Thelma and Saint Early

More coffee rings and trees

Here’s an illustrated very short, very tiny story, that I did one morning during breakfast.

What inspired this was my recent coffee ring sketchbook play combined with the handwritten story concept

Erica Drayton Writes

proposed as a #pentober event. (Thanks Erica!) I didn't follow Erica's excellent directions properly but I seldom follow a cooking recipe exactly either. 🤷‍♀️

Here's a closer look at my Thelma. (And yes, it's somewhat a reference to the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.)

Well, drawing and writing the Thelma all-in-one illustrated story piece was such fun that during another morning's breakfast I tried it again.

Here's a closer look at Saint Head In The Clouds - known to friends as “Early".

As I mentioned on my blog I'm continuing my “neighbor trees” project. I'm making portraits of some of the trees in my neighborhood as an exercise in noticing, appreciating and paying attention to my mundane life. The first photo shows one of the trees near me. The second photo shows my tree drawing during breakfast.

Yes, it amuses me to paint a tiny, 3 inch size, painting of a tree that is easily more than 3 stories tall!

Also as mentioned on my blog the holiday season has begun for me: special art commissions and gallery exhibits via my two local gallery reps, Aurora Gallery and Caplan Art Designs. Additionally there will be an art-plus-books event at Vintage Books my local independent bookstore. I'll also be doing a live-drawing event at Vintage Books in December!

When I get busy like this and it's cold weather I like to make big pots of soup so I have several meals worth of yummy ready to heat and eat. Here's my Baked Potato Soup recipe from my kitchen sketchbook. It's a forgiving recipe that doesn't require following it exactly!

Here's what my soup looks like in mugs on our table.

Despite my busy schedule here on my typical Friday Substack (and occasional midweek) newsletter things will remain quiet, calm, lighthearted even silly and relatively non-holiday themed, because I need, and take, breaks from all the jingle-bells!

So now, if you're one of my new subscribers - Welcome!! - you'll know what to expect from me as I slide down the North Pole into Santa's workshop. If you're a new paid subscriber - Wow!! Thank you!! - please remember an index of the ebooks I've written and illustrated is located here - download whatever you like - I'll be adding to this stash as we go along.

Your support here online and in-person at my events helps me get through the holidays! Thank you for being here! We're going to get through this season together right? Right!!