Austin Kleon, who is ever inspiring, whose books I own, and whose arguments compelled me to secure this website domain , frequently extolls the benefits of small artistic pursuits alongside writing. For him, it’s collage. I've tried collage, and doodling, and drawing, but succumb to overwhelming self-consciousness. I stopped. There must be a trick to feeling comfortable.

Maybe the first step is letting go of the idea of a right way and a wrong way of doing art alongside writing. Here I crochet, make meals, bake cookies and muffins and direct the creative and not-so-creative activities of my at-home brood and I never thought of considering it a form of art. What is art anyway? It’s beauty, no?

Perhaps these small domestic things that yield blankets and meals and snacks are too easily overlooked. And while the subject of home-making is fraught with competitive and complicated feelings, it might be worth considering at least some of the actions as artistic exercises. The audience in my case is small, the final results of some endeavors are sometimes enjoyed before disappearing like temporary expositions. Some things, like crochet are done merely for the pleasure of completing a longer project, a way of occupying one’s hands, a way of ending up with something useful. Didn't Virginia Woolf have something to say about making bread?

I think that’s why I like taking pictures of routine things. It’s a way of declaring, very simply, that there is beauty even in the dailyness of meals and child-minding.