Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Have A Very Silly Confession

I... am a klutz. A clod. A total stumblebum.

That last one especially, considering I managed to fall flat on my butt while air guitaring to - of all things - Knights of Cydonia by MUSE.

Yeah.

I'm super hardcore, you guys...

I was wailing away on the ol air guitar, but I'd made a critical error - you cannot air guitar in slide-on slippers, comfy as they are. My foot slipped out at an inopportune moment and I landed hard on my butt. On top of a paperback Diablo novelization I've never finished reading. I immediately got back to my feet and kicked off the slippers, finishing the song and a few more, but uh...

Yeah, it bruised my backside.

And strained my neck and upper back muscles. In fact, it strained those muscles so much that I made myself a little dizzy. The dizziness and stiffness are gone now, but the bruise and some residual soreness remain even now (the tumble was on Saturday night). Today, I am pleased to say that I'm quite comfy and after popping my back (very carefully and during a very gentle stretch) while sorting recycling, my neck soreness is almost entirely gone.

So that's why I needed the heated neck pillow the last couple of nights - my neck muscles were sore and stiff and needed relaxing. Now I'm feeling great.

As for the rest of the news of the week, I'll confess I haven't drawn since Thursday, but the 2-in-1 battery showed up yesterday, so I'll be playing around with digital art tomorrow. If you've got any requests for art, drop me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

I wrote 186 words tonight, which brings me up to 1219 words this week and nearly 8600 words total! I'm pretty pleased with that progress. I'll be working on the shawl some more tonight before I sleep.

Honestly, I'm pretty sleepy, though, so maybe not.

The plan for the rest of the week is:

Art on Thursday

Crochet on Monday

Blather on Tuesday.

I hope you guys have a good night tonight, and that your creative juices are flowing!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

Y'All Ready For Some Shawl?

Because yeah, I worked on the shawl for a whole... hour and 26 minutes this week, bringing my efforts up to a total of 6 hours 53 minutes or so.

And it's not even halfway done.

So if I was to charge an hourly rate at my state's minimum wage ($13.80/hr), I'd have to charge over $95 for this thing just based on labor!

And this, kids, is why there's no such thing as a "fair price" for handicrafts and artwork.

But enough about that, you'll want to see the shawl!

Yup, that's my knee in the shot at the bottom left
and my laptop in the top right.

I've got quite a bit of work left to do on this shawl, and while it's one of the easiest shawls you can make, it's also incredibly slow going with a 2.75mm hook and lace weight cotton.

It's really pretty though.

I kind of wish I had another cake of the green lace from this brand so I could make another shawl in a more springy color... maybe add some cute little pink & white sakura blossoms onto it as décor...

But nay, I shall finish this sucker!

And then I shall make another project!

Who knows what that shall be. We'll find out.

Anywho, I'm gonna go brush my teeth and put a hot pack on my neck for reasons I'll explain tomorrow (they're very silly reasons). I hope all your projects are going well!

That'll do it for me tonight.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

This Week Has Been Weird

So I normally complain about how tired I am and how I can't sleep and wah wah wah, but man, this week has been * ~ * w E i R d * ~ *

I slept almost all day yesterday. Seriously. Got up at noon. Went to bed at like midnight the night before. Did the same last night and slept til nearly 10AM. It's snowing, so it's all quiet out there like I like.

Don't know what it is about taking care of a couple of very old, shockingly chill (though occasionally naughty/ridiculous) Jack Russels, but I've been helping out on Mondays & Tuesdays, and it has meant totally-zonked Wednesdays and barely-functional Thursdays every time.

Frankly, I'm okay with it. I have rarely slept so well.

Kind of annoying to miss out on a whole day of progress, but that's just life.

Speaking of progress, uh... not much has been made on that shawl. I've worked on it for a total of... less than 20 minutes.

I cannot be sorry about that when I've actually finished three separate pieces of art for you guys today!

"Side Eye"; graphite on sketchbook; 2023 [DEDBERT, ANIMAL]

This first image is a fun little sketch of our boy Dedbert giving a Look to a confused little squirrel. This was composed and sketched during coffee while the snow fell softly, right before the snow stopped, in fact lol! I love drawing little scenarios where Dedbert, who is actually only about the size of my head, is much bigger than other animals. I have a Beanie Baby nearly his size, after all...

