Draw Together Grown Ups Table
A Week of Drawings of Gratitude
I’ve become a fan of
’s Draw Together community on Substack. Wendy frequently publishes opinion — “Op-Art” — pieces in the NYT, such as this and this (gift article links). She illustrated the popular cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking written by Samin Nosrat, several years ago, and recently published the book How to Say Goodbye, which she wrote and illustrated.Wendy founded Draw Together during the pandemic as a way to bring more art into classrooms. She made a multi-episode TV show, and started a podcast. At some point, she formed the “Draw Together Grown Ups Table,” and I think that’s when I found her.
At the Grown Ups Table on Substack, she is in community with her subscribers, giving prompts (drawing assignments), that when followed expand peoples’ ways of creative thinking and of seeing.
On Nov. 18, she announced that the following day would be the start of “7 Days of Gratitude Drawing” for paid subscribers. I guess this is part of a general trend to refocus the celebration of the American Thanksgiving holiday around being grateful, rather than the myth of pilgrim/native togetherness that many of us were brought up on. Not to mention that cultivating one’s own gratitude has lately received a good deal of attention as a boon to one’s mental health.
So of course I jumped in. After having mulled over and made a response to all seven prompts, I can say that I am truly grateful to have exercised my gratitude muscle, and I highly recommend the Grown Ups Table.
Now I will share here all seven of my submissions, just as they are. The text accompanying each post follows each image in italics. Wish I could share everyone else’s — it was SO fun and mind-expanding to see the variety of responses.
Day 1: Gratitude for the five senses — sensations for which you are grateful.
Mood before starting: "in suspense" "cold feet" "hopeful for good focus"
Sound: Grateful for contented companionship with life partner. G. downstairs rummaging in the fridge, talking and singing to herself.
Touch: My own left fingertips calloused from playing guitar. Love to touch, hold & hear musical instruments.
Taste: The sweet flavor of the oversize grapes that [I brought] home recently. Grateful for all the people who grow, transport, supply our food.
Smell: The musty smell of fallen leaves. Grateful for Autumn.
Sight: The current moving slowly south to the mouth of Narragansett Bay. I get to look at this every day.
Mood after finishing: "more grateful" "content" "yay! more!"
Day 2: Gratitude for a Moment of Joy
As Guitar Group was wrapping up the other night, Bob started alternating between these two chords. So beautiful.
Day 3: Gratitude for adversity that has moved you forward — the “tough stuff.”
Everything changes. Loved ones die – some suddenly, some not so suddenly. We age, and gradually, or in unpredictable leaps, lose mental and physical capability. Our children grow up and never stop changing. Friendships and communities are in constant motion as new alliances are forged and old ones mellow, lie dormant, or wither and die. Romantic partnerships grow and change, or end. I’ve had tough times in all of the categories above. We constantly suffer loss of what was – but we gain what is to come. I am trying hard to embrace the changes. As Octavia Butler said, “God is change.” My mother lived to 95. Part of what kept her going in her last years was that she wanted to see what would happen next.
Day 4: Gratitude for Friendship [Jed Is Lit readers may recognize this one as a later interation of a monotype I posted a few weeks ago.]
These are some of my art friends in Studio A at the local community arts center. One of them is the instructor, who has 40 years of experience of teaching art at many different levels, and always brings a spiritual dimension to what she shares with our group. She shows us examples mostly from abstract art — Klee, Kandinsky, Miró, Hess, Klint — and from Eastern art. She reminds us that “art is fueled by emotion.” The people in the multi-generational group are all supportive and enthusiastic. Guided by the instructor, we’ve had some heartfelt discussions about where we find peace, and about where we find purpose in art and life. I’m grateful for this new group of art friends — looking forward to growth and change in the group.
Day 5: Gratitude for Food
In the lower left is the bourbon pumpkin cheesecake my dear spouse made, in honor of her mother, who loved this cheesecake! I am grateful to my [late] mother-in-law for many things, including bringing this dessert to the extended family. The recipe is from the November 2003 issue of Gourmet magazine.
Day 6: Gratitude that we can do (abilities that our bodies give us)
I can do active listening with my ears if only I can stop multitasking and really tune in.
Day 7: Gratitude for the Grown Ups Table community and the week of Gratitude
YAY for DT~GUT! !! Happy I found you and started participating on Nov. 20. I love the variety of people’s responses to all the prompts. The diversity, freedom, and heartfelt gratitude of the artists in this community have been so inspiring to me! THANK YOU DRAW TOGETHER GROWN UPS TABLE!
[Books purchased through links in this post will support independent booksellers and earn me a small commission which I will donate to my local library.]
"Grownups' Table" intrigues me. In my childhood, there was always a Children's Table at family gatherings, during which the grownups largely ignored us unless we broke something. When my own children were little, the older generation seemed amazed--disapprovingly so--enviously so?--at how much attention we parents paid to our children, how we prioritized their needs at extended family gatherings. I think it's great that on McNaughton's Substack, the grownups get their own space to "play" in. (And I wonder if the children raised with so much attention and solicitousness will end up, when they're finally running the world, being any less selfish and acquisitive than my own generation has been.)
Beautiful drawings! Especially your ear!
Thoughtful breadth of things you are feeling grateful for.
Love Gigi’s observations on changes in kids’-table practices.
I don’t know if other families called the kids’ table Siberia as we often called the table of those relegated to the kitchen during the 80s. That may have had something to do with the small number of actual children in that era and an increased number of boyfriends and in-laws my step-father wished to avoid.