More cats, elephant cozy comforts

Cups, cards and a box

Last week I was interviewed by

Kathryn Vercillo

and I told about how art and mental health connect for me. The Cliff Notes version of my art/mental health connection is that because visual art creativity deals with specifics it can be a way to cope with a generalized personal stress.

Here's a link to the full interview but here in today's newsletter is a practical example of what I'm talking about: during a recent moment of feeling stressed I asked myself “what does the phrase ‘cozy comfort’ mean to me?” Then in my notebook I rapid-fire listed whatever came to mind. After listing 12 items I selected the 6 thoughts that were “most cozy comforting”, (this list is below), and made some whimsical art with them. This newsletter walks through my process from words to visual art …👇

Here are my cozy/comfort thoughts:

• I find libraries and bookstores to be soothing places.

• It's a special delight to find a new-to-me book to enjoy.

• The whole cozy curl up with a good book feeling plus hot beverages.

• Cats often look cozy when curled up.

• Several of my local bookstores have bookstore cats and it's an added comfort to see them

• I like getting books and cards via postal mail that feels comforting and fun.

From my list of 6 “most cozy" thoughts I began getting ideas for visual art by looking for nouns, actions and feelings within my list that I could draw. Below I've listed the noun and the feeling associated with it is in parentheses.

• Cat (puuurrrrr)

• Library/bookstore (curiosity/love)

• New book (surprise/interest)

• Hot beverages (ahhhh!/wellbeing)

• Cards (surprise/pleased/love)

• Comfy chair (ahhhh!)

Then I listed several story premises, actions or situations that could include some of those above listed nouns and feelings. As

George Saunders

says a story doesn't have to do everything just something (and please pardon the pug dog interruption in a newsletter about cats)

Back to the cat thoughts: the visual story premises I thought of that relate to my nouns/feelings list are… 👇

• Cat curled up in a chair reading

• Cat reading drinking a hot beverage

• Cat getting a book or card in the mail

• Cat in a library/bookstore getting a book

I felt most soothed in my stressful moment and inspired by the thought of a short story comic sequence of a cat finding a book in a bookstore and buying it. (I'm saving the cat in a chair drinking a hot beverage, the cat getting mail etc drawing ideas generated from the above list for later…) So I got out my larger sketch book and over several different mornings during breakfast I worked on this drawing with watercolors and a fountain pen.

After I finished my drawing I scanned the finished bookstore cat artwork so it could become a useable digital file with which I could make real-life cozy items - a card and a cup - that I hope other people might also find comforting and cozy too.

I enjoy sending cards to people via postal mail so I made my bookstore cat artwork into a flat card that could both be mailed and/or it could serve as a bookmark. I like special bookmarkers too and often keep a bookmark in certain books. I designed my bookstore cat card/bookmark with rounded corners because I think those sorts of bookmarks are particularly nice.

And I think reading a good book is even more enjoyable with hot beverages. Yes, in summer I drink cold beverages while reading but I associate hot beverages with coziness. So I put my bookstore cat artwork onto a coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate type of cup.

Not mentioned above but mentioned to myself when I made my notebook lists is a recent book I'm enjoying. It's is by Sara Bakewell titled Humanly Possible. I'm finding it comforting and hopeful to read. As I played with my lists I imagined that perhaps this is the book title the bookstore cat is buying… but it's much more likely the cat bought a book about mice or butterflies. 🤣 Anyhoo, I'm enjoying this 👇

One of the other comforting things in life for me is making artwork. In my last newsletter I shared my elephant in progress… well, I finished my 3d sculpture for upcoming art exhibits at the Caplan Art Designs gallery and have titled it "Thinking Outside The Box". It's an 8 inch wooden cube that I've painted to look like a cardboard box on which an elephant is painting a mural.

I even did research on real-life printed cardboard box symbols, selected some for inclusion in my artwork and even signed my name on my artwork in a parody of cardboard standards 🤣

More details about my process here: https://sueclancy.com/outside-of-the-box-4th-edition/

Here's another recent breakfast sketchbook page.

As

Kathryn Vercillo

says often “all of us are artists and all of us have mental health experiences”. Or as Dr. Bob Hoke humorously put it in a book I illustrated “reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.”

I wish for you some cozy comfort however you define it today.