"Independence"; Digital; 2023 [WORD] [GEOMETRIC]

Did I use the ol Red White & Blue to signify Independence? Yes. Did I also use the letters of "independence" to plot out the shape here? Yes. It's been a hot minute since I did any bubble art. This one was made in Krita with a few different brushes. Sadly, my 2-in-1 tablet computer croaked, so I did this using my XP-Pen and my normal laptop, which... doesn't always work out great for me. See, when I use Krita on the 2-in-1, it lets me draw around things without buffering. On my laptop, it buffers and that's why the lines are more jagged. It's very frustrating.

You know what isn't frustrating? This last piece:

"Mountaineer"; digital; 2023 [LOCATION]

Oh boy am I satisfied with the way this sky turned out! This is another blender/brush combo experiment and I'm thrilled with how it came out. Especially the way the colors are blended on the mountains. That's the blending stump on Krita used against several other brushes in multiple colors. The sky is all pens with the first wet blender in Krita. The water was made the same way. The trees are several brushes and pencils in shades of green blended down with the cotton bud blender, and the ground is one of the watercolor brushes with a pallet knife blender run around it.

I will keep experimenting with ways to blend colors and build depth, I think, because it's really fun to experiment.

All of these images this week were requested via Ko-Fi, so if you'd like a say in what I paint or draw next week, feel free to drop me a coffee over on Ko-Fi along with a message telling me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Word, Geometric) and I'll make it happen, no matter what life tries throwing at me. Come dogs or blizzards or insomnia, I will make the art!

Speaking of making art, I have been working on that manuscript, still. Today's word count was a whopping 365! That means that since last Thursday I've gotten 1077 words done. Not as good as some weeks (I missed a few days like yesterday, wrote less than 100 on others) but that's still more than my goal of 700 words a week!

And how about you guys? How have your creative projects been going? Have you guys been getting anything done? Are you looking forward to working on something artistic? I hope so!

As for me, I'm going to go back to bed - yes, I'm still sleepy and cozy and dopey. I'm okay with that. I got three pretty okay pieces of art and over 1000 words done this week. I did good.

And so did you.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which This Is Kind of A Catchup Blog

I'm going to be honest - I didn't draw at all this past week. Sorry. Mostly I have simply been busy and haven't made time like I thought I would. Probably after next week I'll have a better grasp on my art! I do, however, have a series of updates and one quick sketch to put out there for this week!

So, Monday.

I did do a bunch of crochet - in fact, since last week I've worked on that new shawl for almost 2 hours and 10 minutes! That means it's been a total of 5 hours, 8 minutes, and 45 seconds with a 2.75mm hook and lace weight yarn!

Yes, it's very meshy.
Also, yes, I've worn a small patch into the touchpad of my laptop.
That's life.

Now, as for Tuesday blathering, I went on some adventures with my guy and our friends on Valentines to have something of a Palentines Day filled with sushi, burgers, and fun. It was a fantastic trip, I ended up with a massive dark chocolate Kit-Kat, and we got to hang out with cute dogs.

All in all, it's been a fantastic week!

Also, the writing is going pretty good on my manuscript! I had a day where I did no writing (yesterday), but I made up for it last night. In total, I've written 1176 words since last week! And I've got a good idea of where the story is headed, too.

As for art...

I've been bitten by brainworms about a Weird Western idea I had way back in the day regarding a man who was made to look like a demon and had to wander around the desert trying to clear his own name.

Like a lot of story ideas I've had, it's grown up a lot since then, and now I think Devon "The Devil" Deepenham has a deeper well than I'd imagined.

Maybe I won't be as cruel to him as I've been to some of my other characters lately.

That seems unlikely, since the poor man is basically a Frankensteinian monstrosity who escaped an unscrupulous circus sideshow in the twilight of the Civil War...

Anyhow, here's a quick sketch I mocked up of his profile in about 10 minutes:

"The Devil"; pencil sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

Oh boy am I not happy with that. I need a lot more practice with profiles before I can get him right. His face is all scrunched up.

Then again, I only gave myself 10 minutes to crank that poor boy out.

I've got work to do with him, especially since I'd really love to figure out a simplified version of him to draw consistently.

He's such a delightfully visual idea.

Next week's looking to be a lot like this week, so I apologize for that, but hey, I'll keep trying to do art no matter what. I can't guarantee it'll be *good* art, though.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me tonight. I have writing to do, sleep to catch up on, and some cranberry/elderberry juice to sip like a fine wine (if you haven't tried it, try it, it's incredible). And if you want a say in next week's art, go ahead and shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which category you'd like - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Geometric, Location, Word!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Art Was Made

Oh boy has today been a weird one. My cat had to go to the vet for a checkup, so of course she chose this week to be off her feed and a little barfy. Her appointment lasted less than 20 minutes, wherein the vet said "she's fine" and now she's eating again.  The dork.

