Thursday Art Walk

 

Wheeee! Colors!!!

I'm not done with the Big Bonkbubble yet (it's... huge), but I definitely made a lot of progress this week! Fifteen Rounds! (That means I expanded every single bubble by 15 pixels each direction) and I added a bunch of secondary colors as the bubbles have, well, "bonked" each other! It's been a while since I updated you on the colors I'm using, so I would like to give you the full palette so far:

The Original Colors (HEX)

• Aero Blue (BFFFF1)
• Saffron (EAC435)
• Wild Blue Yonder (B2B1CF)
• Raisin Black (1E1E24)
• Dark Liver (403F4C)
• Opera Mauve (B37BA4)
• Tumbleweed (D8A47F)
• Dark Olive Green (47682C)
• Viridian Green (0FA3B1)
• Purple Navy (414874)
• Arylide Yellow (DBD053)
• Rose Madder (DB2B39)
• Shocking Pink Crayola (F26DF9)
• Imperial Red (FF0035)
• Bone (D7CEB2)
• Oxford Blue (0B132B)

The Secondaries - aka the second row of palette colors. I looked up the hex codes to find the names.

• "Avocado" 8E8C63
• "Mandy" EB6773
• "Red Damask" DB7D46
• "Radical Red" F53354
• "Tuna" 34333E
• "Shadow" 777C47
• "Teak" B7966C
• "Torch Red" F81E47
• "Monarch" 850930
• "Baltic Sea" 292831
• "Affair" 7E4092
• "Old Lavender" 795D78
• "Monza" C20432
• "Amethyst" B856C5
• "Jelly Bean" 287592
• "Crimson" ED1537

The original palette was randomly generated on coolors.co

The secondary colors names were looked up via HEX on icolorpalette, which I found while just trying to look up the HEX codes on Google lol

I may have done 15 rounds this week, but that doesn't mean I'm done - I hope to do another few rounds tonight, in fact!

As for why this blog is being posted so late...

I honestly kept forgetting today was Thursday.

I'm not tired, I'm not exhausted, and I got plenty of sleep and feel fine, it's just that today really felt like a Friday.

I went for a walk today and everything (I'm usually a blanket fort troll on Thursdays in order to do more work)!

But here we are - several weeks into a digital artwork that's going to look... odd to say the least, but which I'm enjoying immensely :)

I can't wait to see it done!

That'll do it for me today, though - I have more bubbles to bonk and colors to mix!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Just Don't Have Any Focus lol

Yesterday was... not my best day. I fully intended to finish the stocking, get some writing done, etc, but... I woke up with a pounding atmospheric headache that never got better throughout the day. I felt run-down, overstuffed, and unproductive. I did a little art, but I never got around to doing the stocking, so I'm sorry about that!

Last night as I was laying in my bed, letting the pounding in my head match my heartbeat, I listened to the cold rain pouring outside and just... let myself relax.

And what do you know...

I slept like a rock.

And woke up actually feeling alright!

So you'd probably guess that I got some crocheting done today, right?

Lol of course not!

I started off with lofty aspirations! I was going to do some work today! I was going to clean up my room and write a page of my novel and finish that dang stocking and wash my window while it was still 36℉(2.2℃) and do art!

I did art at least lol.

I, in fact, came up with a bunch of future palettes to play with, and I finished about 5 complete rounds on the now infamous bonkbubble piece!

But that's literally all I did besides suck down coffee and lemon tea (oh god it's so good) and generally was otherwise unproductive.

It was a pretty decent day, however, and I feel like sometimes I'm just going to be less productive than I want. I'd like to get more done tomorrow than I did today, which I feel has a good chance of happening, since I did more today than yesterday!

Still, that's two days that never really seemed like they got started.

Hopefully tomorrow gets rolling with a cup of coffee and a spark of inspiration :)

Despite the rain last night, it's still a winter wonderland outside - just slipperier in some places.

We had half a dozen Mallard ducks under the feeders with a huge flock of robins puffing themselves up for warmth in our scrubby swam ash trees, and the doves have been frequenting the clothesline, where they line up and mutter quietly to each other. I don't know what they're plotting, but at least they're cute while they're doing it.

