A dog a pig a donkey

and a "heck I dunno" drawing

Rusty is snoring on my lap so today you get to see sleeping beauty along with my sketchbook instead of my breakfast which is on the table. Rusty is also the sketchbook character today so it seems only proper to feature him instead of my fruit plate and coffee.

I wrote the text in my sketchbook as a way of reminding myself to be mindful of my capacity - Rusty is expert at being mindful of his - and that's why I chose to illustrate my sketchbook with him. An example of Rusty's mindfulness: as he's gotten older, he's 18 now, he's no longer up for long ball games with his humans. Rusty came to us as a 9 month old puppy and for a number of years he could almost rival his older border collie brother Biscuit in the ball games. But nowadays after 5 or 6 ball tosses he's ready for a snack and a nap. If you throw the ball a 7th time you're fetching it yourself. He knows and respects his own limits.

Another morning I wrote a reminder to myself to build in time during a day to play and rest. The pig in pajamas popped in my mind and out my fountain pen between sips of coffee. Things like that happen and are fun surprises - I find that anything can happen if I keep moving my pen regularly.

Recently when I wasn't at breakfast or at physical therapy for my ankle I worked on an acrylic painting - which I finished and titled “Half Assed”. For details about the real life stuff that inspired it click here. This painting will join others in my collection currently available at the Caplan Art Designs Gallery. “Half Assed” is 18 x 24 inches.

Speaking of asses: for most of a decade I've regularly put my butt in a chair to draw in a small 5.5 x 3.5 inch sketchbook. It may surprise you to hear that most of the time when I sit to sketch I have absolutely no idea, no preconceived thoughts, of what I will write or draw. Often I pour a coffee and sit for a minute “thought watching” seeing what topics are passing through my mind. On a scrap piece of paper I'll jot possible wordings describing one of my thoughts, often reframing the topic, of my thinking so that it “reads" as if it's encouragement or advice from a trusted friend.¹ I write this way so that in the future I can easily reread pages in my sketchbook and find solace and encouragement there.

For example instead of writing “geez, some people are so darn quick to negatively criticize everyone and everything within their orbit” I worked on writing a sentence or two that takes my feelings of exasperation and acknowledges them (my thought topic) yet I *do not* want my words to become simply another negative complaint. Instead I want to remind myself to not be like the constantly complaining people. As I'm thinking and writing I'm looking for a way of phrasing that instead of dwelling on the unpleasantness of negativity in the world helps me remember to look around for something to positively comment on - even when I'm just talking to myself. I like my headspace better that way. So I want to write text in my sketchbook in a way that will encourage my present and future self with a wayfinding message towards a pleasant headspace.

In this photo below you see my scrap paper jottings, my attempts at wording, and what I ended up writing in my sketchbook. I don't spend much time on the wording and I'm not trying for perfection just something that's a good enough reminder for myself. I write as legible as I can so I can read it in the future.

After writing I begin a drawing. I've no idea what I'll do on this drawing next. It's a “heck, I dunno" drawing at this point and that's okay. I'll leave it here and add to it during another breakfast.

By writing words - my own original text or perhaps an attributed quote I found somewhere- my sketchbook page is no longer blank. By beginning a line drawing and leaving it open (unfinished) I have a place to begin drawing another day.

My goal is to start a day pleasantly and somewhat in the spirit of the 6 year old sprawling in the floor coloring in a coloring book - so I find it works best to get around, over and through the “blank page" issue by just making a mark or writing a few words that I can respond to in future breakfast sketchbook sessions.

The art book Dare To Sketch by Felix Scheinberger is encouraging and helpful generally - it contains my other favorite advice: start your sketchbook in the middle of the book rather than the beginning. I also like the tips about drawing “on the go" - it's the way I approach my sketchbook sessions. I sketch during 10 minutes a day using the low tech quick drawing techniques as described in this book. Often I use just a pencil and a pen. After all I'm having breakfast and sitting under a dachshund so the kinds of art materials their simplicity, portability, ease of use, on-the-go attributes are important.

If you're interested perhaps your local library has or can get via interlibrary loan a copy of Dare To Sketch by Felix Scheinberger? For more details about this book click here.

I hope your weekend activities fit nicely within your capacity and that it includes both play and rest. 💚💚

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1. I learned this technique when I illustrated a book titled “Dr Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” - the technique is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

My friend

Kathryn Vercillo

has a good newsletter edition about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a creativity skill here 👇

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a Foundational Writing Skill