Hi All, I've done some digging and have started sketching.
Here's an outline of my process: My plan is to follow three unrelated ideas and see where they lead. Then I'll pick one to develop. I have no preconditions on subject or materials - I'm leaving myself wide open. I have a file of text and image clippings I'm building on the computer. Periodically I'll print it out and start thinking with a pencil. Make a few observations and get an idea where the next steps might be. For sketching I'm using a Conté charcoal pencil on a pad of large newsprint. I have a kneaded eraser for minimal cleanup, otherwise I ignore it. That way I don't have to worry about getting precious with my sketch or the materials. It's newsprint! I can be free, loose and make as much of a mess as I want.
To begin with, I delved into the obvious. Pope + travel threw up an interesting fact about Pope John Paul II:
" Pope John Paul II travelled more miles as pope than all his predecessors combined, and as a result he was seen—in person—by more people than anyone else in history. He travelled approximately 721,052 miles, the equivalent of approximately 31 trips around the circumference of the Earth."
Then I found an image of Pope Francis, whom I admire, climbing the stairs to his plane. My favorite theme is water, light and vastness. So this first iteration is a sketch of Pope Francis walking to the edge of an infinity pool, about to step into space. Named Francis, and a demonstrably compassionate man, I have a squirrel perched on his shoulder and birds, fish and butterflies following him into the vastness of the Hubble field of galaxies.
In my next post I will throw out some interesting information I found out about Alexander Pope and we'll see where that goes. He was a character.

Love the story...
Thanks Debbie, it's a good start!
This is really well done and I like the history and study of Pope Francis. Did you see the movie called ,” The Two Popes?” It’s about St Francis...
Great drawing and great ideas, Dan. Fascinating to learn that John Paul II was seen by more people than anyone else in history!
How to you organize and/or tag your text and image clippings on your computer?
Thanks Judy - I cut and paste them into a Word or Page doc. I've got one for each of my ideas, which are them put into a project folder.
@Dan Dempster Oh, so the idea comes first and then you search for images and writings that relate to it, rather than just accumulating interesting images and writings that may some day combine to spark an idea?
@Judy Herman In this case, because we were presented with a phrase, I am researching the possibilities contained in it and exploring the related images and references I find. Intriguing.
Great story, great ideas. Fun to share thoughts.
Share images too!