But yeah, cat's fine.

So now I can focus on important stuff - like art!

I did draw every day this week, but boy were some of those sketches embarrassingly derpy (we're talking barely more than a pile of graphite spaghetti), so here's the best I did:

"Nyan"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"RIP Mouse"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Scribbletree"; mechanical pencil in sketchbook; 2023 [VEGETABLE]

"Crowmouse" digital; 2023 [ANIMAL]

I'll admit, I drew the same subject matter twice because it was the weirdest thing I've seen all month. The crows we have around here have such an overabundance of non-prey food that I forget that they can and do hunt. I guess the mouse was too easy to resist for the crow who snagged him. Regardless, it was a fascinating series of events that nearly put me off my brie.

As for next week, we'll see if I can get seven decent sketches! I'm not gonna hold my breath, it'll take a lot of drawing practice for me to improve greatly.

I'm going to try anyway.

How are your guys' art projects going? Anyone have any art plans for February?

And if you want to have a say in what I draw, feel free to buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a note saying which category you want to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

As for me, I'm going to go obsessively watch my fellow Zelda nerds break down the Nintendo Direct trailer we just got for Tears of the Kingdom and then play a bunch of fun videos for my boyfriend.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Speak On The Week

Let's talk about what I've been up to since last Tuesday, shall we? I have done some crochet (as seen yesterday), and I have sketched a bit, and I've written so much! But I've also had a few fun little experiences.

Firstly, everyone survived the Polar Plunge as I'll call it. Yes, there are places that routinely get down to around -63℉/-52,8℃ with windchill, but this isn't one of those places. This place tends to stay around 10 to 25℉/-12,2 to -3,9℃ in February. Somehow no one in my county even suffered a cold-related injury! I'm very, very happy about that. Of course, that's not to say there won't be tragedies discovered later on in the quiet, tucked-away places that our unhoused population feel safest in, but for now, we don't seem to have lost anyone. I am unbelievably grateful for that.

No pipes burst, no windows broke, no cars failed to start. We were fortunate. Yes, the top step of our deck's stairs came off, but honestly? That deck's been rotting for years. I'm surprised it took that long.

Regardless, the weather was abysmal. And then yesterday got up to 41℉/5℃. And today was back down to about 25℉/-3,9℃. Yoyo weather.

Now that I've told you the weather, here's some storytime:

On Friday, which was the a bitter cold day hovering around -28℉/-33,3℃ with windchill, my boyfriend and I were hanging out in my parents' kitchen, enjoying some delicious brie and coffee when I saw something under the bird feeders. Something small was wriggling around and suddenly I realized it was a mouse!

Pretty much the second I pointed the mouse out to my mom and my boyfriend, a crow hopped down and...

Brutally killed the mouse.

Plucked it up into its beak and thrashed it around until it was limp.

And then ate it.

Nature! Nothing like it!

So guess what I'm drawing for Thursday...

I won't be graphic, don't worry.

Still, that was the most metal thing I've seen in a while. Our hawk hasn't been around to cull pigeons and doves, after all.

Death aside, I mentioned that I'm still writing!

I did miss a day or two of writing, including one day where I only got seven words down (ouch), but because I was on such a roll today, I still made my week's goal! This week, I wrote 1347 words! Guess how many I wrote today? No seriously, guess.

Okay did you guess over 100? Because you'd be right.

I wrote 948 words today.

Nine hundred forty eight!

That's over an entire week's expected wordcount!

More than that - I wrote an entire chapter in one sitting!!!

So that's the high I'm riding tonight!

And hopefully that will carry me through the sketching portion of my evening. I missed a sketch yesterday because I kept interrupting myself lol.

I may not be posting on time for the next couple of weeks, however, because I'll be helping some friends out on Mondays & Tuesdays. If I am overly distracted on those days, I'll try to write a Hybrid Crochet/Blather Blog on Wednesday, but I should still have my Art blogs regularly!

Speaking of art blogs - if you want a say in what I draw (besides my attempt to immortalize the intrepid huntscrow), feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message attached letting me know your preferred category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word), and I'll make your dream come true!

It might come true in a confusing fashion, but it'll somewhat come true lol.

As for me, I'm going to groove to Stuart Copeland's Spyro soundtracks and draw things.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Have Crocheted!

First things first - it doesn't feel at all like a Monday. Today felt like a Sunday, and a particularly weird one. I've been even more tired than usual, lately, but that hasn't stopped me from crocheting!

First we have the water bottle holder I made for my dad!

