October 26, 2025

I looked at my pile of sketchbook paper today and realized that I'm three-quarters of the way finished this challenge. Now comes the hard part--finishing.

This place I'm in right now is equivalent to the "ugly stage" in one of my actual artworks. I always need an extra push here. That usually means leaving for a while and doing something else, recharging my batteries for the last leg of the journey, that final foray into finished.

I took most of this weekend off. Which is why I don't have much to show for this past half-week. I didn't work at all Friday night or Saturday and wasn't going to do anything on Sunday either, but found myself in the studio at about 10:00 Sunday night (after I had officially gone to bed) with my pen in my hand, drawing.

Of course there's always more to the situation. I've been chosen by the Cat Redistribution System and I think I spent most of the day Saturday flirting with the little calico who has subsumed my yard for herself. I haven't had a cat in over twenty years and I thought I didn't much like them, but I was wrong. Those little monsters are so incredibly smart and funny. Even my hard heart has melted.

Winter is settling in to the countryside here and the wind the past few days has been brutally cold. It looks like I'm about to be gifted with a lot of time for drawing (for the next six months!) And so on to the next.

"The Animator's Survival Kit," Richard Williams.