Some months back we took a little tour down a well-worn rabbit trail, for me. Nowhere in particular to be, nothing in particular to say. Just a quiet walk through some leafy paths.

As a new page on the calendar turns over, I thought why not revisit these creatures and take a look at some new ones!

So, what are they? No real idea. The only answer I’ve ever had is a shrug and to say that I’ve been drawing these probably sort of sentient, definitely empty-headed little lumps of grass and leaves for forever. From little sprouts to ones as big as mountains, there’s quite a range to found. But if I were to dig a little deeper, I’d say they’re an amalgamation of all the things I like to draw: plants, animals, and human figures.

Braid those three strands together and this is what to you get, from me.

And like we talked about before, these creatures found a home among my annual sketchbook collections. In the last 15 years these they’ve made appearances within most of them, at least a page or two, and in 2017’s sketchbook they were the main attraction. That one focused mainly on the big ones, but still.

What to call them? I’m not sure. Never have been. But what I am sure of is that I love drawing them.

Remember (the sketch) of this acursed little vision from the original post? It’s back. And more furious than ever. Just a hopping blob of poison ivy.

Along with another, one more terrifying and insensible. A clump of shambling sticks.

Think you’d be ok if you heard the snap of a twig, glanced behind yourself, and saw this? I’m sure you would not be ok.

But now for a kinder, gentler one. One more better suited to settling down for a sit (and maybe some coffee). What’s this? An autumnal version? Yes, indeed! In fact, this one was the first but for some reason I kept tinkering and arrived at a colder one that I found equally appealing (the wintery version, second image in the article).

And because it seems a shame to not include them, some familiar, returning faces.

While most of time I tend to draw them from my mind, I do occasionally see a plant and think, hey, you’d make a good one, wouldn’t you? and then take some photos. Case in point, this one made of blackberries (that I ended up painting a bit more like raspberries for some reason).

And still, one of my very favorites. A dumpy little potato-faced lump sitting in the rain.

These little goofs spark an unquantifiable amount of joy, for me. They sit, unmoving, like little toads and probably don’t think about much of anything. Like last time, I’m aspiring to the same this year. And still doing a real bad job of it, myself. But that’s ok. By and by, I hope to find myself sitting still in the sun and hearing nothing but grass.