Sunday Morning Tea

I drew this yesterday.



I am withdrawing from the internet. Into my real life.

For a while I've felt like all I do with the internet is cry for attention. This is, in truth, all anybody really does with the internet. Billions of machines squealing "look at me, look at me." Then I wrote "Struggling for some attention is just wearing me out."

The internet is a sinkhole.

And then Ryan said: "Blogs are dumb. I'm sorry, blogs are dumb." I replied that I agreed, but... and everything became very clear to me then. I was making excuses for blogging. It's a bad habit and I was pretending that it was something I needed to be doing.

I don't know what else to say. Except that I think you should go out and live your life. Don't sit there writing crap on the internet.

Botanical Gardens

Since I've started doing this illustrative journaling thing, I've had the pleasure to go to a couple of botanical gardens. They're wonderful. They're full of magic and color and texture and I could probably spend all day in one. And then you'll come back a month later and everything has changed.

Here are two scans of drawings I did this past Memorial Day weekend, in the Berkshire Botanical Gardens.

Book Twelve?

This afternoon I filled the last page of what I think (cannot believe) is my twelfth illustrated journal. I've been drawing in this one since the end of January. I thought I'd give you a little review of the book itself, instead of just going on about my bad drawings.


For this book I used a nondescript sketchbook I got at Borders for $5. It's from Paperchase. It has a simple cardboard cover with black tape. All of the paper inside is smooth brown. That's the end of the good news. I had a terrible time with this book. Most of what I put onto the page ended up rubbing off onto the opposing page. Colored pencils, crayons, pencils, ink. Some things would bleed through the paper. I do not really like to look back through what I've done because so much of it now is muddled and smudged.


And then the glue and binding gave out on me.

Despite all of this, I did some good drawings recently. Here are two.

The Quickest Way To Get Yourself Out Of A Rut

Change your pen.

I'm serious. Just use something else for a while. Try a different color. A different thickness. Try colored pencils. Or crayons. Or markers. Trust me.

You're going to pick up a pen and say, I'll give this a shot. And you'll like it. And then it will die on you in the middle of a drawing. Deal with it. You'll go get some other pen. And the ink will smear all over your page. And you'll swear in public. And find it's all over your hands, too. And then you'll deal with it. And then you'll grab a Prismacolor French Gray marker and you'll worry that it will bleed through the paper. And it will. And you'll deal with it. And you'll do something you think is pretty cool.

And then you'll realize you're out of your rut. Good for you. Now do another drawing.

Construction Time Again

I used to draw maps of our hikes in my journal. Why'd I stop that?
Maps are awesome. My journal is the only place I get to be an
illustrator, a poet, a calligrapher, a cartographer... What insanity
compelled me to stop? I blame winter. Well, the trees are leafing out,
the flowers are blooming. Get with the program.