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I do much more writing by hand then I do typing. I'm not even typing these words, My friendly tech elf is, teeheehee! Not kidding. My encouragement is that you write, journal, hand record, and make marks as often as possible for every reason. There's all kind of science behind how this fires up our brains. All of us are differently abled, so let's not hinder ourself with reasons why we can't make marks. Regardless of your situation, you can make your mark, and your big b

I had the good fortune to attend THE PLAYGROUND installation by Snarkitecture at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. The exhibit closes on August 30, 2026. In addition to the above play area, there is an ongoing exhibit where you can read, create, draw, and explore the built world through children's books! I learned that the museum began as The Pension Building, constructed from 1882-1887. I love playing tourist in my local jewel of a 'home town'.

I found that phrase in Steve Gross' LinkedIn. He is the Founder of the Playmaker Project and I am proud to be a graduate of Playmaker University. YaY me! Illustrating and writing my first children's book is a challenging learning curve as you might imagine. I expect that you have something that is challenging you as well. When I see this wooden whale from my desk, it makes me smile since "I Get To"... try something new, stretch myself, make things up, and do something I've ne

I recently painted at a school where I was facepainting a summer camp of children. I had coloring pages and crayons on the table for them, and saw a young boy arranging the crayons and thought nothing of it. Toward the end of the day, one of the camp counselors remarked, "Oh look at this crayon person!" So I walked around the table and saw the crayon person shown above. What a great idea and wonderful creation! While painting the last group of children, I pointed out the cray

As of this writing, I do not know what type of butterfly this is. It was on my front yard milkweed, which is the one plant that monarch butterflies lay their eggs. In our world of many distractions and choices, let's choose to refresh/land as needed. Always keeping our focus on the one direction that is beautifully ours alone.

Today was a heavy chalk day at the Farmers Market. YaY! Most people will stop by once they are invited to doodle. It amazes me to see how all ages and abilities really dive into the chalk experience. They get chalk dusty, and sometimes end up handprinting their parents! Sometimes they doodle for quite a long while. Their drawings prompt conversation that is open to everyone within earshot. Sometimes we say nothing other than "thank you," Someone invariably draws their version

Every February my friend Roger and I get together for lunch. It's his birthday month, and he often treats. We met in 1988 and he taught me theatrical makeup, of which facepaint is a small subset. I always told people that Roger taught me to facepaint. He says he didn't! Maybe the correct phrase is that he introduced me to facepaint during Halloween, and let me free range and make it up. This picture of our feet is expressive of two dedicated people approaching the makeup indu

Here I am in Downtown Annapolis with a new found friend during Dinner Under The Stars. The weather was gorgeous, the street was closed off and vibrant with pickle-ballers and dining families. You can see the tip of the cat ear painted on her arm. For two hours I facepainted and saw friends old and new. This is the grassroots nature of my company. I am very specifically expanding my product line into play and custom doodling. The magic of my work lies in how I connect with peo

Whether you feel like more of a moth or a butterfly, you are perfectly shaped and crafted to shine and flit in the place where you find yourself. You will shift between egging, caterpillaring, chrysalysing, cocooning, and flapping full out. The pro move is to maintain your joyous center. If I were less lazy, I would shorten this. Flap on, but don't flounder.

My hands are colored indigo because I was wearing driving gloves, and not garden gloves, when I gardened in the pouring rain. I show this picture to express my extreme appreciation of all the art, nurturing, home keeping, book reading, and story writing that the hands of Superhero Butterfly Warriors do. Don't ever let yourself be deceived by those that would say that you are not doing enough. Doing the most ordinary things in kindness is always enough.

I ask just about everyone that I interact with about what type of art they do. While banking in my local branch, I asked the young man who was helping me if he could write in cursive. He said that his mother had taught him, and he wrote the top two lines. I also doodled a bowling pin because we talked about his bowling aspirations. I feel it is imperative that we cultivate the art of living out loud in whatever profession we find ourselves. As AI becomes ubiquitous, I am on

I am now in my 60s and have an elder friend that I've known since I was 10. This morning, we spent two hours sorting through stacks of paper in her home. It was a pleasure to divide them into shred, trash, and recycle bins. This was particularly simple because they were not mine! I recently worked with an organizer in my own home, and I believe I cried every time we had a session. This response is very common when we do the emotional work of sorting through our things. Within

We can accomplish so much more when we work together. Small group teamwork can be a way to pull out the best in each of us. That was the inspiration when I first created Superhero Butterfly Warriors, as a way to think about collaboration. It focuses on Meaning, Method, Money, Manpower, as well ass Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Butterfly. This approach allows us to see ourselves and our place in communal solutions. Imagine a large concentration of wealth and resources held