Hot Tea and a Pencil

Today seems like a wonderfully auspicious day to begin my blog. Winter solstice has come and gone. Now, every day, we get a little more light back in our lives, each day a bit longer, each night a bit shorter.

I often write about the sky – sunlight and moonlight and starlight all fascinate me. One of my picture books, Whistling, is about a boy and his father going on a camping trip and whistling up the sun together.

I think my interest in light comes from growing up in an extended family of photographers. Morning light is great for photographing, as well as late afternoon – the time of day when you could just take handfuls of air and sky and eat it, it’s so delicious. Then the sun slips lower and it's dusky dark and an odd melancholy settles over everything. The middle of the day, with the sun high overhead is not so good for photographing. Shadows are harsh, the world too sharply delineated. Better the times of nuance and subtlety. Just like writing.