Drawn on the way

Today we say goodbye to #summer. Today is the #FallSolstice. A moment of transition, a tipping point where we acknowledge that from this moment on, everything will be different. In a world where change is the constant, perhaps that is exactly *why* we need to mark moments like this; because the change is visible, because there is a clear divide, a before and an after. But change is what brings us to this moment and it is what will carry us out of it, so remember that this is only a brief pause, a moment to look back and see how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go. And, yeah, I’m talking about Fall, and I’m also talking the current moment in this country and I’m also asking you how will you be a part of the change? Will you vote? Will you volunteer? Will you make sure your friends vote? Will you decorate with decorative gourds or full-size pumpkins? Will you finally wear that fall-fashion cape? So many decisions, so many choices. Whatever you do, don’t abandon your power to create change, whether it’s fighting for democracy or fighting for your right to drink #PSL in September. #BeTheChange 🎃💥🙏👍🏻 https://www.instagram.com/p/CFdRNHpj_2g/?igshid=105cvv1zb2gp4

Though shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am not a terribly religious person, but I realized this is the lesson I hope to share with anyone who looks at my drawings of strangers I’ve seen on the way. In living this commandment in my own way, by turning strangers into works of art, I have discovered that the path to loving thy neighbor begins with curiosity. Curiosity breeds empathy and empathy breeds love. When we are curious about the people we share this world with, we imagine their experience and for a brief moment, we walk in their shoes. It is through that act of imagination that we can extend to them all the love we are able to give to ourselves. And, if we cannot love ourselves, perhaps in loving them we can learn something about how to love ourselves. In these divided times, I despair that our curiosity has been stamped out by fear. If you take one thing from following me here, please take this message of loving curiosity and let it inspire you to care for yourself and for your neighbors. In these dark times, let that be the light that helps us see the way forward. 😷 Wear a mask. 🖐 Wash your hands. Be brave enough to care for thy neighbor as much as you care for yourself. ❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CC65mleD-uQ/?igshid=74e9xis98zz

I’m taking a little break. I’ve been running hard since this all started, trying to sort out my own business (which is very much sidelined while events and weddings are on hold) and trying to continue to share even more content here with you. Since I began this project, I’ve grown to feel that it is my duty, and my purpose to share my world view. To inspire you to find the extraordinary in the everyday, and to show you that you are a work of art (and so is the person sitting next to you). So when all this craziness began, I felt obliged to share more, to write more, to read bedtime stories, to make projects and just do more and more so that I could maybe counter some of the awfulness of what’s happening - add a little more weight onto the “good” side of the scales. But in the last week, I’ve felt run down and the more time I’ve spent on here, the more I’ve told myself I’m not doing enough and I’m not good enough. Those are voices I’ve worked very hard to shut out of my creative practice, and so I need to quiet them down. I’ll be back soon, and with lots more to share because I value the sharing more than anything in this world. ❤️ If you miss me while I’m away, take a look at the posts I’ve shared these last couple of months , there’s probably a few that never made it into your feed. And if you really miss me, you can find the core of what I’m doing by simply looking for the extraordinary hidden in your everyday and take a moment to consider it. ❤️ Sending you all my love ❤️- Sarah https://www.instagram.com/p/B_x2Uc1jKDa/?igshid=1x16kf34p3f59

“Kalee works so tirelessly at her job as an ICU Nurse at Seattle's busiest trauma Hospital in the NW, day in and day out she goes to work re-using PPE and wearing herself out. Kalee also is a Decorated Navy Veteran. I am so proud of Kalee and her ability to be so selfless and caring especially in these times. She works 12 hour days in the same PPE, she comes home exhausted and wakes up everyday to do it again.. anything to show her we care would greatly enhance her spirits and morale giving her support to keep on going to help save more lives!” — Matt S, who nominated Kalee for my #BehindTheMask project. . . I believe we are all a work of art, and my way of saying thank you to the priceless works of art at the frontline is to share their story in the form of a portrait. The purpose of this #BehindTheMask series is to show the face of the people at the frontlines, the #EssentialWorkers who are saving our lives and keeping the world running. . . You can nominate an #EssentialWorker to be featured in this project by clicking the #linkinbio. . . ❤️Please like, comment and share to add your thanks to these essential workers to whom we owe so much. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_vDjWLjKSC/?igshid=g3ebi730uewl

FLASH SALE - 25% OFF PRINTS! Did you know that in addition to my featured collections, ANY of the drawings I’ve ever shared here are available as prints? Click the #LinkInBio to shop the sale using code: FLASHSALEFRIDAY . . Your support is literally what’s keeping me going these days. 🌸❤️ This drawing was requested an eagle-eyed follower who spotted it during last week’s #FlipThroughFriday and requested a custom print. ❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_pqenRDx70/?igshid=134dtznly1x9c

