Good morning doodlebug
gently easing into a day with pens
Good morning and welcome to all new subscribers and a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have upgraded to being paid subscribers! I appreciate you all!
Most of my mornings start with some coffee and drawing in my sketchbook something pleasant to gently ease myself into the day.
Sometimes, like the example I'm sharing today, over several days I'll do a “use every fountain pen I own" exercise and work on the same drawing, with my various pens, over multiple days. Here's where I started one morning.
Another morning I did more to the drawing with each of my pens.
Another day I got brave, gulped one cup of coffee, and then did a video of me in the process of working on the 3rd days effort while still mostly half asleep.
Then after doing the video above and pouring more coffee my wife and I began breakfast. I took this photo so you could see the finished page from the video.
On the 4th day at breakfast I did a bit more on my drawing. And yes, we had croissants and cream cheese 😁
Am I done with that above page? Not sure but I think so. At any rate I drew, painted and wrote the sketchbook page below on another day. I shared it on my Monday blog post but it bears repeating.
I find drawing patterns and characters relaxing. Drawing random patterns upon first awakening feels like I'm continuing a dream, it's soothing, relaxing and gentle. Btw: drawing doodle patterns is calming in stressful situations too - such a useful tool in the mental health self-care toolkit!
Here are two of my favorite books about drawing and writing as self-care (I'm not being paid to promote these books. I find them useful.)
This one 👇 is about drawing a wide variety of patterns. (With any kind of pen or pencil)
This one 👇 is about drawing objects and hand lettering and there are great tips about using and maintaining fountain pens.
Speaking of good resources:
My local library has a wonderful writer's workshop for 12 to 15 year olds. Chloe, the librarian running the workshop, contacted me this week about a writer's resource list they'd gotten from me originally. One of the students, Anna, has found a new helpful link and suggested that it might be added to my original resource list. Like many professional artist groups this library writing group also tries to “pay it forward” and be supportive of each other so they wanted to help me update my list! Wasn't that kind?!
Thank you Anna - this link is indeed a good one! https://www.theaterseatstore.com/blog/writing-for-theater-film
Since I'm updating this resource list:
I absolutely have to mention Substack itself as a resource… for creative people of all kinds!
I love finding writers I love here on Substack like
and many many others! Oh, and Story Club! Must be certain to mention Story Club by !Here was my original resource list that the library group had found useful of four helpful fine art, illustration and writing submission/call for entry site links:
http://artistmarketingresources.com/
https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/
https://www.theaterseatstore.com/blog/writing-for-theater-film
Anyhoo, we're in this creative life together and it's wonderful to be able to encourage and help each other along the way! Thank you Chloe and Anna!
I hope your day begins gently and is as good a day as it can be!
Thank you again for subscribing and for upgrading your subscription! I'm honored to share mornings with you!
I love drawing patterns in the morning too. I’ll have to check out those books your recommending. Thanks for sharing your morning work with us!
As you were adding the lines to your progressive sketch in your video, I thought "that's kind of what I experience while doing word puzzles with a gel pen. I love the tactile sensation as the pen glides smoothly across the newsprint paper. Besides the mental stimulation of the puzzles themselves, I enjoy the "feeling" of writing with a certain kind of pen on a specific kind of paper. Glossy paper doesn't do it for me. It's got to have some teeth ... small teeth. And the pen shouldn't skip or need to be pressed hard to make its mark. Sometimes even the gel pen does this, but I realize I just have to get a grip and try harder.