I’m back from Chicago – ‘been back for a couple days, actually, though it already feels like a very long time ago. It was a great trip – things I loved:

• The scent of chocolate in the air in certain neighborhoods, which my friend Marsha tells me is thanks to a local chocolate factory. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

• The fact that the local papers actually know how to review improv, rather than simply marvel at it (or ignore it).
• Lake Michigan. Gorgeous.
• The Art Institute, especially a contemporary photography exhibit titled On the Scene, featuring the work of Kota Ezawa, Sarah Hobbs and Angela Strassheim. I found all the photos incredibly compelling, but absolutely fell in love with Ezawa’s stuff (though not enough to spring for the $50 book in the museum shop).

Now that I’m home, I’m digging in to a few projects that have been on the back burner for too long, including tending to my poor neglected front garden. I can’t shake the feeling that a neglected garden symbolizes my own creative state. I’m also planning to repurpose a small bedroom as an artist’s studio. My in-laws are donating a vintage yellow couch; I’m thinking of painting the walls bright French blue, with some decals of bold black and white graphic designs to decorate the walls…reminiscent of Matisse and his cut-outs…something very bold and playful. I imagine having materials like ribbons and buttons and markers spread out, so all I have to do is walk in there and start creating…

Do you have space set up in your home for art? And/or, have you found creative satisfaction from gardening? I’d love to hear your stories…