🔈Sound on! 🐸 To mark the end of the work day, my #quaroutine schedule involves an evening walk to the local pond. It’s usually a fun scene with ducks and muskrats, but tonight the pond was alive — It was jumping with frogs! Hundreds of spring peepers were swimming through the water, stopping when they found the perfect floating stick or reed to perch long enough to let out a long, loud trill made by expanding a bubble on their throats! They were making a surround sound of trills and peeps and it was practically deafening. If I tell you what else those frogs were doing then you might accuse me of being a spring creeper about these spring peepers for as long as I sat by the pond! The frogs are hard to spot, but once you train your eye you can find them in the reeds. These drawings are all PG - so don’t worry, the whole video is SFW. 😅😂🐸 (at West Park, Ann Arbor) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_lgCpPjgIy/?igshid=15sf0lgdfeoqx

I have always thought spring was too loud and too boisterous; an explosive shift of seasons that always caught me unaware and unprepared to join in the celebration after my deep retreat into winter. This year, in the strange quiet of this particular spring, I realized that spring doesn’t explode, it unfurls. Like the whitecap on a wave that begins far away on the distant horizon, invisible to those who have only looked at the sea and not watched it. 🌿 I have been watching spring reveal itself since the first flush of color returned to the bare branches in February. Watching its slow secretive march through the world around me has occupied my days. My daily search for evidence of its arrival has brought me solace, because even at the darkest, deepest bitter end of winter I could see that spring was already arriving. Slowly, it spread like a rumor from tree to tree, bud to bud, and root to leaf. 🌿 This year, because I watched for it, I saw the quiet, slow parade of spring. I could see and enjoy the soft and deliberate changes that prepare the world for spring’s arrival. The greyest day only challenged me to find the color in the ruddy red of a growing rose cane or the greening of a new, slender branch. 🌸 This search for spring has served as a reminder to find the extraordinary in the everyday and I’ve been grateful for it. There is much to lament, so much. But there is so much to appreciate that will only reveal itself if we watch for it; if we expect to see something magnificent in the world around us we will. These daily drawings are a reflection of that search and I hope they inspire you to watch closely and look for the extraordinary in the everyday. 🌸 Sending lots of love — and springtime — to you all ❤️🌱🌸 (at All Over the World) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_i0wfrDKWU/?igshid=9kyxhj8f520w

An Timeless Story in 4 Acts: ✨ I watched the little girl running to greet her friend. I saw her face light up when she first spotted her playmate, standing by the edge of the pond and already ensconced in the hunt for turtles and muskrats. She could not wait one more minute to join in the fun. 🌿 Her tiny rubber boots pushed off the wooden planks of the boardwalk as she charged forward, spurred on by the friendly and exuberant waving hand of her friend. 🐢 They met in the middle of the elevated wooden path that zigged along the edge of the pond. To one side of them was soft marshy mud and reeds, to the other side a shallow pond filled with schools of goldfish, two ducks, at least six turtles and one seldom-seen muskrat, who, I understood from their shouts to find him, was named Ted. 🦆 A pile of discarded bikes and scooters and distant shouts and laughter suggested that they weren’t the only children adventuring through this little park. They split the party, each patrolling an edge of the boardwalk, calling to each other for updates on the search for Ted. 🌿 And suddenly, one shouted to the other, “There he is!” And sure enough, there was Ted. His triangular head poked just above the water, his eyes half were closed and his ears pressed flat to keep out the water. His fur was slick and his shiny black tail trailed behind him as he made he way towards a piece of bread which had been thrown into the water to tempt the fish, but now had attracted a much more exotic prize. ✨ The girls danced happily on the bridge, celebrating the success of their mission. They stayed a while hoping to find turtles sunning on a log but the day, appropriately cloudy for mid-spring in Michigan, did not inspire sunbathing reptiles. 🐢 When I next looked up, the girls were gone. Collected by their mothers and taken home for dinner and bed. No doubt to dream about turtles and Teds and the life of a small pond in Michigan. 🦆🐢🌿✨❤️ (at West Park, Ann Arbor) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_dFFUcjpoH/?igshid=1osjwkbs3zc9t

I miss drawing New Yorkers. So when I came across this amazing photo of @stolincokes, I grabbed the chance. Now if only I could have had someone shake the table and bump into me while I was drawing, would have felt like I was back in my favorite studio: the subway. ❤️ 🗽 (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_X2SvUDpoS/?igshid=14gd5npnu9an0

I miss drawing New Yorkers. So when I came across this amazing photo of @stolincokes, I grabbed the chance. Now if only I could have had someone shake the table and bump into me while I was drawing, would have felt like I was back in my favorite studio: the subway. ❤️ 🗽 (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_X0d-gDX0X/?igshid=1qtmpomlj6m1x

Happy Earth Day 🌿🌼! Picked us some flowers to celebrate together - so glad to share this home with you ❤️ Tag someone you’re glad to be home with and pass on this bouquet 💐 😀 (at The Whole World) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_SioGCj0qt/?igshid=tv0obt4zvdav

