Waiting in line at the grocery store, I was thinking about the crumpled paper thingies in The Box. To new readers, it’s a thing. Too complicated to explain. But believe me when I tell you that The Box is wonderful. Anyway, I was drawing things in The Box but without The Box. I was just reminding myself of the crumpled paper ovals hanging suspended from my colorful box — which regular readers will be glad to learn has been toned down a tad. I was fiddling around with the arrangement some today, so the Box’s appearance was lingering in my mind.
My ovals in the drawing could as easily be potatoes, a likely subliminal suspect when in a grocery store. As I noted to myself how potato-like the ovals looked, I began thinking about Van Gogh. I painted some potatoes long ago in emulation of early Van Gogh.
Drawing idly while waiting is relaxing. It’s grocery store mindfulness. Each oval is like the ringing of the mindfulness bell and the hatch marks are like knitting. It has that same repetitive, time-suspending calming effect. You can doodle without a thought in your head. In the background the store’s sound system plays Christmas music and people around me are chatting amicably.
To all these visual treats add the blue ball point pen, the marvelous incomparable Bic Cristal. I love that pen with its rich, sensitive blue ink. All in all, you can find your happiness in quite ordinary circumstances. It had been raining hard when I arrived at the store. As I was leaving, the vast cloud rumpled sky was magnificent in uncanny blues and pinks of a setting sun.
Fantabulous Koi 