Amidst the frightening coronavirus pandemic—and the daunting headlines associated with it—we're trying to embrace the moments that are becoming familiar: perfecting our morning coffee, dialing into meetings (also happy hours and birthday parties), and trying to find comfort in the chaos.
As many have already pointed out, while the circumstances are inconvenient and disruptive, this might be the perfect opportunity to slow down and recalibrate from the place we know best: home.
Meet Justin Valdes—artist-cartoonist-illustrator-videomaker based in NYC. We're teaming up with Justin to share a new series of cattoons (saw an opportunity, and took it) to your screens.
To see Justin's illustrations for Smalls, follow us on Instagram.
7:00a
I walk Venus, the pitbull I'm fostering. For breakfast I have tea with oat milk, and honey bunches of oats or fruit. Draw.
9:00a
Start work. I work at the Rainforest Alliance on the creative/editorial team. I'd say I'm cat-like in that I often get up in meetings to stretch. Currently, I like to stretch during zoom calls. I guess I can't sit still when I'm supposed to, but off-camera I'll sit in one place for hours on end.
After a few meetings, I'll usually make some form of a quesadilla for lunch.
2:05p
@forward__space dance class. They're offering digital dance breaks on IG Live, and it's a good 30 minutes to move it move it.
The rest of my day is a slow transition from the computer desk to the drawing board. Will draw into the evening with Abstract or an audio book playing in the background. Occasionally I'll do my version of dancehall routines, I like to tell myself its good to do things you're bad at. (@geniusdance is a dancer I took a class with and refer to often.)
Dinner and dessert are somewhere in there. For desserts I've baked 3 times so far this quarantine.
My greatest creation was putting medium-sized peanut butter cups into banana bread, they make for beautiful cross-sections. BTW baking alone is a very dangerous sport.
[#BeginTLDR#]Of course we love to go out, see the light of day, put on real pants, etc. But we can all agree that sometimes, it’s best to follow our felines’ leads and just… stay in. And now? Well, it seems we don’t really have a choice one way or the other.
To make the most of our mandated OOO, we’re kick-starting a new series of work from home diaries, logging how you and your favorite cat owners and creatives are adjusting to the demands of the day. Join us in your best sweatpants and fuzziest socks as we take a page out of our cats’ book and curl up on the great, cozy couch of life—might as well get comfy because, hey, we’re gonna be here awhile.[#EndTLDR#]
