Author & illustrator—some new stuff I'm doing

[Diana]

Have you ever considered ways to combine your artistry with your spirituality? (I mean, art in itself is a spiritual act, but I think you get what I mean...)

I do. Perhaps not in a way that's obvious. (I am interested in hearing what you might suggest.)

My children's how-to-draw stuff, especially the Peewee Picasso series that I am developing now, includes infusion of appreciation for all life, appreciation for self, responsibility/kindness to self, others, and the planet, joy in overcoming limitations, and more.

My writing—no matter what it is—always carries the undertones of my mindset regarding respect for all life and things, for example, and empowerment of self.

I've been an illustrator so long (I started out as an advertising illustrator but I used to illustrate food, and at a certain point I told my clients that I wasn't going to illustrate meat anymore, and I lost them as a result, which was fine), it is difficult for me to do just art. I was the "artist" all my life growing up, and enjoyed expressing that way especially in pencil, charcoal, and oils. But now when I try to paint or draw, it feels like "work" because of illustrating so long. So writing has become more of a creative outlet for me. Once in a while I get an urge to paint, and I buy canvases or paints and brushes, but don't do it. :/ I still have a 5-foot canvas I had stretched in a moment of inspiration that waned. And I bought a good guitar in the same way—I was inspired to write some songs. I played guitar as a teenager, and now the guitar sits in my den on a stand.

Kinda pathetic, really.