Each time I visit my grandsons in NJ, I bring a surprise. It could be folding a dollar bill into an origami shirt, sharing a fun painting technique (making roses using a plastic bag), or introducing silly riddles or word games. I listen for cues to...
In reviewing this past year and considering where to put my own feet in 2024, I checked to see where those tootsies had taken me in 2023. I used two tools for that measurement: my Google Calendar and the spreadsheet I keep for calls with my action partner....
An actress/playwright I knew in the 90’s described a pop-up tent she’d erected in herbackyard in rural Connecticut. What intrigued me most was the handmade sign she’d hung atits entrance. She labeled it The Place of Not Knowing. She explained that she would sit in...
Lilli Weisz, organizer extraordinaire, worked with me last month to carve out a larger and more streamlined area for my textile work. She started our session examining the contents of each desk drawer and inquiring about every item within. She pointed to a...
Raise your hand, Fellow Creatives, if you’ve ever been visually inspired while on Zoom. I’m not seeing any hands up out there. It may surprise you that while I was on a Zoom conference one day (total transparency – I’ve re-enacted the shot for this article) I got...
Have you heard of Rent the Chicken? It’s an entrepreneurial venture, an all-inclusive chicken-rental service. Are you still with me? This would surely have piqued my interest in my egg decorating days, but what caught my attention about the New Yorker piece (July...
It was the 1990’s at the Flaming Festival, a craft show in New Canaan, CT. I was exhibiting my decorated eggs and eggshell jewelry, when a woman entered my booth and spent more time examining the backs of the jewelry pieces than the elaborately decorated front...
It was late August of my first season at Camp Chinqueka. The entire community of girls, counselors and staff, sat on army benches in the wood-paneled rec hall. We were there for Awards Night. All summer-long campers earned gold stars for accomplishments in sports,...
Fifty years ago - it was the summer of 1973. I put my decorated eggs on display at the Pink Tent Festival in Stamford, CT. Prior to exhibiting, I had brought a carton of completed pysanky (aka Ukrainian Easter eggs) to be approved by a member of the...
On Sunday, May 14, I will be exhibiting my Penny Rug Pillows and wall hangings for the first time! In New York City – at West Elm in Chelsea! I am beyond thrilled to be showing in a venue where, not only will there be great traffic, but also at a place where I’ll...
I recently signed up with a personal trainer at my gym. Her job is to awaken and strengthen inactive muscle groups, which I’m not motivated to do on my own. My abdominal core shouts “I don’t want to!” My heart core responds, “You’ll be happy when it’s over!” My...
Have you ever had a fallow period in your business? Is ‘their’ response time delaying your agenda? Do you wish you were busier? Or is it just me? It feels like all the balls in my career are on the other side of the court. Great press about my art came out in late...
I had a blinding flash of the obvious last week when one of my mastermind trio suggested I apply my well-seasoned coaching skills to my own new venture: creating one-of-a-kind penny rug pillows and wall-hangings. As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!" Somehow, I had...
I'm just back home after leading two women's retreats in Massachusetts, one in the Berkshires, the other on the Cape. Both were filled with extraordinary women who carved out time in their lives to focus on themselves for a few days. How often do YOU take time just...
Mother's Day was always a challenge for me. I'm excited to have an article I've written about it published by BookTrib. Would love to hear from you how you celebrate (or don't). As a young adult, I spent more time than most pondering the selection of Mother’s Day...
Would you like to look at the world a little differently?
Subscribe to my monthly letter and I’ll send you How I Learned to Look — a small visual book about art, attention, and a lifetime of noticing.