Happy spring equinox!
Not everything is a metaphor, but sometimes a good one lands right in your lap. It feels fitting that today is a celestial moment of balance, a tilting away from energy conservation and rest, towards creation and growth. Last week I had three heart-nurturing and hope-growing dates: on Monday I was invited to give an artist talk to the lovely & generous Regin Igloria’s research studio class at the School of the Art Institute; on Thursday, I caught up with my friend, Chicago cartooning legend & comics professor Beth Hetland, about life and work and exciting possible futures; and I spent all morning and into the afternoon on Friday with beloved chosen sister Shiamin Kwa, a polymath genius and an inspiration, talking about family and career and being done caring what other people think while kilted bagpipers marched through her conference hotel lobby. I think it’s going to take a while to process what a huge impact those three conversations had on me, individually and collectively, at this particular moment of my life and work. I knew in by bones but hadn’t been able to articulate until now how lonely I was for people to talk to about art and comics, writing and process. I am so fortunate to have deep & wide community of mutual support in my personal life, and it was identity-activating to remember oh yes, I also have that in my life as an artist, and more than that, sometimes people know me as an artist and not just as someone perpetually running to Target to pick up some more diapers. It all felt like an invitation to take myself less seriously and my work more seriously. Does that make sense?
Metaphors aside: I’m so excited that it’s spring! It’s still cold and occasionally snowy here in Chicago, but the quality of light has shifted. I think about Vonnegut saying March and April are the unlocking season—it’s not quite spring, but we can all feel that things are changing deep in the dirt, that there’s a shift between us and the stars. I’m ready for longer days, more sunshine, easier transitions from inside to outside, and I’m ready for the world to get more colorful—the yellow puffy coat I got this year isn’t cutting it anymore!
To warm up this morning and to celebrate equinox, I did a quick drawing of Mexican Torch sunflowers. Last year I planted some Mexican Torch Sunflowers in front of my fence, which are now my all-time favorite flower. As the name suggests, these are not native to Chicago like the bulk of my garden, but they are beloved by monarchs and other pollinators. I love a tall and wild-looking plant so I gave it a try. They grow stealthily for the first half of summer, unobtrusive background greens, but once the full heat of midsummer hits the flowers burst and dance. Velvety stalks bulge into a trumpet topped with vibrant orange-red daisy-like flowers that are absolutely swarmed with butterflies. One flower, you ask? Oh ho ho no, each 5-6 foot tall plant has 10-15 blossoms atop soft twisting trumpets. If you have even a little patch of sunny soil that is yours to tend, give your future self a gift and plant some of these after the last frost of your zone.
xoxo m