Welcome to Morning Ink, where I share my daily fountain pen drawing and whatever thoughts (sometimes none, mostly reasonably short, occasionally long and very rambling) jump out and onto the screen. If you don’t want daily emails you can toggle them off by going to Manage subscription – just turn Morning Ink off, no need to fully unsubscribe!1
This one may be cut off if you’re reading on email, mostly because of all the photos I’m adding!
I think that the trick to having a good day is finding ways to fit in some of the things you love to do. Of course, the necesseties and responsibilities of life mean you won’t often be able to fit in everything, or even lots of things, but if you have a mixture of things you can do that take different amounts of time and energy, you should be able to ensure you can fit in at least one or two.
At the moment, I have two ongoing work projects, plus a number of illustration business things I need to keep on top of, with varying priorities. It would be an easy time to default to just flolloping on the sofa in front of the TV in any down time. But, because I have (mostly) embedded a couple of habits that bring me a lot of satisfaction and pleasure and joy (plus other benefits), I feel a baseline of contendedness, which means that fitting anything else in that I love, will tend to tip that over into happiness or joy.
On my walk yesterday (along the canal towards Sapperton) I spent most of the time with a big grin on my face. I even skipped and danced a little (when I thought no-one was looking, though honestly I care less and less about the thoughts of onlookers the further away from 50 I get).
I was surrounded by so much beauty and the absolute joy and wonder of nature. The wind was blowing away any cobwebs. The sun was shining (though that is not a necessity for me). I got to see ducks and moorhens and fungi growing out of trees. And a multitude of fascinating reflections. And colourful leaves – on trees, floating through the air and carpeting the ground. And interesting tree shapes. And art painted by people. And bridges and railway arches. And a couple of trains going past and reminding me of something else that brings me joy.
And my Morning Ink practice every day, with the soundtrack of whichever piece of interesting or entertaining culture that strikes my fancy (this morning it was a bit of Storia del Nuove Cognome and a bit of Normal Women), gives me a base of having practised a bunch of illustration skills, been creative, and soaked in some learning or culture, all before I start my working day. (It does also sometimes make me wish I could just keep going with the drawing for the whole day. Something to keep in mind for days when I can do that.)
Extra bits that were squeezed in…
nice pastries with a cafetiere of coffee and a good book (Mon Mari by Maud Ventura)
a nice dinner (leftover mushroom risotto on toast)
watching TV with Chris (Only Murders in the Building)
doing a few lessons of Duolingo (Italian)
some brief chats with my kids
a quick yoga session
some cat cuddles.
And it helped that the work I had to do went well and was enjoyable. But it would have been a good day even if that wasn’t true.
Thanks so much for being here. Your presence on its own is a joy, but I love to hear from you, too, so please do feel free to leave a comment. About something that has resonated for you in today’s picture or in today’s words. Or about something completely unrelated. Tell me about your morning, your creative practice, your particular work or life juggling act. Anything. If you want to go even further you can take out a paid subscription – if you’re happy to give me your postal address I'll send you some art of some kind in the post.
And if you don’t like subscriptions (I totally get it!) you can ‘tip me’ instead. But really, your presence and comments are the best rewards – if they could be exchanged for food and electricity, I’d be so very happy.
