Hello dear carriers of light,

This week I was completely engulfed in an application process so I could only get my mind around this newsletter now.

I was not I was planning on applying but I heard wind of this opportunity to get mentorship on picture book publishing and something clicked in my heart. The deadline was this past Friday so I had to focus only on the application this week. If I am picked I will get a 3 month mentorship over the summer.

They say that even the process of applying will be beneficial to me and I would agree. Being forced to articulate my strengths and weaknesses and my goals and desires is a big step towards manifesting them. Words are powerful.

Other benefits were having to utilize different programs that I am too adverse to using but I still pay for. I know this is silly. I learned how to make private rooms in Artwork Archive. I created different portfolios for my illustrations projects which I have never done. So now I can send my portfolios to people to review.

I also signed up for a sequential artist workshop that I have been putting off for a year now. It’s free so I don’t know what my hang up was about it. I signed up for the first one available which turned out to be a workshop about portraying death in comics.

It sounds heavy and bits of it were, but overall there was humor and a renewal type of energy. It is a supportive community of artists. We each came up with three words associated with death and then took 20 minutes to create a 3-4 panel comic about those words. My words were veil, transparent and light. I chose a dandelion to portray my words. That is the photo above.

It’s been a week of major upheavals and I was happy to have a distraction. The destruction energy out there is high yet I ended up having opportunities to think about creating, renewal and vulnerability. I think those were a good counter balance. I hope you have found a nourishing place to put your energy into.

Lastly, I have to confess I accidently used AI in my last newsletter. I hit a generate button that I did not intend to that created a pre header in the email. I felt sick about it for a bit and then did some investigating on how it happened. So, I learned from my mistake. NEVER AGAIN! I only want to use my words in this newsletter.

Until next time, do something that lightens your hearts.

Zoe,

Latest Read: The Mountain in The Sea. By Ray Nayler. It’s a near future thriller where AI has wreaked havoc. But it is also about language, being human and communication. Buy at your local bookstore or even better, check it out from your local library!

Art Date: Stitched at an.ä.log SF Gallery. My friend Mac is in this show and it is a rare treat!

Inspiration: My friend in Minneapolis called to check in. ICE has not left. They are still having hard times there so I will reiterate my previous shout out about Haven Watch.

Shout Out: To my sister. Today is the 15th anniversary of her passing and she always supported me with her optimism when I would start new projects.