Introducing the Great Affair’s newsletter.

“And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” 

― Meister Eckhart

Long-time friends of this blog might find that quote a little familiar – I also used it in the post launching Beneath the Lantern’s Glow last summer. It’s been a favorite of mine ever since, and today feels worthy enough of repeating it.

Around this time last year – give or take a month – I was sitting on the balmy shores of Colomb Bay, Goa, with my dear friend Kim Dinan. Over strawberry daiquiris at our favorite beachside bar, we were talking about blog newsletters, and about whether we needed to start one, and if so, what ours should include. I didn’t have a clear idea for mine, and so I ultimately decided to hold off until I did.

Today, I’m excited to finally introduce a newsletter for this blog, which I’ve decided to call Serendipity’s Sketchbook – a fitting phrase that was coined by writer and editor Don George (thank you, Don!). Since arriving at the yurt, some of the clarity and space I’ve found on the island has given me room to think about the blog, and my friend Mike Sowden (whose fabulous consulting and mentoring services I try to plug here whenever I get the chance) continued to quietly suggest I start a newsletter for it.

After a few long walks to Burgoyne Bay, I slowly felt a plan fall into place for a monthly missive to keep sharing the sketching love.

As I mention in the newsletter, this is the first and last time you will get two emails from the blog on the same day (and especially that they’ll overlap in content), but I wanted to devote today’s post to introducing Serendipity’s Sketchbook. Otherwise, I can assure you that it will be sent out monthly (on the first Thursday of the month) and will never coincide with a new post.

Each newsletter will be comprised of the same three sections: a Sketch Artist Spotlight; a free Sketch of the Month; and a final section for any newsy updates to share with you. Since this is the first newsletter, I’ve decided to share those sections here on the blog today, just to give you an idea of what to expect (and to inspire any of you not already subscribed to do so here!) – but before we get to those, I want to thank you all for your support with the stories and sketches I share here.

If we keep going back in time to this month two years ago, I had just left a rather stable life in London, where I could have had a full-time admin job at a university (and possibly even have my masters’ loan paid off by now…*sigh*). But deep down I sensed that London wasn’t the right place for me to be at that moment – and that I needed to return to the country I had just left, India, where I would have more time to focus on my writing and sketching.

Ever since heading back to Delhi, the last two years have been a continual unfolding of direction and dreams. Many times, it has felt like I’m figuring it all out as I go along – or to borrow an analogy from my pilgrimage through Turkey last fall, that I’m often walking through a foreign country without a map, understanding my journey only in retrospect.

But it’s on milestones like today, when I can look back and remember how much leaving London felt like a giant leap into the unknown, that I’m filled with so much gratitude that I’ve been able to keep going. And I’m grateful to you as well – because your words of encouragement and support here have played a tremendous role in helping me find my way. So thank you!

And now, without further ado, say hello to Serendipity’s Sketchbook:

My absolute favorite thing about seeing the blog build this past year is the community of people who have grown up around it – many of whom also enjoy picking up a pen or paintbrush and sketching the world. I thought it might be fun to highlight one of our fellow sketch artists each month, sharing a few samples of their artwork with you and hearing from them what it is they love about sketching.

To kick this section off, it’s an honor for me to introduce you to Nancy Bardos from Jacksonville, Oregon – I have so enjoyed getting to know Nancy via email, and hope you’ll find her sketches as vibrant and transporting as I do.

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Nancy writes: I have only been sketching less than a year, but I’ve been art-making in some form or another since the 1960s. My first love was always photography and, because I could never seem to draw more than stick figures, my camera became my pencil, my pen, my brush. Decades went by until I discovered mixed media and eventually I folded my photography into those sorts of pieces using pastels and paints and found objects.

At long last, at age 71, I took the leap to finally try sketching. More possibilities. More joy. More thrills.

Though I loved photography so much, over many years I secretly yearned to draw. Even though I’d read that anyone can learn, I was pretty sure that didn’t apply to me. Fear of failure loomed. Decades whizzed past. But last summer I spotted an announcement about an online class in Travel Journaling. Beginners were welcome. Of course, my critic’s voice shouted out to dissuade me from trying, but the Fear of Missing Out was becoming loud and clear…at my age it was truly now or never. I needed to sign up or shut up. I needed to at least TRY or quit the yearning thing altogether. And so I did.

Photography was my beloved teacher about paying attention…look at the light, the shadows, the patterns, the color, the shapes, the juxtapositions…and I so enjoyed using a macro lens and really seeing something close up. I always felt I saw the world around me so much more than most people. Now sketching adds another wonderful dimension to this mix. One can often shoot a subject quickly with a camera (and sometimes that’s the only chance you get!), but sketching a subject requires some time to sit with it and observe every shape, color, etc.

You really get to pay attention. You absorb it. You become so keenly aware.

This month’s sketch was inspired by a trip to Ruckle Provincial Park here on Salt Spring Island last week. My neighbor Hanna invited me to come with her and some friends, and we spent most of the day at a beautiful and adorably named spot called Grandma’s Beach.

While I was a little too distracted by the sunshine and the divine cheeses we’d brought from the Salt Spring Island Cheese company to do any sketching on-location, I enjoyed bringing the scene to life later on, as well as adding one of my favorite quotes to it (and a schooner really did pass by as we sat there). As you might have read on the blog lately, my time on Salt Spring has been a big lesson in awareness and slow living, and this quote seems to sum it up just about perfectly for me.

I hope your desktop enjoys the new look!

This is the most self-explanatory section of the bunch – I simply wanted to create a place to share key updates with you, be it news on upcoming trips, book projects, or recent stories I’ve had published.

What I’d like to share here today is that a guest post I put together for Wanderlusters, a set of sketches from India, was recently picked up by National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog. It was such a fun surprise and honor to see my sketches mentioned in their weekly round-up, but what I loved even more was what they wrote about how sketching helps us stay present:

“Sometimes the best way to remember a place, and remain present while we are exploring it, is to put pen to paper – or brush to sketchpad.”

Naturally, I couldn’t agree more.

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I do hope you’ll enjoy a monthly dose of sketching inspiration in your inbox – and if you aren’t already subscribed, please feel free to do so here or by clicking on the image just below.