Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Did A Geometric Art!

I'll be honest, I haven't thought much about art this week. I started working on my promised Geometric piece.... yesterday.

Should I be drawing every day? Yes. That was my goal. I have not even met it by 10%. That's okay. I just haven't had the focus. Maybe I will soon?

Regardless, I'm pretty happy with how yesterday's art came out!

"MiterSquare"; digital; 2023 [GEOMETRIC]

Today's piece was made in Paint.net using a sequence of colors in 20x20 pixel squares, each spaced one pixel apart around. I'm quite pleased with the variety of colors and tones I got!

I wish I had more to report on, art-wise. I just haven't felt particularly inspired. I think it's this yoyo weather. I woke up to snow again. We've been having warm days lately, but no, yesterday and today were in the 30s. Boo.

And I'm still sleeping poorly. New pillow hasn't helped. New sheets have not helped.

In fact, I still overheated last night until about 7AM, when I woke up cold.

Did I get up to go draw or write? No.

I kicked the sheet and light blanket off and pulled my red fluffy blanket over me so I could sleep for two more hours.

Because I'm a horrid little goblin who hoards sleep, I guess lol.

Anyway, I think I should go drink some water, since my lips are dry and my eyes are itchy, and then I might try to sketch something for next week. I'll be out and about tomorrow, so I probably won't get much art or writing done then.

Next week's Guaranteed Category is MINERAL! Oh boy, let's try not to have any... inappropriate designs, I guess lol!

If you'd like a say in what I draw next week, feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll draw or paint something in that category. If you pick the same category as me, that means I have to do two pictures in that category (two minerals, for instance). If you pick something different, you can tell me whether or not I'm allowed to roll it into my Guaranteed Category (if, say, you want an animal, but you're okay seeing what I come up with for animal + mineral, tell me!).

Anywho, that'll do it for me tonight. I'm already pooped, and I need that water.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I'm A Sleepy Birb Again (Still)

Today was strange. We got sleet and snow and rain at different points, and I was comfortable in my capris and flannel shirt, but I slept in shorts and a tank top under a top sheet and a light woven cotton blanket. I even kicked my socks off. My ceiling fan was running. There's no reason I should be so toasty at night...

Except that this is a brand new set of sheets, so they haven't softened up much yet. They'll be cooler over time, I think.

Regardless, today was wet and slow and my cat kept asking to go out and then being offended that I dared hold her in the rain instead of turning the weather dial to sun like a good cat person would. When things did clear off, in the afternoon, she lay in a beanbag chair in the sun, so I think I'm forgiven.

I got pants today, too. They're good pants. I'll enjoy wearing them.

Oh yeah, I also went for a ride in an RV weekend before last - that was super fun! And uh... I am maybe not brainy today. I honestly just feel super tired lately.

I'm pretty sure it's because I'm not sleeping well due to the season change, but hopefully I'll be sentient again soon. I'm basically a pool of demi-intelligent goo.

As for writing, it's been a slog lately. I keep staring at the cursor, knowing where the story needs to go, and then I'll get distracted by something not writing-related and fluff off, and by then it's past midnight and I've missed the day's wordcount again.

I wrote 139 words today. I'm only down by about 100 words this week, but man, I have felt off my game. 

Anyway, the plan for this week is to draw some stuff tomorrow to post on Thursday, work on too much crochet, and drink more coffee than the human body should be able to withstand in the vague hopes that I'm alive enough on Friday to enjoy the family trip Z and I are taking to a planetarium and a really good diner.

I am exciting lol.

I hope y'all are having better luck holding on to your brains than I am.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Did Some Work!

I think I mentioned on Thursday that last week's Crochet Blog didn't happen due to A Lot Of Reasons, one of which being that I had a gift to make someone!

So here is the gift!

"Sir Batwington" aka "Chonky"

Yes, that is a chubby lil battyboo. Yes, I made him for one of the niblings, who named him Chonky. Because he is Chonky. Heccin Chonky.

Chonky here is made from Red Heart Super Saver yarns, safety eyes, and polyfill. I got the pattern from Sweet Softies and he came together like a dream. If you've got a bat-lover in your life, this pattern's a fantastic option! I'll probably check out other amigurumi on that site in the future.

I have other requests for critters, so I'll get to work on those soon enough, but for now, I'm still working on that Blue Shawl. I only worked on it for 52 minutes this week, but that still brings our total time on this one shawl up to over nine hours!

Future projects may include: a few more Goblin Bags (scrap yarn bags that'll hold random goodies plucked from random places), a couple of water bottle holders from the cotton yarns I've accumulated, possibly another cardigan, possible a shoulder dragon. We'll see.

If I do make the shoulder dragon, I'm going to use it for, of all things, making a cloth pattern so I can sew up an alternate version of it. The cloth dragon will be filled with sand. This is for a character I'd like to work on for either the RennFaire I'm attending in September or possibly future Halloween usage.

Any suggestions for cool looking free dragon crochet patterns would be deeply appreciated. I cannot wait to start working on him.

Anyway, that'll be all from me for now. I know it's late. The day got away from me lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Been Very Busy

You may have noticed I missed both Monday and Tuesday. I promise I can explain.

I've been on the move a lot lately. Had some hangouts, had some St Paddy's Day celebrations, had a couple trips that were a ton of fun, and just basically enjoyed life without leaving much time for things like, say, crocheting, or writing, or even art.

So of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I did two little landscape sketches for today:

"Late At Night"; pen and graphite sketch; 2023 [LOCATION, VEGETABLE]

"Desertion"; pencil sketch; 2023 [LOCATION, VEGETABLE, ANIMAL]

I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't managed to write every night this week, but I knew it was a risk I was running when I realized I was going to run my social battery into the ground. I didn't really go anywhere on Tuesday or Wednesday, but boy was I tired on those days. Today I've felt less tired, but I'm still sleepy enough to not want to do a whole lot. I don't know if I'll write tonight, either. That would mean that tomorrow I'll need to write 400 words, which is a lot to ask, but I know I could do it.

I have so many ideas and plans for the coming months, but I'm very much hoping that at some point I can just sit in absolute silence for a few hours to recharge. Maybe tomorrow morning? Regardless, it's kind of embarrassing how little it really takes to wear me out.

And that isn't to say that I haven't been having an absolutely delightful time! I've loved everything about the various Friend Trips we took, the family meal, the various things we've done, etcetera! My social battery's just a little underutilized, so it needs a little longer to recharge than you'd expect.

So as for next week's Absolutely Going to Art Topic, I'll be doing something in the GEOMETRIC category! If you've got a category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, or Word), feel free to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which one you'd like to see! I might combine it with the Geometric image, or I might do it on its own - you never quite know what you're going to get!

That'll do it for me for now, though. I'm sleepy as heck!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Made Art!

This has been an eventful week. The storm knocked our power out from a little after 10pm to nearly 3am, and I don't handle power outages very well. I stress out because I don't like being cut off from my friends. That's the Millennial in me, I suppose. But yeah, the whole day was pretty wretched, and yesterday had me very anxious about the power because the wind was still high.

And yet, I still managed to do art! I was given a few prompts (Vegetable twice, Animal once) and I filled them!

"Roots"; ink sketch; 2023 [VEGETABLE]

"Bunnable 0.1" pencil sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Bunnable 1.0"; pencil & ink sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Bunnable 2.0"; digital art; 2023 [ANIMAL, VEGETABLE]

As you can see, I kind of got stuck on the bunnies this week lol! I love rabbits. Lop-eared rabbits are my favorites, and little loppy buns with pink noses are the best.

I used Krita to trace Bunnable 1.0, which I had scanned (which was a pain, the scanner did *not* want to work) and then I filled it in with color. Honestly, I think I've just been using the wrong brushes to trace in the past. I used a watercolor brush this time and I think it turned out well! I based the clovers all over the bun on a tablecloth my mother has, and I had a lot of fun working on it.

If you'd like to see me work on something, feel free to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and tell me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, or Word) and I'll work on that category! Sometimes, if I'm given one category and I can see how it would cross over with another, I'll combine it like I did with the Animal/Vegetable crossover for Bunnable 2.0!

As for next week's Guaranteed Category, we're looking at LOCATION, so I'll be doing at least one piece of art based on a location next week. What location will it be? Well, we'll just have to find out next week, won't we?

For now, I'm going to continue my new trend of getting ready for bed amazingly early and not falling asleep til about 2AM.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

PS:

"Lights Out, Dedbert"; Pencil Sketch; 2023 [DEDBERT]

There is text on the page I drew this on in my sketchbook. That writing reads:

"BC of course the power went out at 10PM on a Tuesday... 3/14/2023)"

At the bottom of the page, I scribbled:

"And right in the middle of work!!!"

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Could Do Without All This Wind

It is a wild, wet and wooly world out there right now. The wind is howling and rattling the siding and the roof, the snow is slapping the windows like it has a vendetta against us, and power keeps flickering. My mother thinks she might have seen lightning, but considering that the green flashes came from towards the distant power station, it might have been an overload or a transformer or something. Regardless, it's nuts out there. It's a bit frustrating, really.

I know I missed yesterday's blog - I haven't actually crocheted at all this week. For whatever reason, I've felt pretty bad all week. I've been tired - bone tired - and cranky, and a few days ago, I woke up and had to vomit. It sucked and I hated it, but after I went back to bed, I felt fine.

So yeah, no crochet blog this week. I hope to finish up the shawl by next week, but we'll see. I'm hoping that this week was a fluke and I feel better. I just get the feeling that what I need is about 12 hours of sleep and I'll reset just fine. I'll try it.

As for the rest of the week, I'll be making a fun drawing for Thursday - haven't decided the medium yet, but I'm starting with a sketch. If anyone else wants to have a say in the art department, there's still time to shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll make something from said category!

I've had some more progress on my manuscript, though I've missed a couple of days, sadly. Today's wordcount is 187 with a weekly count of 895. I've got a total word count of 10400! I'm very pleased. Even missing a few wordcounts here and there, I'm doing great!

I'll work on the manuscript some more, make some chamomile tea, settle in, and rest I think. Today's storm is awful and I hate it, but for now I'm safe and sound, snug and secure.

I hope you guys are having a good week! I hope your projects are going well, that if you've had setbacks you don't take them to heart and can keep moving forward.

For now, though, 

Go Enjoy Something

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

Today I Have Art!

Today was a weird day. I managed to get my art done, but boy have I felt laggy and off-kilter. I keep craving hot beverages and chocolate, so I have made an ill-considered 8pm mocha. I have also taken a picture of the final version of the artwork for this week!!!

Z sent me money for a Location image.

I rolled for a Mineral image.

I sketched a few really bad landscapes and another accidental wang that I will not be showing on here (because I threw them out like a petulant child). I stared at the ceiling. I thought.

And I decided that I would finish One image. A Mineral Location image.

Which meant something grand, something made of minerals but very obvious and something people will recognize.

Since Z has an affinity for New Hampshire and I like to poke fun at that fact, I decided I'd resurrect The Old Man Of The Mountain.

"The Old Man"; watercolor pencil & watercolor with white Gelly Roll on watercolor sketch paper;
2023 [LOCATION, MINERAL]

I'm beyond thrilled with how this came out. I had no idea if it would look like the actual formation, and it does! I hope that I can con the scanner into working again so I can throw it on my Redbubble, because the photo doesn't quite do it justice. Somehow the natural striations of the paper worked in my favor and overall I'm just thrilled.

If you would like to have a say in what I'm drawing or painting next week, head over to my Ko-Fi account and buy me a coffee with a note attached telling me which category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

My personal prompt for next week is: VEGETABLE. This doesn't mean you can't also request a VEGETABLE artwork, it just means that I have to have two veggie arts up! And if you request anything else I may try to combine Veggie with it, or I may do separate images.

I'll be typing up more words in the manuscript and also checking the internet to find suitable plant material to draw after this. I hope you guys are having a lot of fun with your own art projects.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

In Which Today Was Lazy

 You may ask yourself "FC, how is today being lazy different from usual?" and to that I have... okay no real answer. I was indeed lazy today. Sat in my room for the most part. Played Pokeclicker. Ate cold chicken tenders. Drank coffee. Today was mostly rest.

Does that mean that I did nothing? Not really. I did do some work on my manuscript, started planning tomorrow's art (I owe myself a Mineral and one of my Coffee Donors a Location. I'm thinking of combining both into one piece, possibly), and cuddled the cat. She has been very demanding lately. She just wants love!

Most of what I've been doing lately is listening to music - Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys, Gershwin, Liszt, Miles Davis, Poppy, Nightwish, Toby Fox, and funnily enough, the Gamecube opening screen.

I have varied and bizarre tastes.

I've also been listening to Un Owen Was Her a lot. If you don't know it by that name, you may know it as The Death Waltz (even though it's in 4/4 time, I'm pretty sure).

Today was pleasantly restful!

And we had seven deer in the back yard on Friday, which was really cool to see. A whole herd of does in their nearly-grown daughters. They swarmed my mom's bird feeders, slurped up all the seeds, and frolicked up and down the back yard. Later, when we were heading back from dropping Z off, the babies were all bounding down the street!

Also our ducks are back - two healthy pairs of ducks!

Today's wordcount was 104, leading to a 1 week total of 911. Not as high as some weeks, but still more than the 700 I aimed for.

As for the rest of the week?

Tomorrow I'll be painting/drawing/sketching

Thursday I'll post at least 1, possibly 2 or 3 pieces of art

Next Monday I'll post more crochet

Next Tuesday I'll blather at ya some more :)

For now, I'm going to finish my water, brush my teeth, and listen to some Stone Temple Pilots.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Have Progress!

It was my mom's birthday last week, so I made her a present, which took about 3.5 hours to make and came from this pattern.

It's about as tall as my hand is long and took almost 3.5 hours to make!

As for the blue shawl? I have hit the second shade of blue! I spent about an hour and 20 minutes this week on it, bringing my total time up to about 8.25 hours. It's... not very long, but it's quite wide. Maybe it'll be good for summer - that's what it's designed for after all!

It looks much longer than it is in this image

It Also looks longer than it is wide in this image, but...
It's pretty wide, bro

If anyone has any of this shawl-in-a-cake yarn they want to get rid of, I'll happily give it a home. Can you imagine these kinds of yarns made into lightweight hex cardigans?! Or a lightweight scarf?! This blue has a much better hand than the green stuff I used, because it doesn't unwind while you crochet with it.

I am given to understand the Lion Brand version of this yarn is discontinued (boo), but I really enjoyed it, so if I have an opportunity to grab more, I'm gonna have to take it. As for other lace weight yarns, you better believe I'm keeping an eye out. I also need to get on figuring out my drop spindle and gold mawata...

As pleased as I am with my progress (and I really am!), I need to start considering what the top of this shawl should look like. Should I leave it straight across? Should I do a row of shells somehow? And if I do the shells, should I figure out how much lace that takes? Ah, conundrums.

Well, I'm just going to have to keep working on the shawl in order to find out.

Also, I really want to make another hex cardigan or two - maybe even one with cuffed sleeves that reach my wrist?

And I still want to make a vest dangit...

Seems to me like I've got plenty of ideas to sustain me this year.

How are all of your projects doing?

That'll about do it for me - I'm getting distracted by my cold toes and need to go throw on new socks.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Got A Request!

This week I received a Ko-Fi request from the ever delightful Z who asked for something in the way of "MINERAL" for this week! He did add (in private) that I should try to keep this one G-Rated, since I did have that one mineral piece that was... shall we say... "upstanding"?

So this week, instead of choosing a rod-shaped mineral like an Emerald or other beryl, I chose the humble, bubbly Malachite! And to celebrate my 2-in-1 getting its new battery so it charges correctly and doesn't refuse to turn on, I did it digitally!

"Malachite"; digital art; 2023 [MINERAL]

I'm quite pleased with how the shading and highlights on the stone itself turned out. If I was to change one or two things, it'd be to add an underlayer with shading as well, so it looks less like a flat image. That might also be caused by the fact that there's an outline, which also flattens images.

You may have noticed this bears a lot of similarity to my favorite abstract art/geometric design element "bubble art", and I'll admit, I just really, really love the weirdness of concentric circles and ripples. It's probably from my lifelong fascination with water or possibly volcanoes. Why volcanoes? Because they change topography by pushing up on the earth. A volcano is similar to the splash of a drop of water in a puddle. Seismic activity tends to treat the earth more like a liquid.

This has been your brief window into how my mind operates: volcanoes = ripples = water = bubbles = art.

If you would like a say in what I draw (and a surefire way to force me to have something for the art blogs lol) then please shoot me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll do my best to get it up here!

I'm going to try to challenge myself this week, too, so I'm going to roll an 8-sided die. 1) Animal, 2) Vegetable, 3) Mineral, 4) Dedbert, 5) Location, 6) Geometric, 7) Word, 8) roll 2x.

I rolled a 3 so I'll try to have another mineral of some sort here next week!

Anywho, the rest of tonight will be spent drawing and typing so I can get more written down for my manuscript (I wrote 135 words last night!). Hopefully I can hit the next story beat tonight, because it's a good one. Got plans for this Main Character that don't involve just futzing around in a rotted out village.

It's not a post-apocalyptic story, either. Or fantasy. Or Sci-Fi. It's... Fiction. Just Fiction.

And I'm having a blast!

I hope you guys are having as much fun in your creative projects!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC