Every summer since moving to Ojai six years ago, I make a busy picture. That was my grandmother Betty's name for the drawings I did as a kid, lying on the floor with a box of markers and a big sheet of scrap paper — I'd draw imaginary maps with railroads and roads, mountains and trees, houses and buildings. When I became a parent myself, I'd make busy pictures with my kids, filling big sheets of butcher paper with imaginary landscapes, funny characters, and whatever doodles came to us.

I picked up the busy picture habit again in (late) middle age, as a way of connecting to that kid-on-the-floor approach to making pictures, and also mapping my feelings about this magical place I now call home. There are now seven "Awha'y" pictures (from the Chumash word for "moon" or "nest"), and the latest makes its public debut this week at the Ojai Valley Museum as part of OSA's "As We See It" group show.

This latest one is a coming together, a mixing up of ideas and symbols and approaches I've been obsessing on lately. Unlike the other "Awha'y"s, this one is ROUND, which gives me a chance to bend perspective and honor the shape of the planet, eggs, eyes, and so much else.

Looking at all the "Awha'y"s, I'm struck by the things that keep showing up — that orange orb, the Monopoly-piece houses, the silhouette with brainwaves, and of course the obligatory Ojai post office tower. I feel like they're actors in the repertory company of my imaginary picture theater — I'll use them any chance I get! We just love working together!

See you at the Museum! There's a ton of great work — the whole community of OSA artists is in full flower these days. Reception this Friday, Aug. 21, 5–7 pm.