Creative friends

I have a very dear friend, called Marike, who I don't see often enough but is very much part of my life. We used to write letters to each other, from all over the world, in airmail envelopes with beautiful stamps. But then kids, work, life took over. She writes a great blog that is well worth reading/seeing and you can follow her on facebook as well. Today she posted a little illustration about a traffic jam (you can find it here...) and it made me think of the illustration above. I worked it out quickly this evening whilst cleaning the kitchen (not quite finished that job) and bathing the kids (they like me not being in the bathroom for too long, so they can splash around properly...)

Why? I hear you say... I asked Adam the same thing yesterday. Why am I doing all this? And his answer was: Because you love it. It's true. I do. I try to stay away sometimes. I kept myself away from the computer for two nights this week, but found myself on the sofa doodling page after page in my sketchbook. It's not about making money (though I am so glad that it does, and I am very grateful for that) it's about being creative. I am starting to believe that it's not so much a skill, it's more a practice. We are all creative, we can all draw, make things. But you have to do it, you have to stick with it. You have to show up every day, even when it's a bad one.

So this is what I did today. In between working and looking after the kids, I made traffic jam. For my friend Marike.

And now I will turn the computer off...

...and open my sketchbook again.