Helena Clare Pittman

...the progression of Lillian’s dementia is there, just outside, and I have to encounter this slow, arduous and mysterious passage. Lillian was a painter, as I am.

In her 58th post, Helena marvels at her late summer garden and shares some of her students' publications.

In her 56th post, Helena shares an exercise on building characters, along with memories of her beloved sister.

In her 48th post, Helena shares a chapter from her favorite of her original works, Ruthie Pincus of Brooklyn.

Helena offers some poetic “impressions” from her daily journaling practice, plus a requested and imagined end to the two-part monkey story from March and May.

Helena shares an original story about a boy who comes into his own through his relationship with a prize-winning but stubborn cow.

In her 44th post, Helena Clare Pittman tells the second part of her March story of adolescent rebellion.

In her 40th post, Helena shares another original children’s story—a counting story—and creative process behind both writing and illustrating it.

I am still painting flowers in glasses. Different destinies. Different kinds of artists, people. Maybe stars. But it was a privilege to see, in a kind of secret act, that lovely little painting...

Soft-edged and dreamy, on a deeper brown neutral ground, so that the beauty of orange, with its green tones and reds, its yellows and lavender grays, is revealed. The image captivated me...