Dear dedicated reader,
Ireland has transformed into a misplaced Mediterranean island! We have Greek blue skies but with lush green fields and blossom-heavy hedgerows — which are shedding petals across our winding roads. Each day it’s like driving behind a wedding party.
This benevolent climate is likely to hold for at least a week, and since this could be the extent of our summer, it’s time to get out and enjoy it.
For me that means waiting for the gentler conditions in the early mornings or evenings. My sensitive Irish skin has only three modes: pale, scarlet and a more freckled pale. I have respect for our fiery star so I raise my white flag (from the shade).
But shocked by massive doses of Vitamin D, many Irish people can lose much of their common sense and forget sun screen and floppy big hats over their shorts and tank tops, so we end up with legions of regretful lobster people hobbling through our streets.
There is nothing worse than a bad burn, when even lying in bed is torture, so I try to avoid it. Yet, in this northerly isle, it’s hard to beat the novelty of sitting outside during golden hour, holding a glass containing fruit and bubbles, and feeling a deep warmth sink into your bones.
For those of you in the northern hemisphere I hope you are enjoying tolerable temperatures!
The above image is a tribute to the mighty Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip, which features Woodstock, the little yellow bird, and the beloved beagle Snoopy, playing cards on the roof of Snoopy’s kennel. I drew it on the 23rd of May, as part of a daily creative practice I started for the month.
I got the idea while I was away in Donegal in late April. It blew into my mind like dandelion puff, and I instantly resolved to do it. I mentioned it to Martin, and ever the lover of portmanteaus, he dubbed it Maycellany.
I picked up a slim notebook of blank pages (as if I needed another!) and decided to use whatever tools/items I already possessed to create an artwork every day. I would not plan anything, but would allow each concept to arise spontaneously, and would not limit myself to drawing. Preferably I would use different materials every day, even if that was pencils one day and pen and ink the next.
I also determined not to spend too much time on any piece. I would accept my humble talents and not worry about ‘being good’. I’m many years out of a regular art habit so my skills are rusty.
Yet, it ended up going better than I expected. There were a couple of occasions when I had to complete two pieces in one sitting to make up for missing a slot due to busyness, but overall I doggedly accomplished my daily task.
I don’t want to overburden your inbox, so I’m picking and choosing the ones that surprised me the most.
For this I commenced with the notion of finally using some of the coloured paper that’s been sitting, unused, in my house for years. The idea of creating larger and larger squares arose, and I placed them out of sorts. After that I got drawing. Each colour square was unplanned, I merely started and continued. Ganesh — the Hindu patron god of the arts and writing — appeared in the final square.
Since mandalas are often supposed to be a method of focusing attention it ended up being instructive. I accepted impatience and frustration as it arose and didn’t allow it to sidetrack me (which was its own struggle). I aimed to incorporate mistakes, bend to the new shape they suggested, and move forward.
Creating artwork in any form always touches upon issues in your life.
I woke the morning of the above piece with the image of a button in my mind, which is amusing as I didn’t end up using one. But I raided my ‘button box’ and discovered a trove of other pieces, and thought about the safety pins I never throw away. I remembered a scrap of material in the house, and I set about sewing!
Yes, the central ‘body’ is one of those plastic ties that holds bagel bags closed. We tend to keep them —for some future use —and Martin pointed to them when I was wandering the house looking for inspiration.
This might be the one I enjoyed making the most because of the genuine astonishment at what emerged.
Both of these pieces made me realise that I could make similar, more refined, items like this again, and perhaps to order.
With this one I attacked a couple of nature magazines languishing in my house and created a brand-new, fantasy nature landscape.
It was fun cutting out all the pieces and then moving them around to see what new image would come into being. And though it is manifestly a collage, it has a semblance of strategy.
Somewhat similarly, I randomly cut and pasted a couple of paragraphs from old narrative fragments and stories that have never sold, printed them out on two pages and set about cutting.
You can tell the age of these pieces as I was still using underline to indicate italics, and they’re all in courier — a very old-fashioned format now.
They were a pain to paste down and became quite messy, but it lends itself to the overall vibe. I was inspired to cut one piece into a coffin shape and also to make the ‘crooked corridors’, well, crooked.
It all came together under my hands, inspired by what was available and the shapes of the words and phrases I snipped. It was deeply satisfying to carve a whole new piece of fiction from the unused words in my files.
I’m reluctant to add many more images since I know email can be finicky on this score, but in summary: I drew a lot. That often vexed me as I fell far short of what I wanted to achieve. I’m woefully out of practice with the human form in particular, which is always a challenge.
But one of the main things that arose for me again and again over the last thirty days was how easily you mis-see.
You draw a line and it is too long, or out of proportion, because you weren’t looking properly. You must start again or adjust. Scrub at it with an eraser, blow away the mistakes, and begin anew, with better focus.
Frustration, impatience, and the sense of the ticking clock… you don’t have all day for this, it’s just for pleasure… and if so why is it so damn annoying right now? You’ll come back and tidy it up, you promise, but you know you won’t, there’s another challenge tomorrow and you can’t go back, only forward.
And that marvellous moment at the end, the magician’s flourish, as you say, ‘step away now’, and you examine your conjuration.
Misshapen, or malformed, it didn’t exist until you took up your pen.
What can you do in the time and materials allocated to you?
Quite a lot, if you approach it with with a playful attitude.
And returning to our old pal Snoopy… you might think I drew that quickly, but no, I laboured over it. I genuinely wanted to do right by it.
When I was a kid and teenager I drew certain cartoon characters endlessly. I loved that there were distinct shapes to them. Garfield’s grumpy face was immediately identifiable, Calvin’s hair was a particular set of spikes, and Snoopy’s head had a certain weight. Since they were so iconic if you got them a fraction wrong it stuck out.
When I drew Snoopy I was paying homage to my younger self who scribbled familiar figures during boring classes. I connected with the girl who studied forms exactly, practising to get it right, and demonstrated I did not forget.
The June Challenge
Initially, I considered starting a separate newsletter for Maycellany, and posting my results daily. It’s common in Substack for people to hive off newsletters for specific projects. Because I conceived of it so late I wasn’t able to set it up, but for June I’m starting a completely different challenge and you are welcome to join me if you like.
It’s called ‘Reading the Signs’ and I’ll send out one newsletter tomorrow with an overview about it.
I’ll also be using the Chat function of Substack — which you can access on the web site or the fantastic Substack app (I recommend the app even if you only read one or two newsletters).
The whole endeavour will be entirely free. For me it’s an experiment in grounding myself in the everyday with one input in mind, paying attention to what arises, and responding to it.
You must subscribe to ‘Reading the Signs’ separately. I considered automatically subscribing everyone but since the challenge will result in a short daily post I felt it would be best to be opt-in only for those who are interested.
My regular Splinister newsletter will continue every Tuesday per usual.
Stay creative!
Extra extra - Maycellany
I LOVE the Ganesh mandala, and love that he only appeared at the end of your process. He’s all about removing obstacles so that’s interesting to me - maybe he’s showing you that you everything you need to remove any obstacles on your path? In any case, what a cool May challenge!