Staying curious, looking closer, and leaving room for imagination.
There are certain things I hope I never outgrow.
The feeling of looking up at the night sky and wondering what might be out there.
Finding something unexpected in nature.
Getting caught up in a color combination.
Seeing a familiar place in a completely different way.
Or having a little idea pop into my head and thinking, What if…?
I think that feeling is wonder.
And I think wonder has a lot more to do with creativity than we sometimes realize.
Wonder Makes Us Look Closer
When we are children, the world seems full of things worth wondering about.
Why does the moon follow us?
What lives beneath the water?
How do birds know where to go?
What would happen if the stars could talk?
Children don't always need an answer. Sometimes the question itself is enough.
As we get older, life becomes busier. We have responsibilities, schedules, work, and endless things that need our attention.
We don't necessarily lose our sense of wonder.
We just don't always make time for it.
I've been thinking about that lately because so much of my artwork begins with simply noticing something.
A color.
A shape.
A texture.
The way light hits the water.
A funny expression on a character.
A little detail that makes me stop and look again.
Those moments of noticing often become the beginning of an idea.
Wonder and Imagination
I think wonder is where imagination begins.
It gives us permission to ask questions without immediately needing to know the answer.
What if this character lived underwater?
What if I used these colors together?
What if this pattern became something completely different?
What if I followed this idea just to see where it went?
Not every idea becomes a finished piece of artwork.
And that's okay.
Sometimes creativity is simply about following a thought for a little while.
That curiosity is part of what I love about creating characters and stories.
When I began developing Nelly and the Night Sky, I wasn't only thinking about what the story needed. I was thinking about the world around Nelly.
What would it feel like?
What would the night sky look like?
How could color and light help tell the story?
What little details could make her world feel alive?
Those questions became part of the process.
And they continue to influence the way I create.
The Little Things
One of my favorite parts of illustration is adding the little things.
The details that might not be the first thing you notice.
A tiny expression.
A few stars in the background.
Bubbles floating through the water.
A particular pattern.
A small change in color.
Sometimes those details are what make an illustrated world feel real.
They give us something to discover.
I think that's true outside of art, too.
When we slow down enough to notice what is around us, we often find things we would have otherwise missed.
A beautiful reflection.
An interesting shape in a leaf.
The colors of the ocean.
The way sunlight changes throughout the day.
Wonder doesn't always require something extraordinary.
Sometimes it simply asks us to pay attention.
Staying Curious
I've created so many characters and little worlds over the years, and one of the things I love most is seeing how they can continue to grow.
A character can begin as a simple drawing.
A drawing can become part of a story.
A story can inspire another illustration.
An illustration can become a print, a pattern, or something completely unexpected.
You never quite know where an idea will lead when you give yourself permission to explore it.
That's why I think staying curious is so important as an artist.
Not every idea has to become something.
Not every sketch has to be productive.
Sometimes it's enough to wonder.
To experiment.
To look closer.
To ask, What if?
Maybe We Never Outgrow Wonder
I don't think we ever really outgrow wonder.
Maybe we just experience it differently.
As children, we might wonder about the stars.
As adults, we might wonder what we could create from a particular color, memory, place, or feeling.
The questions change.
But the curiosity remains.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
Because wonder keeps us open.
It reminds us that there is always something else to notice, something else to imagine, something we haven't discovered yet.
For me, that feeling finds its way into everything I create; from children's stories and characters to patterns, prints, and artwork inspired by the world around me.
Maybe that's why I love creating so much.
There is always another question.
Another idea.
Another little world waiting to be explored.
So this week, I'm reminding myself to look a little closer.
To stay curious.
To notice the little things.
And to leave a little room for wonder.
Because you never know where it might lead you. ✨
What makes you wonder?