Indispensable: New Doodle Art and Flash Essay šŸ˜ƒ

I donā€™t often publish musings or unpublished essays in my blog, so I thought itā€™d be fun to sit down, write one, and share it tonight. Ta-da. šŸ’

Indispensable 

Iā€™ve begun to sort through clothes and such for donation a half an hour here and there, a half bag at a time, low-key and gradual. 

Iā€™m very grateful to have more than I need. Itā€™s meaningful to inventory and also to pare back and then pare back again. To make room and space. To share. As Iā€™m sorting, I imagine the new uses and happiness the items will bring others as I fold and accumulate things in the donation bags as well as the money itā€™ll bring the thrift store and their charities. A few things had a random pull or hole or stain and went into the circular file/garbage.  I also have found some sweaters and dresses I forgot all about and havenā€™t worn in a few years, so they feel new to me and ready for another season of enjoyment. I call the latter ā€œshopping in my own closet,ā€ and itā€™s a great way to save money and time.

The process of sorting is, much like the rest of life, figuring out what is essentialā€”what lights us up insideā€”and what weā€™re tired of and ready to change or switch out for a while.

Iā€™ve also been reading a new book about sketching and so my mind is in the mood for seeing older or ordinary things with fresh eyes, like the beautiful shape of the dish-liquid bottle. Suddenly, walking into the room, I saw the bottle outline anew and took a half-hour break to break out my new watercolor pencils that Iā€™ve had in my tote bag of art supplies for almost three months but not used before now. Iā€™ve used dish soap since I was a kid and literally never thought about the shape of the bottle until drawing this sketch.  My hand-drawn bottle shape turned out a bit different (read: uneven) than the uniformly graceful curve of the original bottle, but thereā€™s authenticity in that, so instead of scrapping it, I ran with it.

Also, the word ā€œindispensableā€ is one that makes me sweat before I write or type it, because Iā€™ve misspelled it for years. I looked it up about five times before doodling it with the marker and misspelled it when I first typed this paragraph. Itā€™s a tricky word, with several different vowels and the ā€“able ending instead of the ā€“ible. My brain wants to insist itā€™s an ā€“ible. I have to slow down or doublecheck. Much like the process of sorting, it has something to show me, something worthwhile I get to learn again and again at my own pace and little by little, like most worthwhile things.

So, I almost chose another word for my sketch, but then I pushed through it (and checked it a few more times, just in case), using the word after all. Sometimes, itā€™s worth persevering, and other times, not so much and itā€™s okay to sort it out and do something else. Youā€™ll know as you go; do what works best for you in your art and in your life.