Creative Musings

In the late '90s, I was working on portrait and mural concepts for the Hotel Miracosta in Tokyo DisneySea. My design parameter was to create a series of portraits featuring Disney characters in famous artworks. I sketched out hilarious parodies on works from da Vinci to Warhol. Months later, I finally presented them to the team so they could choose the ones that would fit the space. The meeting included the resident "character police" at Imagineering—the person in charge of ensuring character...

There’s a reason why authoritarian regimes work so hard to suppress artistic voices: when artists in a free society are able to express what they perceive, they often challenge power. Especially if that power has run amok. William Gropper was one such artist. I ran across his work in the latest magazine from the De Young and Legion of Honor museums in San Francisco. Amidst all the pleasant images of Monets and Etruscan statues in their current exhibitions, I stopped cold at this image....

25 years ago, I was in Japan for a month, painting murals in Tokyo DisneySea. I worked six days a week on a construction site, with more noise and toxic smells than I’d ever experienced in America. On Sundays, my one day off, I explored Tokyo and the surrounding areas. On my last free day, my friend Marady and I took the train to Kamakura, a town known for its Great Buddha statue. We wanted to take the long way through the mountains, so we memorized the Japanese characters for Great Buddha so...

The biggest block to my creativity has always been procrastination. It’s why I have endless projects that keep getting put off. It’s why my Reminders app has 20 notifications on it, all past due. It’s why I haven’t written this Sunday newsletter until the evening. Nothing I do seems to make it go away. Every trick, hack, or technique only makes the habit stronger. I’ve read productivity books by Steven Pressfield, Charles Duhigg, James Clear, B.J. Fogg, Stephen R. Covey, Cal Newport, and...

Join me in a creative goals workshop on January 6. In this 2-hour online session, we’ll sketch a roadmap for creative projects in 2026. You don’t have to be a creative to benefit--but you'll learn how to use creativity to reach your destination. Your presence helps me in my journey, too. Let’s do this together! I love to list out my favorite things. I actually keep them on my phone, on the off chance that someone will ask me what my three favorite movies are (Whale Rider, The Red Violin, and...

Join me in a creative goals workshop on January 6. In this 2-hour online session, we’ll sketch a roadmap for creative projects in 2026. You don’t have to be a creative to benefit--but you'll learn how to use creativity to reach your destination. Only $25 if you sign up before January 1st. Your presence helps me in my journey, too. Let’s do this together! “All that you touch you change,” wrote Octavia Butler. “All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change.”...

I’ve been thinking a lot about goals, as we barrel through the holidays toward New Year’s. I’ve already participated in one planning session for 2026, and I have another one on the 28th. Something feels different for me this year. Here’s something I heard recently: A goal is only a tool to motivate you to action. A set of goals is like a roadmap for a place you’ve never explored before: you imagine a path given what you can see of the landscape. But most of the journey lies just over the...

Last night at a party, after introductions and banter about professions, someone said to me, “I do art, but I’m not an artist.” I cocked my head, curious. “But if you do art, doesn’t that make you an artist?” She shrugged and said “maybe,” then we got interrupted, and I never got to find out what she meant. But I woke up thinking about it. What makes someone an artist? Or, more accurately, what makes someone believe they are an artist? An old ink drawing from my teenage years It’s easy for...

Every time I go back to the Upper Peninsula (Michigan) to visit my mom, the decorations have changed. But one thing is certain: every wall, every corner, will be filled with things. The overall effect is like stepping into a storybook. Little dramas are unfolding everywhere you turn. Take her dining room. This one wall holds so much life: figurines, plates, artworks, books and CDs, sculptures, plants, pussywillows, dolls, rocks, bones, feathers, instruments, candles, jars, lamps, prayer...