Looking for the Pause
And The Spooky Halloween Edition
Looking for the Pause Fall in New England means apple picking, cooler temperatures, an amazing showing of Autumn leaves and the changing of storm windows. Taking out the screen windows and replacing them with glass storm windows usually takes a few hours of work. Some windows are easy enough but they are old so many of them are finicky and can take some serious futzing to get them to go in or out. Sometimes pliers are involved, often there is a fair amount of cussing, and sometimes, with my amateur skills, windows break.
This year I had completed the first floor before moving upstairs to our bedroom windows. I pulled out the screen easy enough and was about to replace it with the storm window when a thought occurred to me as I stared out onto our roof. What if I just dropped everything and climbed out onto the roof to look around? After ignoring the urge to finish the job, I decided to enjoy the moment. I climbed out and walked to the edge of the roof to smell the air and see the sight of a new perspective. It was still warm and the trees were just beginning to change colors. It was gorgeous.
This was when the real idea kicked in. I ran downstairs and grabbed my oldest -the only other person in the house at the time. “You have to see this.” I said, pulling him away from his book. He came reluctantly. We got upstairs, both of us standing on the roof and he was all grins. “This is cool.” The ultimate compliment from a ten year old going on preteen. “Can I read here?” he asked. My gut reaction was, no, I have to finish the job. The urge to finish jobs can really take away from fun and often usurps logic. I gave him the usual dad speech about not falling to his untimely death and I left him to read as I plowed through the rest of the windows.
I have to constantly tell myself to stop blasting through the checklist. Constantly. This has been a real key to fighting off anxiety in the last year. Slow down. Pay attention. Breathe. Look for the pause. I’m not saying I’m great at it. I’m learning this new skill. This simple exercise of looking for the pause can turn a bad day into a good one. The jobs will still get done. It’s not easy, we all get caught up in the chase, but it is possible with some extra effort. Sometimes I remember and sometimes I get stuck in my default mode network.
Here’s the kicker though: In this situation, my slowing down and stepping slightly outside the normal path of reality shifted someone else’s perspective. We all hear about how being present makes our own self feel better, but the truth is, it’s good for everyone. Don’t take my word for it, try it out. Look for the pause. Share it with someone.
In The Studio Fall was so extraordinary I thought I would go up to Lake Willoughby to try a day of plain air painting. It was fantastic, and not what I expected it to be. Here’s a little film I made about the experience. It’s a little silly. I’m figuring out how to do all these things. The best part is the original music by my pal Stefan Nelson. Check it out and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos.
Web Shop In the next newsletter, coming in early November, I’ll send you the link for my webshop including a discount code which you can only get here in the newsletter. That newsletter will likely be shorter and just an artist update.
Reading in Autumn Fall is my favorite season and now that we have moved to New England, it makes me so happy that I become giddy. That means taking in the usual autumn spooky reads that scratch my Autumn itch.
One thing that helps boost my creativity is to go back to the ideas that excited me as a child. I do this in the form of books. It’s why I love picture books. I can’t recommend this process enough. It gets us in touch with the person we once were and still are. What books from your childhood can you revisit that you haven’t read in a while? Will they hold up? Try it. Go to your library and wander around the kids section.
This time of year I usually reread books that have a little tinge of childhood spookiness for the season. At the top of my list is John Bellairs. I first discovered The House With A Clock In Its Walls when I was in the 6th grade and I absolutely loved it. There are moments in the book that were so surprising, I remember gasping out loud.
Magic, doomsday machines, and spooky villains are all counterbalanced with cocoa by firelight and friendships between young and old characters. Bellair’s characters are all underdogs trying to save the world. It’s quite dated -every character is white and there are mostly male characters in the book, but there is always a relationship with a young person and a grandparent like character, which I remember finding very reassuring.
OH! And one of the the best parts is that there are illustrations by Edward Gorey. In fact, that was my introduction to his brilliant work.
This month I pulled out a hardback first edition of The Doom of The Haunted Opera by Bellairs from my local library. It was published posthumously and completed by author Brad Strickland who eventually wrote other books featuring the characters that Bellairs had created.
PS My local library, the Kellogg Hubbard Library, may as well have been designed by Gorey himself. I love it.
Vintage photo of The Kellogg Hubbard Library in Montpelier, Vermont. It still looks this amazing.
I also recommend: A Woggle of Witches by illustrator Adrienne Adams. Adrienne Adams, one of my favorite children’s book illustrators, illustrated over 30 books. Really, she should be a household name but alas it is nearly impossible to find any information on her. More on her in a future newsletter because I am smitten by her work and the mystery of who she was. More investigation needs to happen!
Finally, a book which seems like a rarity now, and was super important to me as a kid, was Frankenstein moved in on the Fourth Floor by Elizabeth Levy and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. Where Frankenstein just turns out to be a grouchy neighbor who is mean to kids. I looked Levy up and she is still going strong, having written over 100 books. Gerstein, who died a couple years ago was also a prolific artist who won the Caldecott in 2004.
I love hearing about career writers and artists like Bellairs, Adams, Gorey, Levy, and Gerstein who show up to the desk or drawing table every day to create a living. That’s what inspires me and is what I strive for.
For Edward Gorey fans out there I recommend: Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, edited by Karen Wilkin. A collection of interviews with Edward Gorey who really was indeed delightfully peculiar.
Spooky Movies The Cat People is a wonderfully campy and dated movie by the incredible Val Lewton. Lewton was a visionary who took terribly written titles given to him by RKO and wrote scripts that turned them into art house cult classics. You can find it on HBO Max and Turner Classics. For film aficionados out there I suggest watching a terrific documentary about Val Lewton, presented by Martin Scorsese.
The Love Witch. This one is a wild ride. Anna Biller not only wrote, directed and produced the movie, but she also designed and made the costumes, and painted the paintings featured in the movie. That alone is reason enough to watch this surreal hidden gem. This movie really is an incredible undertaking considering she did it all from the ground up. It’s over the top and not for everyone but it is a spectacularly feminist movie that really pushes the boundaries of film and makes you check your assumptions. You can watch The Love Witch on Kanopy. Kanopy also has a wonderful selection of spooky old movies from the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Have a listen I have this super weird Boris Karloff recording on vinyl and it’s goofy and great. It’s Boris Karloff reading an adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with some campy Saturday morning cartoon like songs that go along with the narration.
A family friendly playlist I made for carving pumpkins. Mostly campy Rockabilly which was so popular in the 60s. I’ve used ‘campy’ a lot in this newsletter. I guess I like campy.
HOW AM I DOING? Are you enjoying the newsletter? What’s working for you? What do you want to see more of? Let me know! Thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already. Have a spooky Halloween.