drawing

Monstrous May

Okay, so May isn’t actually monstrous but it is when I do a personal drawing challenge called ‘MAYbe20Monsters’ in which I draw, you guessed it, maybe 20 monsters over the course of the month.

I’ve decided that this year’s monsters are all going to have a question to ask.

First up, Marion is wondering if you can take a little break and catch your breath?

A drawing of a yellow monster with grey splotches all over and purple trim at the top of their head.
Image description: a drawing of a yellow monster with wiggly grey spots and a sort of heart-shaped head that is trimmed in purple. Marion, the monster, has eyes that look kind of like an infinity symbol, and their mouth is open to reveal one triangular tooth. They have just two arms but the bottom of their body spreads out into five shapes almost like tree roots. Grey text on the right side of the image reads “Marion is wondering if you can take a little break and catch your breath? She worries about you!”

Gold Star For Me

As part of my coaching practice, I give out gold stars for effort.

Yes, you read that right.

You get a gold star for the effort you put into your tasks, not just for the result.

I find that so much more rewarding AND it helps people remember that their efforts always matter, no matter how things turn out.

Today has been a bit of a struggle (no crisis, just ordinary hard) but I am putting one foot in front of the other.

Gold star for me!

A drawing of a gold star on a blue background with purple and white embellishments.
A gold star I just drew for myself. Image description: a small drawing of a gold star surrounded by purple and white star outlines against a blue background decorated with white and purple dots. The drawing is resting against a few pens and markers that are spilling out of my pencil case.

Tea for Tuesday

Since I wasn’t ready to focus on my work yet today, I drew a little mug of tea instead.

I love the process of filling in the background with thin lines, starting in one corner and working to the other, then turning the paper so I can work in a different direction. For this one I also drew a series of horizontal lines parallel to the bottom to about a third of the way up and then drew vertical lines from the top down to meet the horizontal lines.

I really like how it turned out.

A drawing of a small green mug with a gold star on it.
This mug of tea would be far too small for my needs but it was fun to draw. Image description: a drawing of a green mug with a gold star on it. The tea within must be hot because there are curls of steam rising from it. The background of the drawing is pinstriped lines that overlap.

Sunday Morning Robots

As I write this, I’m sitting at my kitchen table on a sunny, chilly Sunday morning, watching an episode of Vera and drawing.

I often find it hard to watch TV or a movie without doing something else at the same time. I don’t know if that’s an ADHD thing or just a people thing. Either way, it’s not a reflection on how interesting the show is.

And I often find it hard to get around to drawing all on its own , too. That *is* an ADHD thing, I find it challenging to start any new task that I know will require a lot of focus or that will take a long time. (And since I have a lot of trouble breaking projects into smaller tasks, it always feels like everything will take forever.)

So the TV/drawing combination works for me.

I just have to choose a show that doesn’t require full concentration and a drawing that is about process instead of about thinking up new stuff.

Hence this robot party that’s just getting started in here:

A series of brightly coloured rectangles drawn on white paper.
They aren’t robots yet but they will be soon. Image description: a photo of a drawing of a series of brightly coloured rectangles with a smaller rectangle on top of each one. They’re on a rectangular piece of white paper that’s resting on a wooden table and there is a pile of markers and pens at the top of the image.

Lunchtime Monsters

Yesterday during lunchtime, I was feeling a bit tense so I tried the traditional remedy…

I drew a few monsters to help my brain relax and find a little breathing room.

A drawing of 5 monsters made by drawing a bumpy line and then dividing the line and the bottom half of the drawing into 5 sections.
Image description: 5 monsters created by drawing a single bumpy line, dividing the line and the bottom half of the paper into 5 sections and then colouring each section separately. The monsters are against a background of yellow lines. The first monster is red, with a tuft of black hair, has one eye and is wearing a blue pinstriped shirt. The second monster is purple with two eyes, a mouthful of tiny teeth, pointed ears, a pointy-tipped tail and is wearing a shirt with yellow splotches. The third is blue with black arms, three eyes, and a wide open mouth, the fourth is yellow with green polka dots and a ridge of green spikes in the back of its head. It is turned to the left so only its right eye is visible. The fifth monster is only partially on the page, has green skin, two eyes, and black horns and is wearing a red sweater.