LESLIE PETERSON SAPP
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The Poky Little Puppy

9/4/2021

2 Comments

 


This little book was a staple in my house, as it was in many peoples’ houses. It was a book that was used to gently, or not so gently tease me when I was small. 

 I was a very poky little puppy. 

It was an affectionate and perhaps slightly desperate attempt to get me to look up, to focus, to walk faster, and stop dawdling! The rest of my family seemed to be endlessly charging ahead, onto the next, and the next, and the next activity. 

Later in life, about 40 years of age, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, Inattentive Type. Much of my middle age has been spent trying to manage my errant mind with new found understanding, and to making up for time lost drifting through my almost rudderless young adulthood. 

Frustrating, yes, but ADD is closely associated with having a creative mind. No one really knows why. I think it is because all that wandering brings one to unexpected shores and vistas. I heard it once described this way; if one doesn’t think linearly, (marching forward along a path), then one tends to think laterally, that is, back and forth and side to side. 

A curious feature in many folks with ADD is called “hyper-focus”. This is when my normally wandering mind suddenly gets into gear, and I become completely engrossed in one activity for long periods of time. This is what happens when I make art. 

I have come to recognize that I am a slow, deliberate artist. Each new attempt takes a long process of conceiving, sketching, drawing, transferring, painting, maybe collaging. When I am “done” with a piece, I will set it aside for weeks, months, and peer at it as it sits in the corner of my studio. I glance at it over the rim of my coffee cup, send it sidelong glances as I work with another piece. Then, often, it hits me. “It needs this…”

I will go back into the painting, and it will transform, like a make-over or a mid-life crisis. It will deepen and mature. Having that time to let it hibernate and incubate will often make a good piece into a great one. 


So it goes to show that life isn’t always about the next thing, and the next, and the next. Sometimes we need to stop and smell the strawberries. 

One such slow transformation unspooled during the creation of Exit, one of my latest pieces of art. You can read about the creation of this painting here, in The Saga of Exit.

2 Comments
Tanya
12/1/2022 10:06:48 pm

Randomly tonight I was thinking about this book because it was a favorite of mine as I child. Suddenly it hit me and I proclaimed to my husband "The Poky Puppy had ADD!"

I searched online to see if this was a lone observation and found your blog. I also was diagnosed in my 40s and I work in a creative field. I relate on so levels to your entry above. Thank you for sharing. I feel validated and less alone <3

Reply
Leslie Peterson Sapp link
1/22/2023 03:08:33 pm

Hello Tanya! I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you until now! This is a new blog platform I am not familiar with. The only reason I saw this is because I am writing another blog post about my ADD, and when I re-read this one, noticed your comment!
I'm so glad that you feel validated by what I wrote, that means a lot to me. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if there was an awareness of ADD when I was a child. I'm sure you wonder, too.
On the other hand, being a creative person is a true gift, it makes life so full.
Be well,
Leslie

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