My grandmother may be going home from the hospital soon, but we're not sure when her cat will be joining her. The cat, who resembles a sweet-eyed bowling ball with legs and a muscular monkey tail, has continued eating my cat's food, regardless of how high we put it because she's figured out how to jump. To her credit, Evie is finally letting her objections to the new cat's intrusions be known - she pounced at her (okay, from like 4 feet away, Other Cat was in zero danger!) while Other Cat was trying to get cuddly with my mom, who is my cat's favorite.

There's also been a train horn blaring every few hours all day. My mother is bothered by this. I find it soothing, though it is exciting, too, because I'm pretty sure that's a different engine than I'm used to. I'm used to more of a "HONNNNNNNKKKKK" and this is more of a  "Hoooooonnnnkkkkk", which, I'm sure you can tell, is quite different!

I might be going a bit mad.

It's Quarantine. We're all mad here.

So yeah, I'm not going to pretend that the schedule is set in stone, but here are my tentative plans, pending energy, focus, and life events:

• Thursday: post some art, or at least another palette update!
• Weekend: Maybe actually get around to reviewing tea lol
• Monday: Hope to have the stocking done, we'll see.
• Next Tuesday: More Blather

I hope you're all safe out there in the world, whatever you're doing, and I hope you can all

Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

Art Walk? More like Art Block!

So I was being a bit optimistic in thinking I could catch up to where I was on my previous piece, but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I don't have any progress to discuss because I haven't added anything new, exactly.

I did end up adjusting some colors - instead of having an overlap of 50% opacity colors and choosing the center tone, I now actually make an average between the RGB values of two different colors, which means my orange is more orange and my pinks are redder.

I also learned that I can highlight specific areas of color (specifically the ring around two different colors!) without the highlight spilling into any of the other colors by reducing the Tolerance to 10% from the standard 50%. This is especially important for the combos of Rose Madder/Arylide Yellow and Imperial Red/Bone.

I'll have more color updates next week I think, but I'm going to be making progress (proper progress!) starting tomorrow!

Very excited!

I also need to get this new computer hooked up to my scanner so I can scan physical drawings and show them off without my terrible photography "skills" getting in the way lol!

Hopefully you're all working on art (unless that stresses you out!), and hopefully if you have lost power you can find somewhere warm to be. I'm so sorry this crisis is going on out west and I hope it's over soon :(

Be Well, Be Safe!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

In Which I Talk A Lot

 It's been... quite the February.

For the last week or so, we've been watching my grandmother's animals because she had to go to the hospital, and having undergone surgery recently, cannot be taking care of her pets right now.

Her dog is big, not trained, and several handsful of misbehavior and neurosis. We were not at all equipped to care for him, so most of last week was spent trying to either get a handle on him or at least put him in a kennel we know can give him the best possible care. It was hard because there were issues at first trying to get him into the kennel. He hadn't had 100% of his vaccinations, but thankfully we were able to get him the meds he needed and he went off to his doggy spa vacation.

I feel bad about it because he's a needy fella and we couldn't give him what he needed.

HOWEVER.

He also was a menace with the cats, both my grandmother's and mine, and at one point he tried to stomp on one, so it was not a good situation. He could absolutely not stay here for their safety.

My cat is a very chill but slightly nervous critter. She likes to have a full house, yes, but she also likes to be able to walk where she wants when she wants, and that wasn't possible with the hundred pound hump machine (did I mention he had a thing for blankets?) on the loose. She isn't very big, either, so it was a super bad combo.

My grandmother's cat is a bit of a chonker. Her tummy is a little too big, and she's got this ridiculously muscular, almost prehensile tail that she uses to smack things to get your attention. She's a talker (likes to meow a lot more than mine does!) and she's... well... she's a beggar. She'll saunter up to you at mealtime and try to pull herself into your lap from the floor, meowing and staring. It's only slightly more polite than my cat, who'll hop on the table and jam her face into your plate if you don't stop her.

This new cat also likes to eat my cat's food, which, if you remember my fears a year or two ago from before her surgery, is super not okay. Evie needs her food.

We think that even her birthday treat (extra fancy shreddy food in tasty gravy!) was stolen this year.

And the new cat likes to sit on my mother for cuddles, rub on Evie's usual rubby spots, and play with Evie's toys.

We're fine with her taking ownership of the catnip toys, since Evie literally could not care less about those.

