Forget Calm. Mindfulness Is Fuel for Creative Mischief.
Mindfulness doesn’t make you calm, it makes you awake. When you practice creative mindfulness, you stop running from the blank page and start paying attention to the world in front of you. Here’s how awareness fuels creativity, flow, and the kind of art that actually breathes.
Creativity Isn’t Magic. It’s Momentum. What I Learned From a Year of Making Without a Plan.
If you’ve ever chosen a Word of the Year (and then forgotten about it by February), this one’s for you. Mine was CREATE—and one messy, beautiful year later, it’s still shaping how I make, play, and stay curious.
The Core Principles of Wings Open Studio
When the world feels too loud or heavy, Wings Open Studio is a place to remember what’s real—to stay alive through creativity, connected through presence, and human through joy. These three principles—everyone is creative, every moment matters, joy is possible—are the heartbeat of everything we make and teach. Come as you are. Let’s make something true.
Art as Sanctuary and Resistance: A Manifesto for Creatives in a World on Fire
In times of uncertainty, grief, and injustice, art becomes more than expression—it becomes refuge and rebellion. This manifesto is for the makers, the dreamers, the mindful creatives who refuse to go numb. For the keepers of beauty and joy. Because every act of creation a quiet revolution.
Watercolor Notes: Finding Beauty in a Fractured World
Lately, my art journal has bloomed.
Not in grand gestures or finished pieces for display—but in small, intimate sketches of flowers and bouquets. I’ve been letting watercolors spill softly onto the page, experimenting with shape and color. Sometimes the petals look a little wonky. Sometimes the colors blend in unexpected ways. But always, there is peace in the process.
These watercolor moments have become a quiet ritual—a way to pause, breathe, and remember the beauty still rooted in this world.
🔥 Witness to Fire: My Night at Kīlauea’s Eruption 🔥
On the evening of June 4, I stood at the edge of the caldera in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, watching and waiting—heart open, camera ready, eyes searching for any sign that the Earth was about to move.
And then it happened.
At 8:55 PM, Kīlauea erupted.
Confessions from a Digital Photographer: Why I Love It and Why I’m Moving On
If you’ve been a regular or sometimes visitor to my site over the last decade, you should recognize the above image: it’s been part of my brand for years. And so as a visitor to the new Wings Open, you will have noticed: THINGS HAVE CHANGED! And I couldn’t be more excited. So here’s a little more about the why, and what you can expect to find here.
Three Truths About Meditation
What do you think of when you hear the word "meditation"? Do you picture long-haired hippies aligning their chakras and getting in touch with their chi? Or maybe you have an app where you can listen to a soothing voice that lulls you to sleep (whether or not that was your intent)?
All Water Has a Perfect Memory: New Work at the Ryan Resilience Lab
I'm beyond thrilled to share that my cyanotype diptych, "At the Edge of Remembering," was selected as the first place winner for the inaugural art exhibit at the Ryan Resilience Lab, which is part of the Elizabeth River Project.
The Seventh Continent
Earlier this year, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of traveling to Antarctica. Want to see stunning landscapes? Want to ogle penguins and cute baby seals? Want to know what moment almost made me drop my camera? Check out my photo essay of our trip to Antarctica here!