A Page From the Sketchbook
I’m trying to be better about having a regular post day here, but so far, I have been failing miserably. I’ve had regular posting days over at The Panda Chronicles for a bunch of years, but as I recall, it took me a few years to get there.
There has been a lot of Nooz lately. More shootings, Barker Carlson fired, TFG found liable for sexual assault and defamation. (Go E. Jean!) And now George Santos charged in a bunch of financial/fraud crimes. Consequences, perhaps? Hope springs eternal.
Things are looking up!
The sun has surfaced up here in the upper lefthand corner and the grass is growing. I’m now on the hamster wheel of keeping green stuff from overwhelming the house. Never a small task in the PNW.
I’m trying to do a little mindless sketching in the morning when I start my day. This page was the result of 3 or 4 days of drawing for 15 minutes while I have my coffee and get ready for a day of creativity. Since the beginning of Mitten’s reign of terror and then the Covid pandemic, it’s been harder than I would like to admit to focus and do creative work.
The actual certified genius Lynda Barry (cartoonist, artist, teacher and MacArthur Fellow) has a theory that the actual physical act of drawing feeds your creative work and that by just putting pencil or pen to paper, you can jumpstart your work. I have found this to be true. I don’t know if people who create artwork digitally get this same benefit. (I have opinions!)
I think there is a unique experience, sitting at my messy drawing table, with my coffee, as the the sun comes up, listening to the scratch of an ink pen on the surface of paper. It calms me. It focuses my thoughts. It allows me to put aside all the tragedy that is happening beyond the trees that surround my house. The tragedy will be waiting for me when I turn my computer or the radio on. But for a little while, every morning, we owe ourselves something that quiets the anxiety so we can face the day.
What do you do to ease yourself into the day? Share, if you’d like, in the comments.
I never managed meditation, only infrequently remind myself to breathe (that's what my friends are for) but these days, hard work around my house is what cuts the mustard (whatever that means, anybody?).
The poor old craftsman building has been beaten up during its one hundred plus years, not by me but by my family and previous residents.
I find that careful cleaning and even minute repairs give me such gratification as to provide easy breathing, and peace of mind.
Additionally the once small garden (to a younger me) is well beyond the lush design I had envisioned when I first moved here. 20+ years later, when I have my frequent yard sales during the season, people come in through the front gate, gazing around my messy efforts, and exclaim how secret, private, magical, even, (no faeries, no trolls) they find it. It is this experience that makes me smile after all the hard work, and the never-ending work to be done. I try to be gracious about their comments, letting go of my wretched self-deprecation. They are kind, and make me see the beautiful chaos through their eyes, for which I am most grateful.
What panda could ask for more? No politics in these efforts, but a panda in hand is worth many pandas everywhere, consoling us in need. No?
I love your sketchbook page!! Yea!! I do drawings in my sketchbook almost every morning with my coffee! I live in the PNW too and you aren't kidding about the fast growth of plants!! Glad you're sketch booking too!!