It was my father's birthday recently, so I made him a simple wool water bottle holder. Did he need one? Probably not, but it's always good to have one on-hand. I based this off of several patterns on Ravelry while making my own choices. The wool is very old and had developed a sticky, dusty texture from having gone unwashed the whole time. I took a little fragrance-free, color-free laundry detergent and some cold water and gave the thing a soak & scrub. After a good long soak, I took it out, wrung it gently and then rolled it dry in a towel before hanging it on the towel hook in our bathroom.

It's now in fantastic shape sitting on the table, awaiting use.

In Other News, here's the shawl I've been working on this month.

This week's progress was made over the course of about an hour and 40 minutes. It's coming right along, I think. Eventually, it will switch over to a darker blue, but we've got a while yet before that happens. I just hope it happens at the start of a new row. I'm sure I can fudge it to make that happen...

Regardless, I'm still plugging along, hooking and drawing and typing, and while I may feel ridiculously sleepy most of the time, I shall persist.

or something lol.

I'm also still using videos as a means of timing how long I've worked on something! That's been a lot of fun, actually. I strongly recommend it. I don't recommend having the Autoplay feature on, though, because then you might not know how long each vid you've watched while working was! You might be surprised by how much you can get done during an episode of Food Wishes or Oliver The Beagle.

Anyway, I think I'm going to get my words in over on my manuscript now.

If you want a say in this week's art work, feel free to drop me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which category (animal, vegetable, mineral, dedbert, location, geometric, word).

And as always,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In which I Discover I must change my schedule...

 Don't be alarmed - when I say "change my schedule", I'm not talking about how often/what I blog about. No, I am talking about the order of operations I have throughout the day.

Currently, I wake up, have my coffee, get washed & dressed, and then set about the hard work of... trying to figure out what to do next. I always mean to do more than just crochet a bit and doomscroll, but somehow I always end up just doing that. And then I write in the evenings. I have been intending to also do art at night, which is when I usually feel at my most productive.

But I've never been a spectacular multitasker.

In fact, I'm rather terrible at performing multiple trained skills in the same time blocks.

So I will have to add something to my mornings.

I'm going to try, starting tomorrow, to sketch while I drink my coffee.

Usually, I've been playing armchair for the cat, parsing out random story ideas, or grumbling at wildlife during my morning joe, but that clearly needs to change if I want to ever get a consistent art schedule down.

Besides, the light is so much better during the day, and for the next couple days, I won't be going outside at ALL.

No, sir, I'm not interested in experiencing what a Real Feel of -63℉/-52.8℃ day feels like. Not in the least.

The frigid temperatures are, of course, being caused by the same weather that's icing over the southern US right now. My heart breaks for everyone trapped in that mess. Mainers like me will remember the Ice Storm of 1998 - this disaster to our south is that, but in states that have no infrastructure or citizen preparations for such weather! It's nuts!

Up here, we're just getting wind and bitter cold.

I cringe at 14℉/-10℃.

Anywho, I only managed one measly sketch this week. At least it's a fun one!

"Assemblage"; mechanical pencil on sketch book; 2023
[VEGETABLE, MINERAL, ANIMAL]

This little sketch is of some random, gravity-defying twigs, a cherry, a bottle, a beetle, and a small rock. I started sketching it as kind of a mindless image, just letting shapes form. I kind of like it!

I hope to do more art next week (sound familiar? lol) but we'll see if me changing up what time of day I draw works!

As for tonight, I'm sleeeeeepy as heck. Keep staying up way too late reading dumb stuff, doomscrolling, YouTube bingeing. It's silly. I'm silly.

So what I'll do is get cozy, and actually try to sleep tonight.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which Today Was Weird.

Last night I stayed up til almost 5AM because I was rereading my manuscript and planning next week's moves. Then I slept til almost 11AM and that was a mistake.

Why? Because it meant that I haven't been properly awake-awake all day. I've been floating on a cozy cloud of coziness.

I did a little crochet today, a little writing, and thought about drawing (which I still might do tonight).

This week's wordcount was 918! I wrote over 200 words yesterday alone!

And that brings the manuscript's total to over 4100 words over 9 pages! And I got to write a paragraph with the phrase "barf soup" in it.

This has been an all around good week.

It's just today that's felt off-kilter and weird. I don't know what's up with it, to be honest.

Maybe I'll draw something that looks confused tonight.

As for the next week, my plans are:

• Random art for Thursday
• More crochet for Monday
• Blather for Tuesday.

I ah.... I may have forgotten I was writing this blog. For several hours lol.

Sorry!

Anyway, I've been a bit off kilter all day.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the oomph to paint or something!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC