Why do I listen to all these podcasts?

First, let me say, the reason I can spend so much time listening to podcasts (& audiobooks & music) is that I drive my kids to/from school 25-30 hours every week. I’m motivated by learning new stuff, but if I am honest, what I choose is also shaped by the example I want to set for the ‘little ears’.

Before I started the long school commutes, I used to listen to a lot more fiction and storytelling than I’d be comfortable sharing with my kids. There’s always at least one kid in the van with me—my youngest who is going on 5, draws constantly, and mostly doesn’t mind me listening to “stories”. So keeping the topics and language shareable and good is important to me, too.

Here are the podcasts I‘ve been tuned in to in the last year, and why I listen to them; some fit under more than one category...

Because I’m an artist:

Creative Pep Talk

Artist/Mother podcast

The Jealous Curator

The Savvy Painter

Because I’m looking for meaning in life and to understand the world:

On Being

Becoming Wise

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

Hidden Brain

Because I want to know how to do my art business well:

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Building a StoryBrand with Donald Miller

Don’t Keep Your Day Job with Cathy Heller

Because I love stories about making art & music and how meaning is made:

Song Exploder

Podcast - Catholic Creatives

John Dalton - Gently Does It

Because I love stories:

99% invisible

The Moth

Snap Judgement

Because I pray in the car:

Podcast Pray As You Go

Rosary Cast

Because I want to know what my husband is talking about:

Bulletproof Radio

Ben Shapiro

Catholic Current

Drawing Grandpa

I made the above original drawing from a photo I took of Victor in March 2017, at home on Sanibel. As I worked on this drawing over several weeks, lots of memories came flooding back to me: Victor would bike over to the Bean early in the morning, and quietly, happily, read the paper while Daniel and I sold hundreds of lattes and muffins in our crowded coffeehouse. His peaceful presence was such a comfort when we were hustling and 'putting out fires' during those loud, hectic mornings.

The drawing below has a different feeling. My sweet second dad is in a memory care facility now. It's a few minutes away from where my older kids are in school, so I often visit him, bringing along my youngest. One morning, I made a few sketches from life, then finished using some iPhone photos for reference.

When I look at these two drawings together, I realize that without thinking about it, I made the first image with far less detail in the clothes. That first photo is from two years ago, when he was still living at home, and even when I made the drawing just last December, I felt more optimistic about his memory loss. When I drew him here, I developed more detail. More sharpness. But the expression on his face is more complicated than a simple smile, this time.

#portrait #drawing #family #art

Drawing Grandpa

I made the above original drawing from a photo I took of Victor in March 2017, at home on Sanibel. As I worked on this drawing over several weeks, lots of memories came flooding back to me: Victor would bike over to the Bean early in the morning, and quietly, happily, read the paper while Daniel and I sold hundreds of lattes and muffins in our crowded coffeehouse. His peaceful presence was such a comfort when we were hustling and 'putting out fires' during those loud, hectic mornings.

The drawing below has a different feeling. My sweet second dad is in a memory care facility now. It's a few minutes away from where my older kids are in school, so I often visit him, bringing along my youngest. One morning, I made a few sketches from life, then finished using some iPhone photos for reference.

When I look at these two drawings together, I realize that without thinking about it, I made the first image with far less detail in the clothes. That first photo is from two years ago, when he was still living at home, and even when I made the drawing just last December, I felt more optimistic about his memory loss. When I drew him here, I developed more detail. More sharpness. But the expression on his face is more complicated than a simple smile, this time. 

📷