Growing up in North Carolina, I have many memories of dogwoods. The house we lived in during most of elementary school years had several dogwood trees. I climbed them, swung from them, danced under them. Their beautiful strength inspires me.

I played with lavender, another temporary, process-oriented medium. I really dig these types of creative efforts. Less focused on product, more focused on the moment.

I added orange roof (roofs? rooves? roofing?) to the little yellow houses this morning. Goals: finishing this painting in the next 12 days! It evolves a little bit each time and I'm not sure where it'll end up but I'm happy with the progress, and that's enough.

While hanging with some imaginative kiddos this evening, we gathered sticks from the yard to "make a rainbow". I love the idea of taking fallen, contorted, drab sticks and creating a rainbow with them. The result looked nothing like a rainbow, but I appreciated it anyway. I took the image and played with filters to transform the plainness into a brilliant rainbow. Art is pretty amazing that way -- you can take whatever you have to welcome something more beautiful.

I spent some time brainstorming the Big Issues today. Trying to find the intersection of problems and creative solutions. It's all still pretty blurry, but I'm hopeful making space for this kind of thinking will clarify some opportunities for positive change-making. Here's hopin'.

Even with the golden dust inflaming my sinuses, I love this time of year. Freshly birthed from the bud, the newest shoots of green are a significant contrast from the months of grey and brown and chilly temps. Spring green brings new hope.

I did another exercise from my Creative Workshop book this afternoon, gathering found materials and creating an alphabet. I forgot the W, but -ho needs it any-ay.