a special note about this blog

* * * Special note: this blog, in the last year (couple of years?) has shifted in the direction of primarily sharing only my work and less of my personal life and stories. I thought this was necessary as the tidal wave of Facebook hit and virtually everyone was sharing their thoughts (and lunch photos and daily rants) on the regular. I felt bombarded by so many stories suddenly appearing in the interwebs and wondered if my voice could no longer be heard - or even if it mattered anymore.  And of course, I got very busy with being a full-time mom and thought more about protecting the privacy of Veda and those closest to me. There were other factors, but I think the other biggest one was that I was seeing so many young illustrators sharing random tidbits in the form of social media pics only - with no stories attached (very vague, and intriguing in a way!) - and I wondered if I should do that too - stop sharing the person behind the art because it wasn't "cool" anymore. (I know, I know...) I've actually been on the fence about closing this blog altogether and just doing a tumblr page, when out of the blue last week an emailed popped into my inbox. It was from a lovely reader named Sarah who said she missed my stories. She missed hearing what I was into (even as it's shifted over the years) and what was informing my days, and therefore my life. And she ended with this line: "Sometimes reading other peoples words and seeing their thoughts laid out helps put words to our own thoughts and wishes that we hadn't quite become conscious of yet."

And that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I felt like her brave email was a clear sign that my story-telling (and sharing my thoughts and little bits from my life) wasn't over yet.

So here I am... back to writing in this little draft box on my blog and hoping that I'm not too rusty.

Thanks to everyone who is still out there reading. I hope to be here more intentionally again starting now. * * *

xo, penelope