We're less fine about her taking over Evie's beloved mice.

But she's a guest, and she's not a hundred pounds of nervous energy, and it's nice to see her relaxed.

Even if she kinda bullies my cat.

So that's been my week - adjusting to new pet dynamics and not getting much sleep (I was convinced the dog was going to eat one of the cats the few nights he was here, and I did not sleep at all). I also managed to corrupt my bonkbubble art somehow (thanks windows updates...) so I had to start over. Thankfully, though, this time I know more tricks and it shouldn't take me several weeks to get back to where I was lol.

As for writing, I have to admit, I haven't been doing much of that, though I've been coming up with more ideas (oh no, not those!) and new scenes for the current project (a much more reasonable thing lol).

I did more crochet on the stocking today, and I hope to get even more done by next Monday!

Here's my plans for this week/weekend:

• Thursday I should have some progress to report, if not some sketches to show off
• Maybe I'll get back to tea at some point? I kind of switched to the comfort of coffee while the pet drama was going on, so I haven't been teaing it up as much. I hope to get some chamomile or peppermint in tonight though
• Monday will be more Stocking Updates
• Next Tuesday will hopefully be less dramatic and more creative lol

The inclement weather has hit us up here, now, and my deck is coated in a half inch of slush. I can hear snow-removal going on out on the roads, the squeal and screech of reluctant metal, the roar of a plow, the hum and rattle of a sander. I can also hear rain and ice splattering down from the heavens. Ugh.

I can deal with snow, but ice is trash.

It's a bit brighter now than it was before, but the sky is still gray, gray, gray, and it's around 32℉ (0℃) out there right now. I can see the soggy, slushed-up pine boughs waving and my window screen is wobbling so I know it's windy on top of the gross wetness. I hope everyone stays safe.

I hope that, if you're digging out after your storms and aren't used to this sort of thing (Louisiana, Texas, etc), you're okay. I hope the power comes back on soon for those who've lost power, the pipes thaw without incident, the snow and ice recede without flooding. I hope you're alright.

If you are, then...

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday - Slowly But Surely

 

In Which Work Proceeds Very Slowly

It's been... quite a week since Tuesday. I'll talk about the whys and wherefores tomorrow, but suffice it to say I have not been in the most creative of moods, and because of that, I've only got a couple of lil horn nubs on my stocking project to show for it. I plan on working on it more, but for now, I just have to apologize for going radio silent after Tuesday (unless you're on my Twitter account, where you got to see me live Tweet my frustrations...).

I look forward to getting back to work on my creative endeavors this week, though.

I learned some new tricks with my Bonkbubble art!

I came up with a new story idea I won't be working on for a while!

I even, as mentioned, got started back up on the stocking project!

But all that has only been in the last 48 hours, and I'm still catching up on my lost sleep (yes, I know that's not actually a thing, but my body's pretty good about letting me know how much rest it needs, so I'm going by its requests!)

I'll talk about more general life stuff tomorrow, so for today, let me just say:

Work proceeds as it can, and right now, the pace of the work is slower than usual.

If you're in a generally-warmer climate and facing the winter storms today, I'm very sorry that you're going through it, and it's 100% ok to be freaked out. Please try to put towels/blankets over your windows and under your doors to help insulate, bundle yourselves up, and don't drive if you can help it.

If you're up North and you're used to the inclement winter weather, please don't poke fun at your southerly neighbors - they don't have your experience, and I'd like to remind you that every year some yahoo or another who's lived in snowy conditions their whole life will inevitably fail to remember that 4-wheel drive does not mean "invincible in snow" and gets themselves and/or others hurt.

In short, be kind to each other, please!

And Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Still Very Sleepy

Oh my god why.

Why did I stay up until 4AM.

Why am I like this.

I've been exhausted all day, which is pretty pathetic, considering I haven't even shoveled (my folks have an electric snowblower and they've been using that), and I barely even moved today.

Okay, that's not true. I ended up going up and down a few sets of stairs about 30 times today. Mostly because my memory has been truly garbage.

I kept forgetting what step I was on in the coffee-making process.

I kept leaving cupboard doors and drawers open.

I forgot to close the bathroom door (thankfully no one else was home).

I was in the basement for a while, set my phone down while I cleaned up a pc case, and when I was done, I started to go back upstairs.

