Happy Thanksgiving! - Log & Links #1

Thanksgiving photo from last year, can't remember who took it. Will update when I get one from today.

I feel it's only fitting that the first weekly progress log is on Thanksgiving Day! I really enjoy the spirit (if not the history) behind the holiday - a day of food, thankfulness, and gratitude. Honestly, we could celebrate all three of those things every day! But this day in particular includes gatherings of loved ones and... three days of cooking if you're hosting. 

I figured I could mention art and stationery specific gratitude.

1. I'm grateful for fountain pens. They've quite literally saved my wrist. I have a habit of gripping pens way too intensely. The result is wrist pain, sometimes as soon as ten minutes after beginning to write. Fountain pens, with their weight, ink flow, and general aesthetic appeal, help remind me to loosen up. I don't need to press hard (in fact, that's discouraged!). The pen does all the work!

2. I'm grateful for "Morning" Pages. When done consistently, they give clarity and focus to the thoughts bumbling around inside my head. It's interesting to see how even small things tax your attention unconsciously and doing a brain dump (aka. automatic writing) is the most effective way I've found so far to make clear decisions. Often times, they're not done in the morning, but I it's the consistency that matters.

3. I'm grateful for the stationery and art communities. I mean, why else would I start a blog? Having communities around my hobbies help inspire action. Whenever I see something that makes me go wow, an itch to create something also comes along. I do want to be less of a lurker and more of a participant. This involves sharing what I make, and so, here we are. 

What I used this week

11 Pages of "Morning Pages"

Filled Opus 88 Holiday Jazz (EF) with Private Reserve - Holiday Green ink sample.

It's been a tough week time wise, holidays, guests, and the related prep work has chomped a few days. I haven't even been able to do my "Morning Pages" as much as I would like to, and that's basically my bare minimum.

Inspiration Gathering

Reading:

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Ngyuen (Fin) - a beautiful graphic novel with lovely retellings of fairy tales.

Persuasion by Jane Austen (Fin) - considered Jane Austen's masterpiece and I agree! It was really good! I even have a gifted lithography t-shirt of it!

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Ongoing)

Watching:

Invincible (Season 1 -Fin) - at first, I wasn't sure I liked it, but it's definitely more interesting than 99% of the superhero shows/movies I've seen.

Loki (Season 2 - Ongoing)

Suzume (2023 - Fin) - gorgeous animation as always. Story-wise, I definitely preferred "5 Centimeters per Second" and "Your Name"

Playing:

Sea of Stars (Fin) - amazing attention to detail! Everything worked like a symphony from graphics to sound design. Impressively polished. Wish they had a printed artbook or merch.

Yakuza 0 Remake (Ongoing)

Wins this week:

Honestly? Thanksgiving Dinner.

Interesting stuff I found:

A Mini-puzzlebook from Puzzmo - very fun "Modernized" newspaper puzzles.

Dried flowers in Jean Mackay's sketchbook - "They’ve been on my desk all week, reminding me to look for beauty not only in its prime, but in every season."

Lone Splendor (via Colossal) - The night sky inspires everybody!

Lemon Butter Cookies (via Jama's Alphabet Soup) - I very recently discovered Susan Branch, the artist-author of many books, while randomly looking around the library. "The Fairy Tale Girl" looked like a watercolor journal/novel and so my interest was piqued. It turns out, every single page is different and in full color, with a few illustrated recipes. It even has a ribbon bookmark! I'd like to read her first novel-diary, "A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside." That said, even though I subbed the flour for whole wheat flour, and the granulated sugar for coconut sugar (plus no sugar crystals) these Lemon Butter Cookies were still very good!

Whimsy is Healing (via A Gathering of Curiosities) - Yes! All the stickers! Just today we were playing a legacy board game where you had to name cards. Some people chose to use quote stickers (or parts of them) to make up fun names. Definitely counts as healing whimsy.

December 2023 Freebie Bullet Journal Dated Kit - My sister, Helen, makes these kits every month. They're free to print and use, so I thought I'd share it with you.