Thursday Art Walk

In Which I Legit Forgot To Post This Earlier...

I finished today's sketch in the morning, and I've just... forgotten until now that I needed to post it lol.

Today's sketch is of a fairly famous beaver kit named Nibi, and it's based off of a picture that Z & I send back and forth to each other as something of an in-joke. it's not really a joke, it's just a fun thing we do.

I adore her little face in the original image, so I couldn't resist sketching her.

"Nibi" (aka "Hello!"); pencil sketch; 2023
[ANIMAL]

Nibi is such a cute little thing, but then, all baby beavers are precious chunky monkeys. They are the roundest, most adorable critters in North America and I love them about as much as I love opossums.

This picture almost didn't get sketched, by the way. We're having a lil silverfish problem right now, and one made its way onto the sketchbook. I did not notice this nearly inch-long creepy crawly until I had already carried it downstairs, set it on the kitchen table, and made myself coffee.

I sat down with the coffee, hoping to finish sketching (I had vague shapes lightly sketched, but no facial features), and the bug made itself known. I somehow avoided dumping my coffee and threw the sketchbook across the kitchen in surprise.

I'm not afraid of silverfish, I just wasn't prepared for such a robust specimen to appear next to my thumb so suddenly.

It was definitely not on the sketchbook anymore after its impromptu flying lesson, though, so I brought the book back, sat down, and drew.

I do want to do a few more takes on that cute pose, and I'd love to get a still from the video of her bunny hopping away from the dam and make a pic of her clicking her heels gleefully lol. Ironically, she has since made friends with an actual bunny, so I'll have to make a pic of that, too lol.

For now, though, I've got crochet to finish, pouches to make, and sleep to catch up on.

If you'd like to have a say in what I draw next week, feel free to send me a little donation on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Food, Location, Geometric, Word) you'd like to see, and I'll draw or paint something that fits the bill!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Have Had A Week(end)
(A Pretty Great One In Fact)

This weekend was fantastic. On Friday, Z took me to the Farnsworth Art Museum to view the collection of paintings & sketches Edward Hopper (the painter of Nighthawks, my favorite painting!) did in my hometown. It was incredible, especially since, despite having lived in Rockland, Maine throughout my entire childhood, I had never gone to the museum. It was $20 for adults to get in, but locals get in for free.

I am obsessed with Edward Hopper's work. I love that he focused on people and buildings (but mostly buildings), and I love the sense of emptiness in his work.

Since the Farnsworth Museum's bread & butter are their Wyeth collections, they had plenty of pieces by Andrew Wyeth that they showed alongside the Hoppers, and those had that Andrew Wyeth stormy, desaturated appeal. He didn't use a lot of focal colors, eschewing N.C. Wyeth's use of aquamarine, turquoise, and teal in favor of umbers and ochres. Andrew Wyeth's art seemed to be all captured during overcast and dark days, whereas Hopper's pieces tended to be in strong sun. Both had a moodiness about their work, but I think Hopper really nailed the way light works on a sunny day in Rockland.

In short, if you want to know what my childhood hometown looks like in full sun, look at Hopper's sketches & paintings of the area. If you want to know what the same area looks like in darker weather, check out Andrew Wyeth. If you want to see what memories of this town feel like, though, you go with N. C. Wyeth. His weirdly Mediterranean palette really captures the way Maine feels in more carefree memories.

We spent a great deal of time in the museum, looking at the exhibits and oohing and aahing over paintings like Emilie Stark-Menning's Strawberry Moon, or a fantastic Enamel on Canvas painting of a semi-psychedelic forest whose artist I sadly cannot remember the name of, or even a pair of Grandma Moses paintings! I just about lost it when I found out there was a pair of Chihuly glass pieces, too!

After the museum we headed back to my place where we found my dad hard at work replacing the deck.

Which he was still working on today.

The concept of a new deck is very nice, since we've had rotten boards and broken steps for a while. The problem with building a new deck is... my yard is 100% clay and rocks and roots. The auger is struggling. My dad is struggling. It took him 4 hours just to get the supplies. The cable for the railings came faster than he was able to find all the hardware & wood.

It's not going the best, especially since until today the weather has been uncooperative - rain every day but today and at random weird times. They're also building the deck on the side of our house that is close to our next door neighbors' bedrooms, so they kind of have to stop construction after dark.

