Rama and I hosted our first official portrait party this weekend and it was so fun. Each person posed for 2- and 10-minute drawings, while the other 5 of us sketched like mad. Our friends were wonderful sports, and the artwork (which Rama will probably post on The Portrait Party over the next few weeks) […]

A 5-minute drawing of Rama. I’m always amazed when I finish a drawing that actually looks like him. He makes it look easy.

I forget that I don’t have to write a tome to make a post.
I forget that keeping my hand moving keeps my heart smiling.
I forget that I am an artist, too.
(When) will I […]

My first Illustration Friday submission and hopefully not my last. The theme: Play. The hula hoop was one of my favorite toys growing up (along with Fashion Plates and my Kimberly doll). I spun it around my hips and swam through it in the pool. Later at my high school grad night, […]

Grandma and me, ink and watercolor on bristol, 2003

My grandma is in the hospital, again. It’s the third time she’s been admitted in a month, and I’m worried. That’s the last thing I should be doing, I know, especially when I always have given her such a hard time for fretting about every little (and […]

Sidra, downtown Los Angeles, March 2004

I met Sidra on the last day of one of the high school retreats where I help out. She had a spirally head of hair and a colgate smile. I didn’t know how someone as funny, brave and crafty as Sidra had slipped past my radar the whole weekend, […]

Cover art for a mixed CD
This weekend is all about celebrations. My friends Seth & Stella are renewing wedding vows made last fall, my grandma turns 88 years old and Rama and I look back with gratitude and awe at our first year together. There will be lots of cake and ice cream, hugs […]

Martha Stewart may have popularized the term “good thing,” but I made it my own.
I started keeping Good Things lists in my journal two years ago, during a dreary time in my life. I had gotten so used to seeing the bad stuff — too used to it — that I was losing sight of […]

When I was in junior high school, I hated carrying a purse. On more than one occasion, I remember Ricky asking whether I had a Kleenex or a pen or a piece of gum. Anything, really.
My response was always “No,” and his reply to that was usually something like, “You’re a girl. You should […]