Archive for flowers
84: beginners’ minds
Bunson was less than thrilled by his flower adventure, but the things don’t seem to mind.
I drew a bunch of flip book things on a plane when I first started this project. Sadly, at around the same time my copy of photoshop died after installation stupidity that killed my registration code.
I’ve been trying to find an alternative, wrestling with gimp, wandering around different possibilities, but I just get all confused and sad. Now I just draw everything on my iPad and life is easier! I’m sure I’ll get on top of it one of these days, but transferring stuff from one medium to the other gives me melancholic feelings at the best of times. Anyhow, I hope this early Things Without animated giff entertains.
142: Summer day
Ah glorious summer day, when all you want to do is go outside and snooze in the sun… you hear me Seattle? Glorious summer day!
I drew it on a sunny day, but clearly it must be overcast when I post it. On the plus side my garden won’t need watering. I have the second crop of rocket coming up and tender leafed lettuce at the awkward teenager stage. We live in an apartment, but have a large enough balcony that we haven’t bought salad for a month!
222: Holiday Gifts
Worried about what to give people during the holidays? Fear not, the Things have assembled this handy dandy set of coupons to print out, cut out, and give to your loved ones. If you want to add extra flair you can color it in.
Here is a link to the full resolution version.
http://www.thingswithout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/holidaygifts.png
259: a thousand
One of my earliest memory of a play and a story with a powerful message was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I even tried to make a thousand paper cranes once. I think I got to 400 cranes made and saved in my bedroom before I threw them all out. I never stopped making paper cranes though. I wonder how many thousands I have made.
I wonder how many thousand drawings of the Things I have done. I wonder what sort of wish you get if you draw a thousand Things. Here a few hundred more, process and practice and attention, my favorite kinds of ritual. The reward is very much in the doing.
The beginner’s mind is something I’ve explored a few times. It’s such a handy thing to hold onto, especially when you encounter stumbling blocks or limitations in an epic endeavor and somehow not achieving the top one percent of human endeavor, or struggling a bit before pushing on seems to undermine everything you have ever done and erases everything you’ve achieved and worthiness can go crashing through the floor. Everything can seem possible when you haven’t done anything yet! Fortunately the beginner’s mind can be a state of cultivation, exploration and play wherever you are and can open doors to new discoveries.
I hope this makes sense!normally I would let an essay like this sit for a while, but look at the time! Look at the time!
Happy Mumma Bear Tank Day
Today’s letter is inspired by Mother’s Day, Mumma Bear Tank (she doesn’t appear often, I think she’s pretty busy, but here is where we first saw her on the Things), this lovely video by Health Victoria with empowering tips on how to be an effective bystander
And Tori Amos talking about what she does to keep herself grounded, self-caring and compassionate when people disclose a lot of painful stuff to her (within an interview that is so interesting and loving in general).
The creator of the Things is like this waaaay too much, indeed she was really thirsty for most of the following comics.