May in My Studio

a month of flowers, picture books, and one very loud typewriter

Hi, welcome to my studio/living room/bird nest.

May was busy. I hosted my first art challenge. It will return next year. Will I do another challenge? Maybe. I don’t know. My brain feels like a sock drawer. I want to say yes, but also: I’m tired, the kind of tired you get after swimming and eating bread in the sun.

I’ve been working on two picture books at once. I keep saying "I just need one more week like this" but I’ve been saying that for four weeks.

Early draft of Picture Book No. 1

I restored a typewriter. She’s clunky and loud, like a toddler with a drum set. I write my morning pages on her. The sound makes the people in my life very upset. But I love it.

I’ve been reading a lot of poetry. Mostly Ada Limón and Kathleen Jamie. I think I’m circling a new project, something with poetry in it. I’m in the gathering stage. The part where I just read and write things in the margins like: maybe this is something?

I bought a new pen.

And, obviously, I drew a lot of flowers.

Starting this month, I’m adding a new section to the newsletter: Artist to Know. I’ve been reaching out to illustrators I admire and asking them a few questions.

We have the honor of kicking things off with

Jackie Thomson

, an illustrator and painter whose work you can find here:

It looks a bit clunky, maybe even borderline unreadable? Yes? No? Be honest. The keys stick and I may have typed half of it with my jaw clenched, but I kind of love it. I’ll keep practicing.