Launched!

Last night my husband, Allan Hunter, and I had a dual book launch at The Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA—and it was fantastic fun!  We each spoke for 20 minutes as part of the Text and ConText series—Allan on his book, Write Your Memoir, and I on my career as an illustrator/artist and then to introduce my book, The Confident Creative.

Dear A spoke about how writing about our lives in an honest, reflective way can bring us to a place of wholeness in which we grow our souls.  He told the story of how he helped his father, Jim, write his memoir.  Jim was a WW2 RAF pilot who was shot down over the Atlantic to survive and become a “guest” of Nazi Germany for 4 years.  It was a devastating experience, one in which many of his friends died though in all of Allan’s life it had been rarely mentioned and only in terse passing comments.  When Jim was finally able to tell the whole story, and even share the watercolor paintings he’d made in the prisoner-of-war camps, it was a very healing experience. We got to see  Jim relax and feel more secure in himself.  It also helped his family and friends understand him better.  Writing  is a fine way to reflect on our life journeys.

When I got up to speak, I realized I’d forgotten to bring my notes! And there were 100 people in front of me!  There was nothing to do but wing it it and that was easy enough with the visual cues of the art images.  Perhaps it’s even better to just speak from the heart as you go. I tried to say, however clumsily, that we’re all creative, all creating our own lives.  I also tried to say that art has value in all its forms—it’s not just art in museums that matters. By making art we each discover our own creative selves and come to live fully from the core of who we are.

Afterwards we got to chat with so many great people.  Thanks to everyone who came! It was a truly  amazing night for us and a good send-off for two books as they begin their journeys into the world. Stay tuned!