Mittens & Cocoa

Wearing mittens, for me, is like turning your hands into a cartoon characters, but even they are usually allowed the use of three or four fingers. You can’t do anything while wearing them, save cradle a mug of hot cocoa, so that’s what we have for today’s prompt. As a kid, I wore mittens when I was young, but insisted on gloves when I got older so I could grip things properly. Even still, adding another hand to a perfectly good hand is not always an optimal experience. If the gloves are too thick, the fingers don’t bend properly and it’s nearly worse than wearing mittens. In both cases, moving your hands even slightly into the air gives the illusion that you’re waving so it’s at least friendly apparel. I’m notorious for leaving the house without gloves no matter how cold the weather is outside. For the short bits of time I’m outdoors it doesn’t seem practical and I would only lose them when I went to take them off. We have several gloves sitting forlornly in the closet hoping that one day they’ll be returned to to their mate.

The reward of having to wear hand clothes as a child came in the hot cocoa at the end of playtime. This was the part of the experience I remember fondly so even mittens hold a special place in my heart. I love that even things we don’t enjoy can be made special by the things we do. Today, Philippe and I took our annual trip to a series of shops in the distant suburbs to get things for our New Year’s celebration. That makes it sound like we’re having a party, and we’re not. It’s more of our personal tradition of indulging in champagne, little pastries, and blinis with roe. We go to a lovely gourmet food shop, browse around looking at all the lovely things, then decide it’s too expensive and go buy our stuff at Whole Foods instead. The gourmet shop is fun, though, mostly to listen to Philippe pointing at each of the French cheeses on display saying, “C’est pas vrai! It’s just French supermarket cheese! Nobody would go to a shop for cheese like that!” And then watch the expression of the guy behind the counter. We have to leave soon after.

We’re nearing the end of the month and the end of the year, and though I’m still a bit sad to see the Christmas season end, I’m equally thrilled at the prospect of a shiny new year ahead. We’ll be starting a brand new watercolor challenge soon, and I hope you’ll be joining me! I wish each of you the very best life has to offer in the coming year. And for those of you who make resolutions, I hope you’ll achieve those as well. I’m not making any this year as I only disappoint myself when I do. Instead of goals, I’m just going to carry on and keep doing whatever crazy thing comes to mind. Sometimes, goals are like reading the ending of a book first, without even knowing if you’ll bother to finish it. I’d rather just choose an idea for a story and see where it takes me next. I’m not entirely sure what that works out to, but I’m excited to be surprised in 2018. It’s a new year to play and enjoy life, like I did when I was a child, when all it took to be truly happy were some mittens & cocoa.

Join Us For The December Art Challenge – ‘Tis The Season!
Click Here To Learn More!

About the Doodlewash Da Vinci Paint Co.: Terra Cotta, Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Turquoise and Cobalt Blue.  Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book.

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

See author's posts