While I Was Drawing
I got lost.
Between one pencil stroke and the next.
I sit at my desk in my studio.
I look down, pick up my pencil and draw a single stroke.
The edges of reality soften and blur. I can feel adventures and memories brush the back of my mind. There are ideas and inspiration and endless worlds to explore where the tip of my pencil touches the canvas.
Another pencil stroke.
I have found my way to a hidden place. There is a quiet magic here.
Another pencil stroke.
The studio is gone and I am stepping through an old brick archway into a garden on a late summer afternoon. The air smells of sweet freshly cut grass and pine trees, jasmine and honeysuckle.
I’m not alone. I can hear murmuring voices and music. I walk down a path towards the sound.
I pass pine trees and round a corner, and you are here! Others who love this place too have come to enjoy this small garden gathering.
The afternoon lengthens into evening. We dance bare foot and sing along with the band that plays feelgood acoustic music while the children fall asleep under the trees. The dogs are here too, for furry cuddles and big wet doggy kisses.
There is a summer house beneath the old eucalyptus, a comfy place full of candles and cushions where we can read, or talk, or just sit and relax.
There’s no awkward small talk. We talk, or we’re quiet, just enjoying each others company. There are no expectations. People come and go as they please, wherever curiosity takes them.
Each path leads to a different adventure, a portal to a story where we can go anywhere, see anything, be anyone.
This pathway leads to the woods, where goblins and witches hide and make mischief among the toadstools and the bracken.
We follow a narrow trail beneath a canopy of trees that opens out to reveal a mysterious castle full of dark draughty passages and cavernous rooms, with trolls in the turrets and mermaids in the moat.
Another leads to the meadow where there are faeries hiding in the flowers, catching the last rays of the sunset in their wings. The dogs leap and bound through the grass sending the birds and the faeries darting for cover in the trees.
There are moments and memories, stories and songs between the blades of grass and on the underside of the leaves, inside the flowers and dancing in the wind.
Night falls, enchanting and ethereal. We lie back in the grass and watch the fireflies and listen to the music of the stars, the chirp of the crickets and the hoot of an owl.
I close my eyes and drift on the breeze.
Another pencil stroke.
The passing time is only evident by the glorious cramp in my fingers and the crack of my joints as I stretch. There are pins and needles in my arm and the edge of the desk has left its imprint on my wrist.
While I am drawing, I can go anywhere, be anything, explore places that only exist in my imagination. I can travel down into rabbit warrens on the inside of my head, through the magical wardrobe or back in time to moments and memories that were gone in the blink of an eye but linger longer on the page.
It’s lovely to have you here on this creative adventure, I wonder what we’ll find down the next pathway.
Here you will find:
✨ While I Was Drawing essays: These are my favourite While I Was Drawing essays and poems. If you’re not sure where to begin, this is a good place to start.
✨ Because Creativity Series: Occasional guest letters from fellow creatives.
✨ My Ever Growing Gallery of Beautiful Imagery1: Illustrations and photographs to use as printable art, creative references, or visual companions for your writing, Substack, website or social media. Whether you’re crafting, designing, or simply gathering beautiful things, there’s something here for you.
✨ The Creative Bucket List Club: Occasional posts exploring and celebrating creativity of all kinds
If you would like to support this creative adventure, you can buy a handmade gift from my Etsy Shop, Ink and Oddments, or upgrade to a paying subscription.
For anyone choosing an annual paid subscription I would love to send you an art print from my collection, as a thank you for gifting my creativity another moment of freedom to explore and create, for joy alone.
With love,
The photographs in the Creative Explorer’s Gallery are free for all subscribers of While I Was Drawing to use and enjoy. The link to the gallery is updated monthly and you can find it in my Subscriber Chat.
The illustrations in the Creative Adventurer’s Gallery are for paid subscribers of While I Was Drawing.
Both galleries are on Google Drive and The Creative Adventurer’s Gallery is in a restricted access folder.
New paid subscribers will be granted access within 24 hours of upgrading and you will need to be signed into your Google account to download the files.
With a paid subscription, you can download and use my illustrations and photography for personal and some commercial purposes — including on your own Substack, website, and social media posts, as well as for printing and decorating your creative spaces.
Please note: Reselling my illustrations or photography, whether as part of digital or physical products, is not permitted under the terms of the licence granted.
Full licence terms & conditions can be found in the gallery.
If you’re interested in licensing my work for broader commercial use, please feel free to reach out to me at emily@thomkat.co.uk.
