important to make time for input as well as make time for creative output. And allow myself some stupor time- doing nothing— doesn’t happen often. Tried today. To just stop for a bit, but instead I was distracted by my thoughts- thoughts that have been swirling in my head…
My personal #Chakra #SelfCare #CheckIn #Toolkit
I can’t help but love the magical thinking that happens when considering the chakras! The 7 Chakras are the energy centers in our body in which energy flows through. Blocked energy in our 7 Chakras can often lead to illness so it’s important to understand what each Chakra represents and what we can do to…
Opened TextEdit to find a surprise note to self…
Prepping for a session tonight with young women, around the theme of sisterhood using collage techniques, I opened TextEdit to collect pertinent quotes that may inspire dialogue tonight. An untitled document opened with a note I wrote to myself from my future self last year. Dear me, You now stand fully naked, fully present,…
Using Braid Theory to explain triple timeline. #Molly #graphicnovel
It has taken me years to create a structure for Molly that could combine two stories that run both parallel to each other and have intriguing connections. Massive research needs to be formatted in a cohesive way, yet allow for a compelling narrative. Currently, three timelines run through Molly and eventually braid together converging in…
Sunday morning coffee shop musings.
Journal entry January 24, 2016 Write out goals –> no, write out PLANS. What is the difference between goals and plans and by writing goals as opposed to plans, am I not being BADASS enough? (Thank you, Cat Webb, for defining me as a badass and being a constant source of empowerment. Check out Cat’s extraordinary…
Ok, Molly, I’ll eat a shit sandwich for you.
I had a very anxious week last week. It was a crawl to the finish line. It was a mix of grief, self-doubt, money stuff, fearing I don’t have what it takes to succeed in this life, blah blah blah. It’s familiar, having suffered from anxiety all my life. But last week was particularly hard….
Soul work… my 2016 Toolkit
You may recall, I set my intention for 2016- to simply meet it all with love. Yet I knew it was important to take the time to do soul work. But it’s been hard, so very hard to get “started” on it. Yet- that’s not really correct… Actually, I have started. I have been collecting soul…
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain… Birds, metaphors, graphic novel, experiments
— Central to my graphic novel is the intensity of anxiety and severe depression while drowning in circumstance, highlighted through the metaphor of birds. — — Here are some experiments from the past weekend: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro… – Emily Dickinson
Lessons from Pippi- strength, generosity and gentleness…
Being Swedish,Pippi Longstocking has been an icon to me all my life. Yes, there are troubling racist elements in the books and, my God, as a child I would lay awake at night worrying about Pippi living alone, but Pippi’s character is glorious and hopeful. She’s ahead of her time- a give-no-fucks attitude combined with curiosity…
Magical thinking and Christmas knickknacks.
Christmas is here- magical time of year. One of my favorite and one of the hardest. So true for many of us. It’s a time of joy and connection, of reminders of loss and longing, of financial hardship and worry, a time of creating and sharing and giving… I love surrounding myself with old Christmas…
“I can’t wait to see you and meet you at the top.”
It’s early Sunday morning, December 13, 2015, and I have just said bon voyage to my daughter as she heads to New York City for a test run month, paving the way to her big move. A few months ago, she wrote on her mindmap: Spend 1 month test living in New York City. Oh Anna,…
And so, the vulnerability shakes set in…
Hi. As you may know, I’ve been fully immersed in process in the last month or so- working on my book presentation for my agent to shop around, and I have LOVED the process, trying to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s. Exciting to be at the next stage. Ready to share. So ready….
I write of what I cannot speak- the truth.
I write it over and over wherever we find shelter. I write of what I cannot speak- the truth. I write all I know of it and then I throw the pages to the wind. Maybe the birds can read it. – Moira Buffini Ah, Molly is speaking. Sitting here with me. What an incredible time…
I robbed your grave. I revealed you.
Sometimes you find that one right quote that makes you throw the book across the room because the words are that damn good. You wish you wrote it. It seems written for you. The author just fucking gets you. I robbed your grave. I revealed you. I showed you in shameful moments. I learned things about…
For me, art has no end- there is no end product… A drawing by my father.
I was staying over at my brother and sister-in-law’s place the other day, spending delicious time with my niece and nephew. I went to the downstairs washroom to wash my hands after Halloween costume mayhem… … and came across a drawing my father, Roar Thorsen, had done in 2011: Oh, how I adore this piece. It…
A certain preface this way comes.
Writing for me often happens in stolen moments. It is easy for me to plan time for and execute illustrations. It is easy for me to plan for and to execute mind-maps as well as write down structural and technical details. It is TOO easy for me to plan and execute and get lost in RESEARCH….
1940’s kitchen. The importance of historical context cont.)
Recall the importance of historical context for my graphic novel research in my post yesterday: LINK. As the story is mainly set in the 1940’s, I find myself fascinated by the 1940’s kitchen. — — — Afterwards, they always had tea in the kitchen, much the nicest room in the house. – Flora Thompson — Make sure…
The importance of historical context in an investigative story
What happens when a case is very old, when much of its physical evidence is deteriorated or destroyed, and its main players long deceased? How do we investigate? For me it is all about the historical context. I interviewed Dr. David Sweet, forensic odontologist, on the importance of historical context in solving the 1953 Stanley Park cold…
Turning point- reflections on triggers. Part 1: archives
Last New Year, my brother and I brought home all my journals and artwork from storage. We recently brought home all the family photo albums and objects. I love being the family archivist. I love seeing the heirlooms showcased in my kids’ collections and in the extended family’s homes. I love that the next generation…
Shaking the Movers- a safe space for youth to have a voice.
— I was so honored to participate (as art facilitator) in the 9th instalment of Shaking the Movers yesterday! Shaking the Movers, founded by The Honorable Landon Pearson, is a profound process that supports youth in making powerful recommendations around children’s rights using their own voices. Shaking the Movers: The Shaking the Movers conferences are two-day workshops that…
“What do we know?” Drawing conclusions from the facts. #graphicnovel
My graphic novel is more of an illustrated thesis rather than pure graphic novel. My words are based in fact. The drawings are where I can take a leap of faith- a surrealistic interpretation. It is creative non-fiction. I literally DRAW conclusions based on the evidence at hand. That is my artistic take on it. But the story…
Mindmap tutorial week Part 5 of 7: Enhancing
I am diving into a much-needed new mindmap this week, so I thought I’d create a tutorial during my process! Tutorial so far: Introductory blog post- mindmap tutorial week Part 1: What is a mindmap? Part 2: the Big Vision Part 3: Stream of consciousness mapping Part 4: Prioritizing/consolidating/connecting TODAY: PART 5 OF 7: Enhancing Last…