Regardless, this has been an adventure and a half.

Saturday had me wandering down to my Fiber Circle and enjoying my hour outside immensely. I got so much crocheting done, and I'm continuing that trend today by getting several inches of top done (on the front of the top). I'm cruising along.

I haven't drawn yet this week, though, so we'll have to work on that.

In fact, that might be what I do after this row I'm working on...

If you'd like to be the source of inspiration for a finished piece on Thursday, feel free to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Food, Location, Geometric, Word) you'd like to see, and I'll make something based on that!

My plans for this week are:

Art for Thursday

Crochet Progress for Monday

Blather next Tuesday.

For now, though, I'm going to finish that row, throw down a sketch or two, and then play more Stardew, because dang it I am going to get my butt down to the 100 level of the Skull Cavern...

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which There Is Progress:

I've been working hard on everything and I'm happy to say that I had a great time at the Knitting Circle on Saturday. I managed over 500 stitches just while walking (I only did so when there was a straight area with no fellow pedestrians, driveways, or road crossings), and I ended up with 2400 stiches or so on each the gusset and pocket!

Top Right: finished front panel (80 rows x 50 stitches + 1 3/4 round single
Center Diagonal: gusset in-progress (over 2250 stitches of 15sc rows)
Bottom Left: back/flaps in-progress (over 2250 stitches of 50sc rows)

I'm not done, but it's seeming like I'll actually finish, at this rate. I'm also working on a top, but that is in very very early stages and just looks like a tangle of red. I am very excited to be making so much progress, and oh boy am I even more excited to *finish* these projects!

I've started patterning another pouch, too, but that'll be the last thing I make for the Ren-Faire, I think. I'm just about stitched-out lol.

I am also a bit excited to talk about my week tomorrow, but that's not entirely crochet-related, so we'll talk about that then.

For now, I'm going to keep working hard, and hopefully I'll have some finished stuff to show you on the 28th!

That'll do it for me.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Another Art!

This week's piece is not what I hoped it would be. I wanted to have a fun bubble art piece with a lot of different points and a slow fade, but... I kept losing count of the pixels, kept slipping up and drawing over rounds, kept getting distracted, kept forgetting which direction the color-shifts were heading.

So instead I made a fun gradient out of squares:

"Square A"; digital; 2023
[GEOMETRIC]

I quite like the colors I chose for this, and while it's not the smoothest gradient I could have done, part of that is because I scaled it up about 500% from its original size (which was roughly 1" square). The other part of the reason is that I increased (or decreased) each RGB value by 5 (less on smoother rounds). I had a set of 6 colors that I wanted to hit and went from each to the next, adjusting with every round.

I hope to have another piece out eventually which has more colors (though very similar ones) and using bubbles instead of concentric boxes, but for now, we have Square A, and Square A is very nice, in my opinion.

What do you guys think? Do you have any suggestions for me, for how to make the process easier (without buying/downloading any Adobe products)? I'm currently using Krita & Paint.net.

I find Paint.net much easier for making pixel pieces like this, but Krita is great for painterly pursuits.

Anyway, that'll be my short little art blog today. For a piece that took 30 hours to complete, (due to the 15 or so previous iterations that failed miserably), I don't have too much to say on it lol.

For now, I think I'll focus on getting cozy for the night and working on a very poorly-thought-out crochet project that may or may not work.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Have Been Playing More Video Games

That's right I'm obsessed with Stardew Valley again. I've made it all the way to Ginger Island, now! Krobus is my roommate, which made for an interesting time while I was unlocking the Witch's Hut on the mainland and confirms, for me, that no, Krobus, Rasmodius has no friggin clue you're now his northern neighbor. In fact, my lil shadow-bro roommate has been super helpful! He makes me fried eel and strange buns, with the occasional lucky lunch, and he even brought in a couple of houseplants and an end table! What a cool dude!

I've found Professor Snail, helped Birdie (that's a fun quest!), and I've even done a few of the minigames on Ginger Island for golden walnuts - turns out I'm better at Simon than I ever thought I was.

And... yeah... I think I've maybe been spending more time in the game than I probably should - I haven't done art since Thursday, for instance. And I really wanted to do more today. Like... I wanted to actually work on the modesty fishnet top I'm planning to wear under my Torvi top from Holy Clothing. It's lovely, don't get me wrong, it's just... a very open neckline, shall we say.

And I don't like it when my chest gets sunburned.

This does mean that I'm going to have to get some black dye, though, because the choker I have is black, so the undershirt should probably also be black. Dye is less than $4, and the cotton crochet thread I prefer to use is anywhere from $5-8 on any given day, so the dye is the better option for me, sadly. The hard part will be finding an appropriate Dying Receptacle. Possibly a 5 gallon bucket no one's using, or a couple cheap dish pans (one for the pouch, one for the top). The things I'm planning to dye will be small and light-weight, but I'll probably use the whole dang bottle just to be safe.

Now I'll be honest, one of the other reasons to make a mesh top is that the embroidery on the Torvi top's neckline is horribly scratchy, and I want to have something between it and my skin to minimize irritation.

It's my only complaint about my dear Torvi.

It has pockets!

Anywho, I've got silk to spin, a mesh top to create, and a week to plan out.

I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing for Thursday's blog, but it'll be art of some sort!

Next Monday I'll show you all the progress I've made.

Next Tuesday I'll be back to blather :)

If you'd like a say in what I draw or paint on Thursday, hit up my Ko-Fi and send me a donation with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) you'd like to see, and I'll do something based on that prompt!

Other than that, it's back to work (or just as likely, more Stardew lol) for me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Did More Work On My Pouch!

Well, I've got 1400 stitches in on both the back & gusset for that pouch now, and I cannot wait to be done. Single crochet is tedious if you have attention issues, like I do, and my silly buns decided to build a whole project of just single crochet. The same rows, over and over, stitch after stitch... it wears on me.

Which is why I'm only up to 1400 stitches per piece instead of a heftier 2100.

On the back, I have 28 rows, but on the gusset, 1400 stiches translates to 93 rows plus 5 stitches. This means I have officially finished one side of the gusset (81 rows) and started on the bottom (54 stitches wide).

My goal for rows on the back is... steep. The front is 80 rows, so I'll need to do that, plus however many rows it takes for the gusset, plus however many the closure flap needs in front (probably 15-25 rows). This means it could be anywhere from 110-120 rows. Of which I've done 28. So probably only about 23.3% finished.

The gusset, on the other hand, will probably take anywhere about... 216 rows? Total? Maybe? Which means that with 93 rows completed, we're at about 43.1%.

So the gusset is going almost twice as quickly as the back panel!

Yeah, this is taking a lot of math, and my English/Arts brain isn't very happy about it lol.

So here, I've photographed both the gusset (a tall, skinny rectangle), and the panel (a much shorter, wider rectangle) on my laptop keyboard. Both pieces are a measly 900 stitches at this point...

Unfortunately, this image got flipped, so the top piece is the gusset
 and the bottom is the panel...

The second picture I took today was the correct orientation, and I took

1400 stitches each, the gusset (left) is now almost as long as my keyboard
and the panel (right) is just taller than my track pad!

I'm still spinning, still stitching other things, still working on a pattern for sewing pocket linings for both this pouch and another (potentially a purple pouch!!!). I'm keeping plenty busy, fiberwise.

That'll about do it for me today. Hopefully I'll have anywhere from 2100 to 3500 stitches done in each one next week. We'll see lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Did A Digital Thing LOL

Since I've been addicted to Stardew Valley the last few days, you might be able to guess that I haven't been painting much.

You'd be right.

In fact, I decided to do a random colorplay study with Paint.Net!

"Devolution_Pink"; Digital Art; 2023
[GEOMETRIC]

As you can see, the project was... interesting.

That arrow in there is not a mistake - I used the different shapes in Paint.Net and then built a gradient off of that. the fuzziness of the image is actually intentional - I outlined each shape with a gradient from one color to the next and sort of played around with making my own gradients. I could make a much looser gradient if I wanted to, but I kind of like the slightly blurry look.

To be perfectly honest with y'all, I really love making bizarre little images like this. I like just going bonkers with colors and shapes. I'm trying to train my instincts so that I use better combos of colors, tighten my palette (my first instinct is to Use Everything Everywhere All At Once). I'd prefer to have a tight palette or a specific gradient to play with.

As for the rest of tonight, I'm going to be fiddling around with some more art, playing with my yarn, and maybe I'll throw in an hour or two of Stardew (I'm in Year 3 and Grandpa was Pleased!). I feel pretty cozy, and tomorrow is supposed to mostly be good weather and bright sun, so we'll see about that, too.

For now, though,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which It Is Raining

Today's weather has been absolutely fall-like (which I'm very okay with). I'm in terry capris and a flannel shirt over a tank top, and I have been holed up in my room most of the day.

I'm so okay with that!

Today was rainy and windy and gray, and it was the perfect day to cozy up in my blanket fort and untangle a skein of yarn that I am now splitting the strands of. It's a cake of It's A Wrap, so that's not exactly hard, since it's just four strands held together to begin with. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the damaged strands, but eh, that's life.

I did 100 more stitches on each of the parts to the pouch today, too.

I also played a lot of Stardew Valley.

My farmer has a roommate! Yeah, I chose the bachelor option with having Krobus the Shadowguy merchant move in with you! Which means I demolished that friggin crib posthaste. Krobus is a premium roommate - he makes breakfast (fried eel! strange buns!), he brings in a little house plant to share with you, and he gives great hugs.

10/10 would roommate again.

I kind of wish that you could get Linus to move into one of your little multiplayer cabins for the winter or something.

I've made this playthrough specifically to make friends with The Weird Ones - Linus, Krobus, Rasmodius, etc. I have accidentally also maxxed out Friendship with Sandy, but that works for me. I'm always a bit alarmed by how easy it is to get Emily to her first cutscene.

Anyway, all I need are 2 more apples and I'll be done with the Community Center by the end of Year 2! Sadly, no one is willing to sell me apples, and my bats are apparently obsessed with Salmonberry, Blackberry, and Spice Berry...

Also I have a chicken named Frozzy and a Duck named Junabell. I love them.

But enough about the game, here's the plan for the next couple days:

1) paint something for Thursday!

2) work on more crochet!

3) sew the pocket linings for both Z's pouch and mine.

4) cuddle the cat.

I have great plans :P

I think that'll about do it for tonight!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Continue The Pouch

I may only have 500 stitches done on each of the back and sides of the pouch, but! That means something very different for the separate pieces.

On the left is the back of the pouch, on the right is the side gusset

I'm trying to make both pieces at once, since I get so easily distracted. And of course, this is my last month to finish it! And also I still don't know what to do about dye. Yeesh.

Oh and I got distracted by learning how to use a drop spindle. My silk thread is... very lumpy, but for a first try, it's not so bad, if I say so myself. I need to get some wool and see how well I can spin that, since apparently silk is way harder. Wool, then cotton, then linen, then silk again.

Also I still need to figure out my niddy noddy situation.

But that is for After The Ren Faire, I think. Before the Ren Faire I need to figure out dye, a dyepot, a day to do the dying (it'd be preferable to have some non-deluge-related weather for that), and also...

I kinda promised Z I'd make him a pouch for his new notebook for the Ren Faire.

That at least shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going to measure out the space for that using my white Sakura Gelly Roll pen and a pair of black pants that died a noble death (read - wore out at the thighs so badly there's nothing left to patch but wispy threads). If I sew it up correctly, it could be used as-is and all I'd need to do is make a decent strap for it, but if I don't get the seams to perfect, it'll get covered in a quick single crochet outer pouch in ex-sweater lavender.

Speaking of the dearly departed lavender sweater, if anyone who knows me has any sweaters they've ruined or just don't want anymore, I'll happily take them and tear them down to turn into new outfits because I love the act of creative destruction way more than is probably healthy and YouTube is beginning to cotton on to that fact (seriously I've been recommended no less than 5 different Sweater Teardown videos in the last 24 hours)...

Anywho, yes, that picture way up there is of two pieces, each containing 500 single crochet stitches. The short but wide piece is 50 stitches wide, the tall but skinny piece is 15 stitches wide.

My goal is to finish at least the gusset by next week, which if I keep going with a pattern of "One row on the back/flap, then 50 stitches on the gusset", it shouldn't be too hard.

We'll see lol.

Especially if I keep on getting distracted with silk spinning, pocket construction, and the slow progress of a dragon I may give up on (I don't think I'll get it done in time).

I think that'll about cover things for me for today. My attention span is shot to heck and I am ready to go to bed :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In which I managed a drawing despite being deep in my Stardew Era again...

So I've been playing Stardew Valley again.

And I've been loving it.

My sleep schedule has not been loving this, though, because I keep staying up til 3 or 4am just trying to do one more run in the desert caves. I'm in the spring of year 2, Kent has arrived, and I won the second egg hunt in a row. I don't know if I'll win anything else lol.

As for art, though, I still managed to pull through and draw something!

"Peachy"; watercolor pencil on paper; 2023
[FOOD, VEGETABLE]

So there we have a lil peach on a lil table with a lil shading and I'm actually pretty pleased with it! I managed to create shading and highlight without making it look shiny (because, of course, peaches are fuzzy, not shiny).

I had a hard time with the shadow underneath (obviously) but I'm otherwise quite pleased with it! Sure, the color is more apricot than peach, but I promise I've seen peaches that yellow before.

At least it's not bubblegum pink, which it very nearly was. I saw the yellow I wanted. I reached for the yellow I wanted. I looked up to watch the cat come into the room for a little box time, and when I looked down at my hand, I'd picked up a very pink pink.

I honestly cannot remember the names of any of the colors I used except that I know I made use of the Peaches & Cream shade for the body of the peach and Magenta for the blush. Everything else was kind of snagged at random. I layered a cool gray with the spring green to bring down the yellow tones in the background, but the light blue of the tablecloth was solo.

I used a round brush for most of the piece, especially the shading and the peach itself. I used a 1/2" square brush for the background, swirling it in circular motions to improve the blending of the gray and green.

This was a fun little piece to do, and if you'd like to make any requests of me, you can do so via Ko-Fi - send me a lil donation with a message telling me what category you'd like me to work from (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word), and I'll post a piece based on that category!

For now, I'm going to go eat some homemade teriyaki chicken, watch an Italian dad make lentil soup, and probably sneak in some more Stardew before I go to bed lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

In Which I Learned A New Skill!

 Ages and ages ago, I bought a pack of silk mawata and a drop spindle off of the Internet Shopping Monopoly and swore I was going to learn to spin yarn.

Today I was working on the back/flap and gusset sections of the pouch that never ends and saw it sitting across the room. In a moment of impulse, I grabbed them and started setting to work.

They're so pretty, too!

Pulling one mawata from the pile is... not easy. And with my rough hands and fuzzy arms, it means that I now feel like I'm constantly under attack by spiders lol.

First you have to delicately tease one of the layers loose, then you need to find a point near the middle and wiggle your thumbs through, creating a hole. Next, you widen that hole with your thumbs, then your hands, then your wrists, pulling and smoothing until you like the thickness of the hank. Once you like how thick the big ol circle of silk is, you find a weak point and pull until it separates. With a long, wispy piece of silk roving at your side, you now get your drop spindle.

I looped the thin, wispy end of the silk around the hook on mine, holding the hank about 6" from the hook, and then I gave my spindle a, well, spin.

It took a bit for me to figure out how to draw the fibers to the right thickness, how to manage the thread, how to smooth the thread, and all kinds of other things, and I'm sure I still did it wrong, but I'm a little less than halfway through my stack of silk and, well....

I'd say that looks a lot like silk thread to me...

Is it even? No. Is it consistent? NO. Is it thread? Sure looks like it!

I'm... shockingly pleased with this. From some cursory research, apparently I can just... use this? But I'd really rather let it relax itself on a niddy noddy or something.

I do not have a niddy noddy.

I will have to improvise. I have some ideas, one of which is to use my easel, or possibly the tiny picnic table my dad made me. If there are enough leftover pipe bits in the basement I might use some of those. Hell, a long stick with two shorter sticks would do in a pinch.

So that was my Tuesday. I'm planning to do some fun art tomorrow for Thursday's blog, and also to work more on my various fiber projects for next Monday. For now, though, I'm going to go put some soothing lotion on my hands because I've got a hot spot on my left pointer finger (on the right hand side of my first knuckle from the tip) from pulling the hanks for spinning. Today was a blast, though, even with the intermittent downpours.

Actually, I have to talk for a minute about the weather.

We went from a day where the high felt like 94℉/34,4℃ to having the last few days being an ambient temperature of around... 74℉/23,3℃ . Sure, we've had rain every single day, and sure, the power keeps going out around town, but the weather has felt glorious.

If every single summer day could hover between 70-78℉/21,1-25,5℃  I would be very happy.

Especially with lower humidity.

Weather rant over lol.

I'm gonna go take care of that hotspot.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC