The goatbook
And other essential goodness
One morning I hand wrote my thoughts in my journal-notebook, and yes, I did think about just photographing and sharing my handwritten entry, but it was too messily written so here’s what I wrote rewritten in nice neat type:
“The current era feels so full of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that it feels ickily familiar. It's a known abusive tactic to “snow you with lies” - therapists and those of us who've been in therapy are familiar with this. A therapeutic response is to ignore the liar, you can't trust anything they say anyway so they are irrelevant. Find and focus on the truth-telling people. Be a truth-telling person especially when writing in your own notebook! Or as Mister Rogers said “look for the helpers”. And yes it's harder to do this when the liars are a whole regime and a party… but we must keep our sanity and our ability to be rational in order to be an effective resistance. If, at a particular moment you can't find a trustworthy human - then find a dog, a cat, a plant, a tree, a mountain or the sky. Touch grass.”
Of course, in my sleepy state, while sloppily handwriting fast to try to keep up with my thoughts, I referred to my notebook as a “goatbook”. Which of course gave me an idea of what to draw in my sketchbook during breakfast.
Of course, all of that got me thinking about the importance, during difficult times especially, of keeping one's own notebooks, sketchbooks and somehow creating/finding a firm floor to stand upon. We can't control what happens in the world or what other people do we can only control our own ways of responding.
Along similar lines a Substack writer I follow named
wrote this week1:"in a world where everything feels stretched thin and frayed at the edges, there is one thing i know for sure. art, literature, music, film — these are the things that still hold true and give us meaning. art is one of the few spaces that still matters and makes us feel whole when nothing else makes sense. art is the stubborn proof that we are here. we exist. and we’re worthy of taking up space in this world."
Speaking of art: this week I delivered a specially commissioned painting to the Caplan Art Designs gallery for delivery to the client. Here’s a photo of me and the gallery owner. My painting is titled “Duck Squirrels!”
During a conversation in which, like everyone else, we worried aloud about the U.S. economy2, we reaffirmed our commitments to supporting the local community and we mutually enjoyed the other artworks in the gallery!
Ah, the solace of really good art!
As
said3 earlier this week “Beauty, joy, story—these are not side dishes. They are survival rations. Every time fascism rises, art says, "Bet." Humanity survives through rhythm and color and story and food. Always has. Always will.”After we finished at the gallery both my wife,
, and I went for brunch at Brix Tavern, a locally owned restaurant. They have yummy small-batch handmade donuts and really good coffee.
We followed brunch with a visit to a local bookstore… here's our cat inspector inspecting some of the new things we brought home …
… my wife found a blank notebook with a green dragon on it and said I had to have it!! Of course, I agreed!!!
And we simply had to support the public library by buying this bag. Thanks to a friend we have New York public library bags that we love… but can you have too many library bags?? No, not possible!!
And, in the above ways, I touched grass, so to speak, by going with a trustworthy human, my wife, to see a trustworthy gallery owner - and enjoying the artworks there. Then we went a reliably good restaurant and a good-solid bookstore in support of the essential solid rock of the public library!!
My friend, and fellow artist,
, wrote well4 about how it's our connections with each other that help us get through hard times. Anne does a delightful panda comic and so, in solidarity with her, here's one of my panda artworks - my artwork is titled ‘Panda Dora’s Box.’ And of course I put on a coffee mug (link here).
And here, below, are some handwritten quotes also in my journal-notebook that were written somewhat more neatly so I photographed them instead of typing:
I liked this one by
because it reminded me to look for the things that are going well.
This one by
helps me remember the essentialness of beauty (and whimsy) to the human spirit.
Things in life are always changing and it's good to remember that we can continually find and create our own stability. We can look for beauty and even try to create it.
As
says, “Your role isn’t to have the answers. It’s to create space for feeling, reflection, and possibility. To share your truth in a way only you can. To keep the light on, even if it’s small5.”Here's a note I have thumbtacked to my studio wall to help me to remember that stability and beauty are part of what inspires our hearts to go on and that it’s the loving that makes life sweet.
I hope you have a good notebook where you can write down the beautiful things, the things and people you love, the things you're glad about, the things that are helpful reminders and that you can reread it regularly so as to touch grass as we all head into the economic unknown. (Please see the footnotes below… they're especially good today in my opinion. ☺️)
I thank each and every one of you for your ongoing patronage and support - you help keep my spirits up! A list of ebooks I've written and illustrated is accessible for subscribers here. We're in this together!
I loved reading this Sue! I can't say that I have just one notebook. I infact have multiple notebooks on multiple things. I check off or write something down daily. My main notebook is refillable, so as I use up the pages, I can get rid of them to fill it up with new paper! I have to agree with you 100% that notebooks are really good for each of us. I also have multiple sketchbooks but what artist doesn't I ask you? ;) I think a sketchbook is a must for most artists. To write, create offline today is so rare but it's needed so much. I love reading that others write offline as well. I applaud it. Wonderfully written Sue.
Thank you Sue for a great post and excellent information. My heart always gives a skip of joy when I see a Sue Clancy message in my inbox. I know I will be enjoying some thought-inspiring writing and delightful drawings.