I’m not sure if I actually like this little painting or if I simply like the memory contained within it. It’s been sitting on my kitchen table since this weekend when I painted it after a long walk in the country. Tired of our regular walk around the neighborhood, we took a drive down my my favorite country road, the one where the wide farm fields are beautiful, no matter the season. Right now, these fields are full of the brightest green shoots; pale and short and reaching for the sun they emerge in organized rows that stretch into the horizon or run into the edge of forests or old wooden barns. These budding fields weren’t the only sign of spring I saw on our walk. I found an unbroken robin’s egg laying in the grass, blown out of its nest no doubt by the rowdy winds that refuse to change from March lions into April lambs. We heard the throaty trills of Redwing Blackbirds perched in the reeds above a meandering roadside stream. We saw a family of deer out for a daytime stroll and daffodils that seemed to grow in perfect, spontaneous bouquets. Spring comes late to Michigan, but spring was in the air. Nowhere was it more visible than in this little scene, which I tried to capture here; a black and white farm cat soaking up the sun while patrolling for field mice on a cold spring afternoon. He was hard to spot at first, so regal and still was he. But there he was, patiently waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting country mouse and perfectly framed by an old red barn and rolling fields that border forests full of bare trees patiently waiting for their leaves to unfurl. . . P.s. — Do you like it when I share paintings? Or do you just prefer to see pen and ink stuff here? and it’s quite a sight to see it wrangled into place with outbursts of odd weather and (at Ann Arbor, Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_QBh66DTqJ/?igshid=m9xpa6r1lv05

Went for a walk, found some #llamas, the rest is history. 😂 P.s - the second llama I painted on the cover of an empty sketchbook because I can only buy two at a time on amazon right now because they’re rationing them! 😱 (at Ann Arbor, Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_OTwibjgIS/?igshid=qchmpz1mghdk

This is the first portrait in my #BehindTheMask series. The purpose of this series is to show the face behind the masks of the people working on the front lines of this pandemic — the essential workers like doctors, nurses, warehouse workers, and service workers who are keeping the world safe and running right now. They are not just heroes, they are real people risking their lives for us. I’m going to tell their stories the best way I know how, by turning them into works of art. I’ve also asked that the people who have nominated a worker for this project, share something about them. Here is what @worldwideblond says about her Dad, Dr. J. G. Smith, Hospitalist/Pulmonary & Critical Care Specialist in Monroe, Louisiana: . . “He's the best dad ever and he works really hard for his community. He's never seen anything like this in his career and I can tell in his voice it starting to take a toll, but he does his absolute best for his patients and his family. He loves drawing, I think something like this would mean a lot to him. My Mom is also a retired physician who has been making masks and is possibly returning to medicine to help during this crisis.” . . You can nominate an #EssentialWorker to be featured in this project by clicking the #linkinbio. . . Stay tuned for more this week and going forward — I’ll be sharing more stories, drawings and #InstagramLIVE illustration sessions as part of this project. As always, please like, comment and share to add your thanks to these essential workers to whom we owe so much. (at Quarantine 2020) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LpnAojsaw/?igshid=x6p24lamn7nm

💫This is the first portrait in my #BehindTheMask series. The purpose of this series is to show the face behind the masks of the people working on the front lines of this pandemic — the essential workers like doctors, nurses, warehouse workers, and service workers who are keeping the world safe and running right now. They are not just heroes, they are real people risking their lives for us. I’m going to tell their stories the best way I know how, by turning them into works of art. I’ve also asked that the people who have nominated a worker for this project, share something about them. Here is what @worldwideblonde says about her Dad, Dr. J. G. Smith, Hospitalist/Pulmonary & Critical Care Specialist in Monroe, Louisiana: . . “He's the best dad ever and he works really hard for his community. He's never seen anything like this in his career and I can tell in his voice it starting to take a toll, but he does his absolute best for his patients and his family. He loves drawing, I think something like this would mean a lot to him. My Mom is also a retired physician who has been making masks and is possibly returning to medicine to help during this crisis.” . . You can nominate an #EssentialWorker to be featured in this project by clicking the #linkinbio. . . Stay tuned for more this week and going forward — I’ll be sharing more stories, drawings and #InstagramLIVE illustration sessions as part of this project. As always, please like, comment and share to add your thanks to these essential workers to whom we owe so much. (at Quarantine 2020) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LJAyrDyYH/?igshid=zrj86zzr2x5z

I miss NY❤️. looking through old sketches from my city notebooks today. 🗽🖊📓 P.s. - if you’re feeling like you need some art therapy - I’m teaching a LIVE drawing class at 7:30 PM EST tonight on @manime.co! ❤️ sending love to you all ✨ (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_FtZY9jwyK/?igshid=1eomqhmkjxozr