Let's Just Play
Elliott made me this painting for mother’s day and I’m completely obsessed with it. It’s got Claire Ritchie vibes, or maybe Claire Ritchie has nine year old vibes. He had been wanting to spray paint something for ages, being a city kid surrounded by murals and graffiti. He corralled Jason into his plan to execute his vision and they made a Lowes trip and spent the afternoon working on it. It was a complete surprise to me when he gave it to me and made me super happy. It’s something made by him in his style but with me in mind and it is a treasure. I think he also really enjoyed making it, spray painting is really fun. I want to spray paint some canvases now! I want in on the fun!
I’ve been thinking a lot about fun recently. How important it is. How much more we could grow if we had more fun. Elliott’s soccer team has been showing me the power of fun in some surprising ways. I’d been reluctant to sign him up for sports because I didn’t want to have another thing that I had to force him into going to. But the Kensington Soccer Club is structured differently than I was expecting. There aren’t traditional teams, we aren’t traveling anywhere, it’s not super competitive. Basically the kids count off once they get there to divide up to scrimmage and do some drills. It is so low key and the kids are learning to enjoy playing soccer. They aren’t worried about the pressure of performing, they’re not even keeping score. Which friends, WHY IS PRIORITIZING JOY SO NOVEL?! If we learn to enjoy something we are going to do it more and we are going to get better at it. Doesn’t it make sense that joy should be the foundation of the practices we’re trying to cultivate? And if you never go on to play soccer competitively you’re still left with a love for kicking a ball around with your friends outdoors which is all I’m really looking for in an extracurricular activity in the first place. It’s been such an unexpected joy to sit on the sidelines getting to know all the parents and cheering on everyone’s kids. I love it so much.
I’m trying to bring this low key joy into my art practice. I bought some sketchbooks at five below and am starting to fill them up. I’ve always wanted a sketchbook practice but my perfectionism always ended up getting in the way. I was paralyzed asking myself what was worth drawing in there. It sounds sort of ridiculous now that I’ve started. Drawing in a sketchbook is a very attainable goal. I’ve got one of my old field guides and have been drawing crabs with their fat spiky bodies and spindly legs. I drew the flowers I got for mother’s day. I’m loosening up and rediscovering some joy. Going to art school and working as a designer can really squash your joy in creating which is a longer story for another newsletter. But I’m just feeling that there are some things that need to be healed in my creative practice and I’m trying to let loose to figure it out.
Cheers to finding joy this week friends.
Things worth Sharing:
Elliott lost his mind yesterday when he found out our library will now be lending video games.
I have a reluctant reader. The only things he’s really enjoyed reading are Dogman and the Zelda series. I’ve been on the hunt for more things that may catch his interest. I just added The Academy, Click Here to Start, The Bolds, A Rover’s Story, Minecraft: The Island, and Loki to our queue. I’d love any other recs you have. Bonus points for action and adventure and nonsense.
Our TV broke a couple weeks ago and we did not rush to replace it. I sort of hate having a smart TV. It made screen watching too easy, so we opted to replace it with one of these wall projectors. It doesn’t have any apps so we have to be a tiny bit more intentional if we want to watch things and when we do it feels like an event. We just use our chrome cast to cast things from our phones.
I cracked up over this story of a Wendy’s give away. Such a delightful delivery.
I don’t love all things enneagram, but this does feel true for me. Anyone else in the 9 club? Do you drive yourself crazy with diplomacy?
I want to go to this Drink and Draw with Molly Egan.
More sketchbook inspiration.
I learned how to refill my ink cartridges to save some money on prints.
Ann Lammott has a new book coming out. And she was interviewed on Wiser Than Me.
It’s getting to be ice cream season and I made some hot fudge by pouring some half and half over some dark chocolate chips and microwaving it for a minute-ish. There’s no recipe, just follow your heart. I like to put it on a little ice cream with some flaky sea salt and peanuts on top. It’s so goooood and I always have chocolate chips around.
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E-mail: halestormenator@gmail.com
Hey Haley - As for book recommendations for Elliott, he sounds a lot like my own Elliott, so I figured I'd share a few books we've enjoyed lately:
The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza (really wacky and fun graphic novel. Along the lines of Dogman)
The First Cat In Space and the Soup of Doom (the sequel)
The Wild Robot trilogy (if he hasn't already read it. The movie comes out this fall and it looks amazing)
and a personal recommendation that I loved recently is The Eyes & The Impossible by Dave Eggers. It's more of an all-ages book, give it a read if you haven't already.