Inspiration Collage
What I've been making plus what's been inspiring me lately
Dear Reader,
If you’ve been with me for a while: Hello, again!
If you’ve signed up just recently: Welcome!
And now for a little inspiration collage…
In April I directed The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane1 with my 6th through 10th grade theatre class. Due to various circumstances the difficulty of this production seemed to grow exponentially as the weeks went by but so did my sense that we were telling the story we were meant to tell.
To reach the end, it took leaning into community in a way that I hadn’t in a long time. As I watched the performance I could see how it was a stronger, more beautiful show than anything I could have made on my own. My family played a big part, including my second oldest daughter who designed the detailed shadow puppets and my youngest daughter who stepped into several roles just weeks before the performance (as seen wearing the red handkerchief above). At the same time, I could see my fingerprints as the director, the evidence of making something unique that no one else would have made quite the same way.
(A dear friend saw the production and wrote some very generous words about it here.)
During the months of rehearsal, I’d missed working in my sketchbook but when the wide open days arrived it took some time to find my way back to sketching (similar to the challenge of finding my way back to this newsletter).
One day I picked up the multicolored pencils I bought at the Chicago Art Institute, opened my photo app and began…again.
Making art felt like exhaling for the first time in months.
Next I pulled out old family photos along with some photos I bought from a thrift store. The multicolored pencil didn’t feel like the right tool so I tried using two separate colors2. Since I wasn’t aiming for a likeness to the photograph, the process stayed relaxing, almost meditative.
Between the two performances of Edward Tulane, our family bought a puppy. It took us about a day to realize we had broken our life. For the past month we’ve been trying to figure out how to navigate Life 2.0: life with a puppy.
To be transparent, I am not a dog person but my husband has wanted a dog for twenty-six years and we decided it was time.
It’s very possible that it was NOT the right time but there is no going back now. He’s captured too many hearts in our house.
As with most things, I decided one way to come to terms with the puppy was to draw him.
Once upon a time we bought a yellow, floral Pottery Barn couch off of Facebook Marketplace. The couch only cost a few hundred dollars but it was in excellent condition. Fifteen years later, the landscape of sagging pillows revealed how much life has been lived on it and the stains told the stories of snacks gone wrong.
Last week we passed the couch to our son and his four college roommates and purchased a new couch and set of chairs.
Reader, we love our new furniture.
It’s also amazing how changing just one element can trigger a fresh look at everything in the room. Now we’re making a wish list: a large rug to brighten the room, new curtains so everything isn’t so matchy-matchy (our curtains are also about fifteen years old), possible plans to reupholster a chair, etc.
Redesigning a room is its own form of making something.
Our Journaling Club meets monthly. I’m thankful to know two other women in the world who consider it worth their time to spend an hour writing about cotton candy, canoes, and earthworms.3
My oldest daughter works five days a week as a nurse. In the hours between work and bedtime (plus weekends), she produces a collection of art each month to send in the mail to paid subscribers. She blows me away with her imagination, her talent, and her commitment to her art. Sign up for next month’s art delivery here.
Podcast: The Best Movies that Explore the Creative Process. This Cine-files podcast episode got me thinking about the different types of movies that explore the artistic process. From biopics on The Beatles to the classic Amadeus to one of my personal favorites about engaging with art in everyday life, Paterson. I feel tempted to host a regular movie night based on this category of movies.
It’s hasn’t been easy to scale back from movies and tv shows and stretch my reading muscles again, but stretch them I have. I’ve even managed to listen to seven chapters of East of Eden and that’s a huge win for me since I typically can’t focus on audiobooks the way I focus on podcasts. Movies and tv shows are inspiring but books inspire me in a different way. They put my imagination to work, building the characters and world in my mind as I turn the pages.
Mr. Holland’s Opus is a 1995 film starring Richard Dreyfuss as a musician who reluctantly takes up teaching when his own music career stalls out. I recently rewatched it with my older teenager and young adult daughter and we all agreed it’s a great movie. I identified with the main character’s journey as teacher, parent, and artist. Highly recommend.
Stranger than Fiction is a 2006 movie staring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. It follows the writing process of an author (play by Thompson) and the lengths she’ll go to overcome writer’s block. Ferrell plays her main character who shows up in the real world. This is not the typical Ferrell movie, it’s a fantastic script, clever with a big heart.4 You’ll want some chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven as a movie snack (this will make sense when you watch it). Highly Recommend.
Power Ballad is a new movie coming to theaters this week (June 4th). It stars Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas. From IMDB: “Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick’s song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves.” It’s from John Carney, who also wrote and directed Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street. I loved Once and Sing Street and I’m curious about this movie. If this one turns out to be a bust, give one of his others a try.
“I always think of it [creativity] as our external organs…That's why I like to compare it to kidneys. Because it's like saying somebody has really talented kidneys. There are ranges of function, for sure. But we all have this."
-Lynda Barry, comic artist, teacher, writer
“-you go down to the park, sit on the bench and you see something or you hear a conversation on the bench next to you and all you’re looking for is just enough to go back into your writing room…So I sit very open in the world, listening and watching people…”
-John Carney, director of Once, Sing Street, and Power Ballad
Conversation/Writing Prompt: What’s a compliment you’ve never forgotten?
This prompt came from a list of “unboring questions” to get to know someone5. I asked the question at the beginning of journaling club and later at our family dinner and in both instances, people were ready to chime in right away with their answers.
One compliment that I’ve never forgotten is when my brother and I were kids and were were diving over waves in the ocean. After one of my dives, he told me I dove just like a dolphin. I tried hard to dive like a dolphin and earn that compliment again, but I never did.
May you find space for beauty and art this week,
Aimee
Stage adaptation by Dwayne Hartford, based on the book by Kate DiCamillo.
I used Uniball pens for the outlines and then applied a waterbrush to give the lines shadow and depth (Some of the pens are more water-soluble than others). Then I chose a woody Stabilo colored pencil to compliment the color of the pen.
Some of the words in our prompt from The Book Of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad, page 47.
Think Jim Carrey in The Truman Show or Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.
Questions written by Colby Kultgen.
Love all of this - how inspiring
I'm totally with you on Mr Holland's Opus and Stranger than Fiction, which makes me curious to check out Power Ballad! Glad to find you back in my inbox. :-)