Coffee rings and crows

The magically mundane and cactus

As I mentioned on my blog recently I often dribble coffee when I pour it. What if coffee rings are a lens, a viewfinder, a portal, through which to see the world? (Fyi: my blog post is an expansion on my recent rabbit newsletter about liking things.)

Here's a closer look at my sketchbook pages. I used brush and an ink appropriately called “caffe creama” to draw these coffee rings by hand during breakfast on 2 different days. I drew the drawings inside the rings with a grey ink.

On two more different days I did another series of coffee ring portals using a different ink called “espresso” and color gouache paints inside the coffee rings.

I’m thinking I want to practice my coffee rings some more. And I like both brown coffee ink colors and vacillate between them… which do you like best? Feel free to tell me in the comments.

During another days breakfast I drew a tree in my neighborhood.

I want to practice drawing trees too.

One day recently we were driving and we passed a three story house that had a potted cactus in almost every window. So I drew a fabric pattern inspired by my memory of that sight. I drew it with the “espresso” ink. You can see my design as a yard of fabric here.

I think the mundane can be magical even if it's a bit prickly sometimes. Ordinary life is the surest most tangible evidence we have of what's real and true. Valuing daily life, as I wrote on my blog, can be a way of fighting the tyrants who want us to not read certain books … etc.

I wish for you a calmly enjoyable quiet normal kind of day. 💚 ☕