But then I had to go back down because I'd forgotten my used cotton balls, the rubbing alcohol, my phone, and the scraper.

When I headed back up with the rubbing alcohol and trash, I had to leave the alcohol on the counter after throwing out the trash and go back downstairs. I'd forgotten the scraper and phone. Again.

I came up with the scraper. 

Headed back down for the phone.

Came up with the phone, put the scraper away, and started happily heading back up to my bedroom to finally rest and write this blog entry.

I'd left the rubbing alcohol on the counter. Ugh.

Headed back for the alcohol and put it away, setting my phone on the sink while I stuck the bottle of isopropyl in the closet.

I started to head back upstairs and thankfully finally remembered the damn phone.

Went back for the phone, then came upstairs, and now...

It's 8:30 and all I want is sleep.

Wah wah wah. I'm just whining.

So here's my plans that will probably fall through because I'm a lazy sleepypotamus.

Thursday: Art!

Weekend: Maybe tea if I remember?

Monday: Crochet!

Next Tuesday: More blathering. Hopefully more about the weather and my writing than about how stupid I am when I'm tired lol.

I hope you're all holding up better than my poor stupid koala brain!

Go Enjoy Something

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Continue With The Stocking

I'm... tired.

Okay, so I'm always tired. I'm over 30. We tend to be more tired after 29. It's just life.

But I'm pretty tired today - it never felt like the day started. It's 7:30PM now and I just feel like my day is now beginning which is not good since that always leads to overextending myself and staying up too late lol.

But yeah, I'm tired. Which explains why I only got about 4 rounds finished on the stocking :(

Did I take the picture before realizing that I shouldn't give away a pattern that isn't mine?
Yes. Yes I did.
Go To the pattern website, plz lol

Since it is hard to see the site on the picture, here's a link.

Now, I'm using a different width than the lovely pattern developer, so there's.... a lot of blue space. And I'll be cross-stitching over the antlers. And I added some snowflakes/geometric designs. I can't wait to show you the... mostly finished product! I won't be posting pictures of the name cross-stitched on (privacy is pretty important, yeah?) but I'll show you everything except that :) I may even show you how I do one or two stitches (but not the finished name).

Today, besides being sleepy, was also cold. It was sunny, the yard was completely blanketed in a marshmallowy pile of snow, and it was all of 19℉ (-7.2℃). It was also windy. It's certainly February.

Alright - it's almost 8pm and I feel a need for tea before I settle in with some silly videos for the night :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Made A Sketch

Thursday again, and all I wanted to do today was sleep. I think I've had enough coffee to kill a small yak, but I'm very sleepy. I've been in relatively good spirits, however, so I managed to will myself to make a fun little sketch of the Four Pillars of Casual:

"Four Pillars of Casual"

The Four Pillars are, of course:

• Coffee
• Tea
• Snacks
• Books

That's supposed to be a book the coffee (left), tea (right), and English Muffin (center) are on top of lol.

I'm planning on expanding this idea in other mediums (markers, crayons, pencils, maybe even paint, digital) but for now it's just a little scribble. I even had the date wrong at first lol!

Despite my lack of motivation, I've gotten a little writing done today, too! Not... not much, but about a paragraph isn't too bad for someone who wants to sleep and eat popcorn.

I'm going to go back to my manuscript in a moment, but just wanted to update you on the bonkbubble piece I'm doing digitally!

I'm up to 22 colors now from my original 16, and my secondary palette may be limited, but it's still kind of pleasant to look at... except the first color which is a combination of Arylide Yellow and Purple Navy...

Secondaries:

• A7A25E (167, 162, 94)
• E48888 (228, 136, 136)
• DB984A (219, 152, 74)
• ED5A6C (237, 90, 108)
• 34333E (52, 51, 62)
• 777C47 (119, 124, 71)

I'm gonna go back to writing now, folks.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday: First Blizzard of 2021

 

In Which I Have A Good Excuse Today!

Probably 75% of the time when I have a late blog entry (or none at all!) it's because I'm lazy. I know, I know, that's such a shock (sarcastic eyeroll), but today is different, I swear!

Our power went out.

Because we're in the middle of a blizzard and there was a car accident somewhere nearby and it knocked out our power.

