New Designs in the Things Redbubble Store!

I’m pleased to share with you the latest Thingly offerings on my Redbubble Store, now you can get The Many Faces of the Things in black and white or brown and blue!

Aaaand! Given how much fun different colored backgrounds can be, the Many Faces of Boot design is now available with a green background!

It’s been so interesting creating designs for a very different medium, I hope these can bring you some festive fun!

Celebrate Diverse Beauty (Comic #573)

This comic is inspired by Aikido and the desire to celebrate beauty more diversely. I told someone at my dojo how beautiful his sword work was. I think platonic beauty is not a compliment men get often, which is a bit sad. I tried to explain it, I don’t think I did a great job, though I added “it’s so pretty!” to my explanation. There is a beauty in focus, attention and purpose. A beauty being absolutely present to the thingness of things, the strength, wisdom and skill to attend to it. It’s pretty! And exciting! We should celebrate beauty more in all its forms and for all genders. And so, when it came to embodying that ideal in a comic, who better than Bunson and Boot?

Celebrate Diverse Beauty Comic Transcript

Bunson: I think you’re beautiful Boot: What? Why would you say that? Bunson: Because it’s true! Boot: What does beauty mean to you? Bunson: I like how you focus on stuff dn do stuff. When you zoom you zoom. When you spend time with me you spend time with me. Bunson: It’s lovely and pretty. Bunson: Boop! Bunson frolics away Boot: Beautiful… lovely … pretty… Thanks to all my patrons and special big extra thanks to Kate Webb, Matthew Noe, Sandra M. Odell and Erik Owomoyela.

Boot Meditation (Comic #261)

The creator of the things has been meditating almost daily as well! At the start she was only able to do it while she was falling asleep. Then she was able to do it before going to bed. On very rare occasions she manages to do it when she’s sleepy during the day and has a refreshing meditation instead of a nap. Most recently she meditated when she had sad feelings and it was very helpful… She was able to observe and have the feelings without escalating them and that helped the sad feelings pass easier. She listens to a variety of guided meditations and is especially fond of the free mediations from UCLA.

Boot Meditation Comic Transcript

Boot: I didn’t believe in meditation, so I didn’t do it. Boot: Then I looked at the research and noticed meditation didn’t need my belief to be helpful. Just my attention. Boot: So I meditate most days. Boot: Not that meditation cares. Boot: I like it.

75: The World is an Amazing Place

SBS – Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service. A hybrid funded public broadcasting radio and television network has done much to create and promote a multicultural Australian identity. And more than anyone else, they have inspired today’s drawing. SBS, for me, has always been living proof, part of the cultural air we breathe, that shows that embracing multiculturalism is much better for assimilation for everyone. An Australia without SBS feels like an arid place to me, limited and stagnant. It shows how awesome things can be when diversity is encouraged and diverse people aren’t just spoken about, they’re given spaces to speak for themselves. “The World is an Amazing Place” I loved growing up, growing into, that SBS slogan. 6 Billion Stories and Counting is the new slogan, and that’s pretty good too and it was cool to cruise around youtube and find new ways SBS is finding to communicate a diverse and complex world.
But “The world is an amazing place” will always be dear to my heart.
I didn’t mean to turn this into a big rave about how much I like SBS, but they gave me, amongst many things, “The World is an Amazing Place” and that is a message worth repeating. This is something the Things embody. It is a phrase that can get you through many dark days. The world is an amazing place.