A Special Note for The Grown-Ups Table

Pardon the mess, my heart exploded.

Nov 27, 2023

Hey GUT Fam.

This one is late today. You’re getting me in real time, GUT friends. I flew home to Oakland from a family trip yesterday that was both meaningful and challenging. I needed a big old rest. Maybe you do, too? A vacation to recover from the vacation.

Every day this busy holiday week we took time to draw our gratitude. Whether you drew one day or for seven (or none! None is fine, too!) it matters not. What matters is that we know this practice is here for us when we need it. That we can buoy our own hearts by pausing, putting our attention on gratitude, and expressing that gratitude it through creativity. That we can FLIP our way out of an Either/Or mindset and into a place of Both/And. To grow our sense of abundance. And in turn, respect and hold space for one another in an increasingly fractured world.

In day 7 of our 7 days of gratitude, we reflected on the power of chosen community, with a special focus on our creative community here in the GUT. A special someone pointed something out to me: while I talk a ton about how important the GUT community is to me, I never say exactly HOW you and the GUT impact my life.

When I drew and interviewed my sweet mom for a GUT assignment a couple weeks ago, her wise advice to me was to “tell the people you love them that you love them.”

See that last line at the bottom of the page? Love you, mama. Also, I realize I painted this on the tray table during another plane flight I took several weeks ago. Maybe I should do a future post on drawing and painting on the go!

So, heeding them both, today’s “end of the week go Gratitude dispatch” features THREE things:

Part 1. My heart-explosion AKA gratitude for you.

Part 2. A Heart Growing Doodle Drawing Assignment

Part 3. Your Gratutidues for the GUT, so you can see how much you all mean to one another.

So without further ado, Grown-Ups Table, let the heart-spiraling gratitude begin.

Honestly, I’ve never seen, let along been part of, anything like the GUT. I am floored by the relationships - online and off - that have begun and flourished here. I’ve seen countless members share they are struggling and watched other members jump to support. I’ve watched people who live near one another self-organzine and create ongoing meetups. When members express fear and anxiety around drawing, I watch you all rush in with encouragement and cheers. THIS IS ALL YOU, GUT PEEPS. You are unlike any other. Y’all make me cry.

FYI my experience at art school was the opposite of the GUT, and while I loved part of my education, other parts I’d never wish on anyone. We are doing something different here. Because making art can be scary. Especially if we haven’t done it in a long time or we’re newbies. When I started the GUT, I was out of my practice of drawing and needed some structure to get back into the habit. I wanted to take it seriously and learn, but also hold it lightly. Not feel any pressure or judgment. And you all seemed to want that, too. I am grateful to you for being so encouraging and loving and nonjudgmental so that I can take creative risks and try new things every week. True, I am teaching you all to let go of perfectionism - and I’m learning right along with you.

Speaking of learning to let go of perfectionism… all these lessons I share with you eery week? The visiting artists, The Drawing 101 reviews, The weird questions I ask and and the deep dives I get to do… These are lessons for me, too! This whole thing is a way for me to learn along side you. (I guess we could also call this whole endeavor LearnTogether. But that sounds way less but the DrawTogether. ;)

Writing the GUT lessons and assignments every week helps me pause and reflect on my own experiences with drawing, art and life. This weekly teaching/facilitating gives me a real sense of how hard I’ve worked, how far I’ve come and how my experience can be helpful to others. (I hope you feel the same every time you do an assignment!)

As someone who famously hates to plan, I sure do love a good deadline. Being accountable to you every week has created a quasi-routine I am grateful for. Even when some days I’m late, like TODAY. (WendyMac: winning “Most Human” since 1975.)

When I went through the hardest time of my life, keeping in conversation with you at the GUT was key to my daily survival. It was a place I could focus on creativity, on making something, and on processing my big feelings through drawings - but without having to talk about them, just being able to BE in community with you all - was better than any expensive therapy. You all and the GUT CHAT saved my life. Thank you. I hope the GUT can be that for you should you ever need it, too.

The GUT is showing me that a new, creative economic model may be possible: if I work hard and put my resources into creating something that you value, you will put your resources into making sure that it continues. (And if someone doesn’t have the resources to cover it, we will ALL support them together.) It seems to be working. While it’s not enough to be my fulltime job yet, and pay editors, guests, etc like I’d like to, make no doubt about it, the GUT makes up a big chunk of my income. Without paying subscribers, the GUT (and DrawTogether for kids!) simply would not exist. So thank you for valuing it, and me.

GUT members have been saying it for a long time: we’re onto to something big. There’s a huge need for what we’re doing every week in the GUT. I have big ideas on how the GUT can continue to help us grow our creativity and community in new ways - to deepen and expand - to make a positive impact on the world from the inside out. And I look forward to exploring it with all of you. We are on this journey together.

One and half years in and you’ve changed my life in a million small ways, and 8 super big ones.

I am grateful for you.

Alright my GUT friends. I love you. Now let’s get on to the drawing.

Part 2. Drawing as a Grounding Practice: The DT Classic Heart Spiral

If you’ve been at the GUT longer than 6 months or did any kids DrawTogether classes, this will be familiar to you. Inspired by Lynda Barry’s spiral drawings and my own thousands of spiral phone doodles, this is one of my favorite meditative drawing practices. In just 60 seconds it can lower your heart rate, focus your attention, and calm your breathing (and anxiety.) Or it least it does mine.

It’s call the Heart Spiral.

A little more on spirals:

Louise Bourgeois said “I love the spiral. It represents control and freedom.” Louise believed the direction in which you draw a spiral changes how you feel: when you draw outside in, you feel in control. Draw inside out, you feel a sense of freedom. Try drawing heart spirals outside to in and inside to out, slowly and methodically and if you notice a difference in how they feel. And don’t forget to breathe. Want more Spirals? I got a whole drawtogether podcast episode on Spirals for ya.

How to draw a heart spiral? Draw a little heart and then slowly, carefully draw an ever enlarging spiral around it, from the inside out. Get as close as you can to the line inside, but try not to touch it. I like to follow to rule of calligraphy breathing as I was taught it: breathe in on the upstroke and out on the down stroke. But definitely take slow breaths, and keep your pen moving until 60 seconds is up.

Your assignment: draw a heart spiral for at least 60 seconds. Pay attention to how you feel before and after. In your body, your heart and your mind. And then, if you find it helpful and want to do more, do it a few more times in the week when you’re stressed or in a moment of transition. Use it as a centering practice. We all could use more of those this season. At least I know I can. :)

Part 3. YOUR GUT GRATITUDES.

I think you all should see how important you all are to one another. So your Day 7 Gratitude Drawings are below. I am moved and humbled by the kind words for my own role in the GUT. And while I’m honored to be steering the boat, we ain’t going anywhere without the whole crew, drawing and singing and dancing together.

Love you, chosen GUT family.

And I’ll see you next week.

xoxo,