Winter isn't everyone's favourite season, but when the holidays hit, you'd have to be a total Grinch not to find the beauty in a fresh snowfall. Suharu Ogawa, a Toronto-based illustrator whose work has appeared everywhere from Owl Magazine to the Washington Post, bottled a bit of that holiday magic for us, and she's turned the CBC Arts logo into a sparkling, animated snow globe.

We'll be using her design as our profile pic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all December. While en route to Japan (on a holiday homecoming trip, in fact), Ogawa wrote us an email to share a few thoughts about the design.

Name: Suharu Ogawa

Homebase: Toronto

I grew up in a warmer part of Japan and a few U.S. cities (like in Southern California), so when I moved to Toronto in 2011, I was so impressed with how much it snows here. Although I don't always enjoy wearing 10 layers of clothes, there's something so magical and beautiful about Toronto's snowscape. I wanted to turn the CBC Arts logo into a giant snow globe.

I love New Year celebrations, including all the resolutions I make and forget immediately after! One of my all-time favourite things to do during this time of year is to look up the stars. My father named me after Subaru (Pleiades), an open star cluster, and you can see these really bright stars really well at night during the winter. There's something uplifting about having a reason to look up and feel warm inside during the coldest months of the year.

One of the proudest and most empowering pieces I made was a picket sign ("Nasty & Mighty") that I created for the Women's March Toronto in 2017. The night before the march, I just picked up my brush and started painting something. I hoped to represent strong, fearless women of the past and present who stood up together to fight for equality. It's still one of my favourite pieces I've made.

I'm more and more interested in making animated GIFs lately.

I'm a big fan of CBC Arts and am always checking out the artists you feature. I really enjoyed discovering the work of JinKe Wang whom you recently featured.

Toronto has so many great museums and galleries, but I really enjoy graffiti, murals and other public art you see throughout the city. So many of my artist/illustration friends have been involved in various public and community art initiatives, and I really think it's making the city a vibrant and exciting place for everyone.

I'm traveling to Japan and going to visit the famous Zen garden at the Ryoanji Temple. It would be great if I could have a garden like that in Toronto to share with others. I guess I can only dream!

I can't say much, but I'm working on illustrations for a children's book right now. You can see my work on both my portfolio or follow me on Instagram (@suharuogawa) where I often show my process and other personal drawings/doodling!