Good Things: March 2023
Updates and other good things from Gill D. Creative
Image above: a wet salamander on a wet day at Sibley Volcanic Preserve
Thinking about doing the thing vs. doing the thing
In her work as a high school teacher, one of my mom’s favorite annual activities was the “5-year letter.” Each year, she would have her students write a letter to their future self that would be sealed and stored away for 5 years, at which point she would mail it back to them. The letters included everything from current high school crushes to dreams for the future, but regardless of their content they served as small paper time capsules that held all the memories of those formative years.
When my mother died in November of 2015, she left many things behind. Intricate tile mosaics and the sea glass remnants to construct more; piles of t-shirts and sweaters from public radio and high school fundraisers; cabinets full of canning supplies and gardening tools; bins of scarves and leggings used to cope with hair loss and a thinning frame. Though sorting through all of her things was difficult, somehow one item became heavier than the rest: a stack of file folders filled with 5-year letters waiting to be sent. I knew about these letters from the years of watching her send them, so even before I found them in her filing cabinet I knew about the job ahead of me.
Sending some pre-stamped letters should be easy, right? I’m writing you 6 years since I first brought those letters home to tell you that it’s taken me this long to send them. I decided that, along with the letters, I wanted to send a note letting her students know what happened, which at the time I had thought would be a quick and thoughtful addition. Instead, constructing that one-page message turned into a metaphor for processing the death of my mother and took on the weight associated with that impossible task. I wasn’t just writing a note, I was conveying 6 years of grief and a lifetime of memories to a hundred students I had never met.
Finally, one rainy March morning, I sat down and wrote the letter. I was surprised by how easy it was to write once I sat down to do it. I gave it a once-over, sent it to print, and gathered my supplies to seal and send the letters… only to realize that most of the letters were already sealed, making it impossible to add my letter to them. In all the years I had been putting off this task, I hadn’t actually sat down and looked at what exactly the task was! I had turned what could have been a quick walk to the post office and turned it into a heavy process full of unnecessary steps.
Only after sending the letters did I realize what I had just done: once again, I had over-thought a task and turned it into something far heavier and more complex than it needed to be. As I continued my week I found myself doing this over and over again: questioning whether to post something on Instagram turned into questioning my presence in the world and potentially exiting the platform entirely; trying a new medium turned into an impossible task that would surely determine my success or failure as a maker.
Finally, as I found myself editing an video that showed how to do work rather than doing work myself, I realized that I needed to stop overthinking what I was doing and simply do the things rather than doing the things to support the things. For example, I was spending hours creating and editing a video about making art rather than actually making art, but what I actually want to do is to make art. Why am I not making art? Similarly, I spent a lot of time this month trying to figure out what platform I should switch to to share my art that I’m not currently sharing anywhere. Why don’t I just share it where I already am for now and switch platforms when I find a new one?
I’ve said this before, but I find that I have to keep telling myself the same message in different ways in order for it to fully sink in: if I want to do a thing, all I need to do is do the thing. There is no point in thinking about all the infrastructure I need to build to support the thing if I’m not even doing the thing.
In the words of Torrance legends Joyce Manor:
“It seems so simple when you step back and view it— Just find something to do. And then do it.”
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Image above: a photo of Beya Rebai working on a gigantic blue and green pastel masterpiece
Featured Maker: Beya Rebai
If you haven’t noticed I’ve been getting super into pastels over the last year and on that journey have been seeking out inspiring pastel artists that I can learn from. Beya Rebai is one of my favorites— the way she can move seamlessly from a tiny line drawing to a gigantic full color tapestry with pastel makes me gasp! She also does ink brush portraits and painted pottery and collaged window display installations— essentially, she does it all. Sometimes when I move from medium to medium I feel like I’m trying something on or not being authentically “myself,” but Beya reminds me that it’s the mark of a true artist to continue to explore and not let the boundaries of any one medium or subject limit you. Wherever you go, there you are, and wherever Beya goes beautiful work emerges.
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Image above: one of my favorite photos from 2015, a “panorama” of friends at a music festival that Google took some real artistic liberties with
March Playlist: 2015
This month, as I was reflecting on where I was in 2015, I thought I’d make another “music memory” playlist filled of things I was into in 2015. Sorry not sorry if this is very specific to me and not relatable to anyone else!
Alone in Kyoto : Air
Heavenly Bodies : Tamaryn
begin again : Purity Ring
Green & Gold : Lianne La Havas
Sun Went Black : Springtime Carnivore
Wildest Dreams : Ryan Adams
Louder, Harder, Better : Galantis
Klapp Klapp : Little Dragon
Hollywood : RAC, Penguin Prison
Trying : Bully
I’m Not Part Of Me : Cloud Nothings
Catalina Fight Song : Joyce Manor
Seasons (Waiting On You) : Future Islands
Thinking About You : Calvin Harris & Ayah Marar
Poor Places : Wilco
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Image above: a snapshot of Adam’s original creation: the What’s For Dinner game
Recent Work: Games!
A few years ago, Adam made me a full-on original game for my birthday to help us decide what to make for dinner. I thought it was certifiably the best thing ever and since then we’ve been iterating on it to make it even more fun and useful.
The day has finally come where we want to start sharing our game with the world! We’re looking for folks to beta test our game and give us feedback to help make it even more fun and useful for more folks.
If you’d like to be a beta tester, please email me at gill.dreher@gmail.com or leave a comment via the link below!
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Image above: cute lil purple flowers with yellow circle centers
Some Other Good Things
I loved watching the Draw Together project evolve throughout the pandemic and am so excited to see that it’s being reformatted as a free in-class resource for kids! Highly recommend for educators/parents/people who like fun creative stuff.
Finally getting into Harry Styles, have you heard of this guy? All my clients want to listen to him in sessions so I figured I better get familiar with his stuff and you know what: I love it. Adam is covering one of his songs this week and I can’t wait to hear it.
Appreciated this article on how to improve your sleep without completely banishing screens. A gal’s gotta watch her shows, ok!
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Thanks for reading – see you next month!
Love you, Gill
I'd like to beta test this game! <3