How To Draw Out Your Worst Fears
"It transformed my fear somehow," says musician and singer Steve Eulberg, 57.
Eulberg was Elman's dulcimer instructor when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Facing a potentially voice-altering surgery, he naturally feared the outcome. So Eulberg opened up to Elman, and she went to work.
"It is a unique way to honor someone's emotions," Eulberg says. When he went into surgery, he wrapped the illustration around a notebook and took it with him — almost like a talisman.
Just one month after his surgery, Eulberg says his voice has changed, but so has his outlook.
"I'm losing a few notes at the top, but maybe I'll gain a few at the bottom," he says.
Seventeen months and more than 125 illustrations later, Elman has discovered a power in the project that transcends her own creative revival:
"Fear is a big topic on how people conduct their lives, how people move forward," she says. "I'm just bringing it to the forefront visually."
As we were talking, I wondered if this project wasn't living somewhere inside Elman all along. After all, aren't most personal projects a return to what you love? She thought for a moment and said:
"In a way, it's how I started," recalling her days in junior high school when she'd ask people about their favorite colors or memories.
"And you know what I'd do," says Elman. "I would create little collages with their words, put a piece of saran wrap over it, and give it to them as a gift."
"It all feels very familiar," she says.