Stenigno encouraged me to share more on this blog.

I've long been a fan of story telling in all of its various forms. Within the past year or so, I've become increasingly interested in a quite particular (and maybe peculiar) niche of story telling - how artists ready themselves prior to engaging in the creative process.

I've read the story of a graphic novelist who, every morning, pays a visit to her greenhouse. There she spends the next quarter of an hour pressing her own ink and then, sitting at her greenhouse drawing table, swirls pen and ink on blank pieces of paper until words or picture come out.

I've also learned of a well-known musician who, after suffering from two debilitating strokes, began to sketch birds as a way to both recover his facilities and to re-engage that inventive part of himself.

The clip below is from Vivian Kubrick's (daughter of Stanley) documentary, Making 'The Shining'. Jack Nicholson prepping for the famous axe-through-the-bathroom-door scene is a thing of beauty.