Hi! Welcome to the latest Noobles! Hope you’re having a Good Day!
And Wish you have a GoodYear!1 😄
In this inaugural post of 2025, I am just taking a slight break from writing on drawing to a something slightly more fundamental - to learning - and to us as social beings2 - That is, gratitude and encouragement - I believe we need more of both for learning!3
The mighty Himalayas4
Making someone’s day.
Tusks.
The first time (on substack5) I got to see so many elephants at once - including gorgeously tusked ones, it made my day - tusked elephants are a rare sight and even more so to sight more than a few at once. Watching it live is obviously an experience but seeing these pics brought back those wonderful memories.
Lalipa sharing even more was just fantastic.
Seeing them had me reacting that I wanted to Draw these elephants. Something I have described more, in this post, below:
Noobles07 Can I really draw that?
When I looked at a picture and went "I'll draw that" - and did just that. And what it feels like to be able to do that when you are a beginner at the skill.
Words:
Around the same time I got this comment from D Marie, when I described one of her photos (link). That was something I hadn’t heard before, but I totally appreciated it.
Firsts.
First Subscriber
Sanford(link) was my first subscriber.
The first time I got a notification, I was a bit surprised - I wasn’t sure if it was someone the name said it was, I wondered (my previous experience was of Twitter/Xter - if you have ever been there… you know half that place is bots(link), if not more.) if it was a bot account. Thankfully Sanford isn’t a bot. As far as I can tell, anyway - and my skills in this regard are wait-for-it, legenedary.
Sanford, thank you, really, for being the first subscriber - it was very motivating to know that my letter would go out to another human. It now reaches 20+ more humans, and thanks for helping me on this substack journey!
First Encouragement.
Christian Pung had a post(link) where he had this wonderful observation:
"Inactivity from lack of knowledge is the worst excuse to have, but all too common."
And then pointed out(link) that this publication was on that journey.
Frankly when I was thinking of all the things I had not done with that excuse of “lack of knowledge”, Christian’s remark brought me to the present and encouraged me to look at this fledgling substack with more positive eyes!
First Comment
AudHds comment (link).
Thanks! Very humbled.
I didn't know when the first comment would come but I was hoping that there would be a comment early on - and Audhd’s was a very uplifting comment, for me. It seems to me that there are two things almost any human world want is to be heard and then for someone to say “OMG, we're so Alike!”. That comment did both!
I hope you Make someone’s day! And someone else makes your day too!
And yes, this is why I like Substack6, because of the people on here.
Some moar Inspiration
Sonia Britain's sharing of her gauche(?)/ gouache(?) paintings really inspires me7
I am also inspired by Harry’s paintings and words (link).
and,
Jane heinrich’s drawings/sketches (link).
I asked8 her about it, and the time she takes (My Koshun / her reply are in the note below)
Until next time,
MrNoob.
PS: These are what I have at the time of writing, if I have missed thanking you or acknowledging your encouragement, my apologies - and, I hope you can channel that disappointment into making someone else’s day. Good Luck!
PPS: How many typos did you spot?
If you are thinking what I am thinking: I suggest MRFs or Bridgestones.
also how I have I have enjoyed immensely, being a part of the Substack community!
In my experience, encouragement of teachers went a long way. What do you think?
Often Indian Sages, Rishis and Yogis would (and do) go to the mountains to meditate. The answer to why is usually answered by itself when one reaches the Himalayas.
Yogi (in Samskrutam language): someone who has Dedicated their life to the path of Yoga.
Despite Substack’s choices on making its current focus area as politics and influencers.
Link to her paintings:
it really is the littlest things that make your day on here! So glad you're enjoying being on substack - I joined about a month ago and it's been amazing for me too! It's such a great little community :)
I love Sonia's art too