Illustrating your Own Story! Becoming an AuthorArtist - Part 6 with Maya Gonzalez

If you’ve been reading my posts about Becoming an AuthorArtist over these last 6 months, you’ve been hearing…

 Play, play, quantum physics, play...play, play, play, play, play

And rumor has it that some of you have played! So you may already know what I’m about to talk about! You may have learned firsthand, you may even know without knowing you know, the power of play. Play is a profound teacher. She can teach you as deep as a canyon and leave you without a word to explain the experience.

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So here are some words about the power of play.

The nature of play:

• Free form
• Lack of judgment
• Curiosity
• Fluid - one thing leading to another
• Fun

Play is:

• Relaxing
• Expanding
• Exploratory
• Feels good

Play results in:

• New ideas/connections
• Stronger sense of self
• Sense of agency/power
• Greater creative expression

The more familiar we are with play, the closer we are to reclaiming our greatest resource, one of the most essential and awesome elements of being alive! Creativity!

Play is the mother of creativity!

Because when it comes down to it, I’d love to know that I crafted a beautiful book, that the images are done well, the text edited properly, maybe even win an award, …..but more than that, much more than that,

I want a child reading my book to know that I played. And that for this moment, through this book, we can play together.

And that this relentless power that wants to unleash and undo and free everything unites us

And propels us to reach out
And share.

So play!
Play well! Play your best!
Play until you are so spent from playing that you chuck those doubts and should’s and what if’s right out the window because you don’t have a minute to spare!

May all your endeavors be blessed with the wisdom of play. And most of all, may each children’s book you create carry the secret song children long to hear…

(in case you need “proof” of how important it is to play…here’s an article for you!)

Maya Gonzalez is largely self-taught. She has illustrated over 20 award-winning multicultural children’s books and written 3 with, not an end in sight! Her latest book, Call Me Tree, set to come out this year with Lee&Low Books, is her most recent labor of love! Her fine art has shown internationally and appears in numerous books about the contemporary Chicano Art Movement including on the cover of Living Chicana Theory and Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture and Education considered to be "the Bible of Chicano/a art." Ridiculously creative, she’s probably making art as you read this or thinking about making art if she’s driving a car or using the stove. And one of her ultimate passions is inspiring others to create books, because she believes that creating children's books has the potential to be one of the most radical things you can do!

If you'd like to know more about Maya, you can visit her children's book website, her fine art website, or learn more about her work inspiring others to join her in changing the world at www.schoolofthefreemind.com or www.reflectionpress.com.