So I couldn't upload until now! I was going to! Was, in fact, just about to shut down today's playtime on Stardew Valley to start working on the blog, which was going to talk about how boring the snowstorm has been and how many ducks are in my yard and how Nolan the Farmer and Elliott the Writer have a kid now (Trish), but uh... boop! No power!

Now, I had internet because my old man has the net hooked up to a battery backup that worked, but I don't like running my computer off of battery (what with the last two laptops failing in the battery/power supply area) and I wasn't sure how long the power would be out (estimates were that it'd be off for maybe 5 hours!) but thankfully, the local guys got the power back up... 12 minutes ago. Two hours early.

If I was wearing a hat, I'd take it off to them.

It's been quite the day.

Here's my plan for the rest of the week into next week:

• Thursday: More Art (probably won't be done with the digital bonkbubble) 
• Weekend: Might do a tea review and/or a video game review but I can make no promises!
• Next Monday: I hope I'm finished with the stocking, but who knows? Maybe the cuff will cause problems...
• Next Tuesday: I'll be back to jaw atcha

I'd like to take a second here and say that I really, really don't like winter anymore. I used to love it as a kid, but like most people, once I started having to do things like shovel snow and walk on icy roads, it became a chore to even wake up after November...

Not to mention that I'm a wimp and hate being cold unless I'm wrapped in blankets and curled up in bed. Then I want my face chilly and my hands toasty. Unfortunately it tends to be the other way around...

Regardless, I'm beginning to hate winter a lot, and losing power in the winter is so much scarier than losing it in the spring through fall. Spring? Eh, it'll be a lil chilly but I'll be fine. Bored but fine. Summer? Ugh. Windows open, water in hand, but doable. Fall? Crisp and comfy, so I'm golden. Winter? Well... if it's out too long we'll have to go for an extended drive, I guess... hope you can catch the cat in the dark and put her in her carrier so she doesn't freeze in our heatless home...

So yeah. I'm whining right now.

But I'll bet you anything I'll wake up tomorrow, toasty-toed and swaddled in blankets, and look outside to the marshmallow world and think

"Dang"

"That's pretty"

And then I'll go downstairs and make my coffee while watching what seems like every Mallard duck in the state (seriously we had over 30 today, I counted about 15 pairs!) huddled under the bird feeders, all facing the same direction like boats anchored in a bay. I'll pet the kitty, curled up in the chair she probably kicked my mom out of at some point in the morning, and I'll sip my brew while thinking of story ideas. All of the stress from today will be forgotten in the face of a new day.

Not to be confused with the WWE tag team/stable.

I think I'll work on my book for a bit after posting this blog.

It's only taken 27 minutes from the power coming back on for most of my anxiety and bitterness to depart. I don't fear the cold like I should. I fear the dark. I can't see and I'm really clumsy. I hate accidentally stepping on cat toes.

Sorry this is a bit scattershot!

I hope you're all safe and cozy :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday Late Edition

 

In Which I'm Late... As Usual lol

If you know me by now, you're aware that I am chronically late. Believe it or not, I've always been this way. I just get caught up in whatever I'm doing (storm prep today, since I'm in the Northeastern US and we're being CLOBBERED tonight/tomorrow) and forget to do the Big Thing I'm supposed to do.

I did actually work on crochet this week! I even got some of the deer head done on the stocking!

Those are Red Heart Super Saver skeins for scale!

Closeup on the bottom of the face

So I'm not being lazy, guys, I promise! I made two scarves in two days for the local library (a really nice Trinity Stitch scarf from Red Heart Unforgettable in Polo and a long half-double crochet scarf in a really annoying Aran weight blue squiggly yarn that I absolutely hated working with, both on J hooks), walked them down there, and donated them to a project they're working on along with a scarf I had already finished a while ago, before I blogged about crochet. I also made a camel stitch washcloth for my partner out of an old green cotton yarn I've had laying around - sometimes ya just need something to scrub with!

I only have about... 15 rows left of the deer, then I'll do a round of ribbing. The name will be cross-stitched on in either red or green (depending on what goes best with the sky blue, I might stick with white though...).

I've got a few other projects I'm working on, too, but those won't appear for a while lol. For now, though, I'm going to bed and hoping that I don't have another dream about being put in the Army against my will lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC