I’ve been listening to an audio book series most of the day and drawing. Part of me feels like I should be doing something more productive, like cleaning or laundry or something else less fun. But there’s this other part of me that almost feels desperate, like a caged animal, if I don’t spend time drawing. So. I’m calling it therapy. I did take the dog on a short walk. He can’t go too far right now, because of an injured toe, and I can’t go too far just now either – I think it might be allergies making me feel like I’m trying to breath through cotton balls. It’s not horrific, but I seem to have this experience every fall. Anyway, the dog and I are a good match right now.

Back to the drawing. I’ve worked on this one all day, it’s fairly complex, and I’m really liking the way it’s coming together. I use different media when I create, and right now I’m using pencil and ink. Not ball point pen kind of ink. Dip pen ink. As in the old-fashioned, dip the pen into a bottle of ink and then write with it kind. So I was going along in the creative zone, when this happened:

The pen dripped big-time. I have had this happen before, and ended up discarding whole projects. It’s frustrating and painful. But this time I have decided to continue on. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that ink spot. Yet. I’ll have to think about it.

Syd, my kids’ art teacher, used to always say, “There’s no such thing as a mistake. You just adjust and move on.” She taught them how to use their “adjusters” (erasers) to fix some challenges, and other times she taught them how to use their pencils to adjust and move on. I love that she didn’t just teach drawing, she taught life skills.

Anyway, here’s my Read and Follow the Directions post today:

Book of Mormon, Alma 37
I knew this, but it caught my attention as though I was learning it afresh. We can withstand temptation by being humble and exercising faith in Jesus Christ. And the great thing is, if I fall to temptation Jesus will extend the gift of repentance, as long as I am humble. (I love it. Jesus is the Great Adjuster.)

33 Preach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.