The past entry was the last entry on books for a time. But worry not my friend, because books are a recurrent topic here.
Today I will share with you some postcard designs I did for the past holidays and the story behind them.
Put on your cozy mood, maybe grab some snacks and enjoy!
Ezequiel and the Art of Rest
Ezequiel can´t sleep. The deep rings around his eyes tell how tired he feels. He has tried everything: warm milk with honey, yin-yoga, and even a water mattress but nothing seems to work. Every night, Ezequiel lies in bed trying to make peace with the pillows but thoughts come and go:
“I gotta do this, I gotta do that, I didn´t finish this, this bad thing might happen”. And so goes Ezequiel for hours, awaken. He can´t make his mind stop thinking.
All he wishes is to sleep, he doesn´t wish more honey, although that would be nice. Or more money, although that wouldn´t hurt. He wishes really hard for a good night of rest but no signs of dreams are near.
The next day he goes to work as usual. Everyone notices, there is something wrong with him, he spills his coffee on the table, he can´t concentrate on his presentation, he definitely can´t walk straight and he forgets to smile!
On the way back home, he feels miserable, he ruined his presentation and his boss was mean to him. Or at least that´s what he felt. He can´t hold the pressure anymore and starts crying, looking for a stone to sit on.
After a couple of warm and long tears, a butterfly appears, flying around him. The butterfly, named George, asked him what was wrong.
Ezequiel explodes into words and sobs, telling him how everything is wrong:
—I can´t sleep, work, family this, mother that, my presentation, and then my boss said this and the coffee this morning! Everything is wrong!
The butterfly knows exactly what he is going through, everyone has at some point in life trouble shutting the mind.
My dear bear. What you have is trouble to focus on the essential things in life. It´s ok to work hard, it´s great to try your very best but as a butterfly, I know one or two things about the ephemerality of life. You see, as butterflies, we get to live only one or two weeks. That for you as a bear might not be as much, but for us is enough to have a career, a family, hobbies, and even pursue some endeavors. But some folks dive too deep into this. Some even prefer not to sleep, to make the most out of those couple of weeks. And once they die, they never feel the fluttering of their wings! They never properly tasted the nectar of a flower or even smelled a flower! they barely spend time with dear friends or stop and admire the greens and blues of this world, they haven´t considered what a marvelous thing the breath is!
George shook his head.
Ezequiel felt the truth in the words. The butterfly George knew what he was saying.
—I have something that might help you. Come to the next hill this evening and you´ll see it. And bring your pajamas. —said George.
Ezequiel didn´t know if taking the invitation of George the butterfly, he could be a very skeptical bear, besides, he needed to work on the presentation he ruined that morning.
But he was so tired, all he wanted was to sleep.
What can I lose? he thought.
And so, he went to the next hill as George told him. Ezequiel could barely walk straight. He recognized George the butterfly flying in the distance, some others were with him. Coming closer he could see a centipede with shoes, a bunny with a cape, and a frog with drums. There was a cozy and warm fire next to them and a huge-cozy-wooden bed everyone was sharing. Ezequiel liked especially the blankets of the bed because they had sheep drawings on them. It was a very inviting atmosphere.
—I am happy you made it! —said George to Ezequiel. These are some friends.
—I am Lu —said the centipede.
—I am Linda —declared the frog.
—I am Marcel —expressed the bunny.
After introducing themselves to each other, everyone invited Ezequiel to take a place on the bed.
Linda the frog started slowly playing the drums, Lu the centipede made a beautiful and calming sound with her accordion, and Marcel the bunny was in charge of providing warm milk with honey and cookies. And so, they started to softly play a song.
Work, dreams, and troubles can wait. When the evening arrives, just tell this to yourself —said George the butterfly, while sounding the string of his banjolele.
Silence in the night
All is quiet now
The muscle sleeps
Ambition rests
Sang everyone with the sweetest voices one can imagine.
Ezequiel joined them with his deep, rough, and tired voice. He put his head on the pillow and tucked himself in with the blanket of the sheep drawings.
The slow drums, the sweet accordion, and the calming guitar kept sounding while Ezequiel closed his eyes and finally fell asleep for the needed hours.
The next morning, he was on his bed, the blankets had no sheep on them. But he felt rested, calm, and renewed.
He looked up at the clock to check the time and on his bedroom nightstand lay half of a cookie and an empty glass of milk.
Ezequiel remembered the magic words:
Silence in the night
All is quiet now
The muscle sleeps
Ambition rests
The End
That´s it for now. I hope you enjoyed the tale and remember the magic words when the evening arrives.
My Week on Senses
👂This episode of Creative Pep Talk on symbols and how they can elevate the artistic work.
👀 PLEASE you need to read this if you work on animation. It´s a story board guide for the animated series Big City Greens by Carson Kugler. Is so full of amazing advices on drawing and animation.
👅 Tried the lettuce I planted on the garden for the first time! It´s so crunchy, so green and shiny :3
👐 Just planted avocado and papaya. Fingers crossed for this, since they are hard to grow.
👃Doggy smell ❤ I´ve spent some days with friends with dogs.
Again, thank you so so much for reading and your support.
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Tina Ovalle 
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