Have I used that as the name of blog post before now? Maybe. It would make sense because it’s one of my favorite expressions when things don’t go to plan.

A beautiful cold, sunny Saturday, after doing chores around my home in the morning I decided to reward myself with a stroll outside and a coffee-and-oatmeal-raisin cookie at my favorite cafe a block away. Fully masked, social-distanced, and well past whatever rush hour there is on a Saturday in these odd times.

After getting my coffee and cookie, I settled down to journal a little then sketch. Nope, too restless to journal, must be time to get right to sketching. Pull out the sketchbook and favorite Sailor Fude pen with that great bent nib and . . . insert screeching sound of brakes. Inside my head. Every line on the page was wrong, wonky, ill-placed. What??

It’s a long time since I’ve had an “I have no idea how to draw” day. It stunned me a little to be honest. After a while though, I realized the problem was I had no my focal point whatsoever. The solution of course is simple: slow down and look around.

Suddenly I realized my subconscious was hooked on what appeared on the page rather than on the joy of first simply gazing. As a dear friend says, “Take my advice, I’m not usin’ it!” No kidding. Reread page 9, first paragraph of “Look at That!” Hmm. . .

So, here you go. I’m lowering the bar of expectations for you and for me, and sharing my off-beat sketching time today.

First things first. Sit and gaze. Maybe breathe a little. Then repeat. When something grabs your attention, you will know. In the meantime, breathe and wear a Buddha smile.

Text on right-hand page:

“All I need to do to gauge my restlessness is to try to sketch when my mind is jumpy. Simply doesn’t work!! . . . Sometimes you just need to switch to a simpler pen—Fude too difficult today, Bic Cristal is perfect. . . .And consider simply writing something slowly – with your normal “grocery-list” handwriting. Ah, much better. Not every day is an easy sketching day, but every day is a “Look at That!” Day.”