Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Today's Art is Scanned!

Today I have a couple of paintings to share with y'all. One, I completed while still cat-sitting, the other, I finished this morning.

"At the Dam"; watercolor pencil on sketch; 2023
[Animal, Location, Vegetable]

This picture was based off of a view Z and I had when we went down to the dam near the apartment we were watching for my sister. We sat and watched a bald eagle and several turkey vultures soaring over a dammed river with lots of rocks in the water. There was a small rocky island that the birds kept flying over, and while what I've painted here doesn't really look like what we saw, it's close enough to give the feel. The small gray bird to the right of the tree is a mockingbird that was flashing its wing patches at us as it flitted around the area.

"Cocoa"; watercolor on paper; 2023
[Food]

Hmm... should I add Food as a Request Category like the others (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric)?

I had a lot of fun drawing this, though I really need to pay more attention to shading. I Am very pleased with how the first painting looks, though. I turned the brightness down to about -30 and scanned it at 600dpi instead of 1200dpi. Since I scanned "Cocoa" first, it didn't get the brightness lowered, and I should have paid more attention to the cropping.

Regardless, I should do more paintings, and I'm still working on a digital piece that has... a lot of colors. I'm planning on doing some weird stuff to it lol!

If you'd like a say in what I draw or paint, week to week, you can send me a coffee donation over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me which category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Food) and I'll draw or paint something that fits that category for the next Thursday!

I've also started taking commissions, if you'd be interested in that route, and I also have a Threadless Store! You may also see an Amazon Wishlist on the sidebar, which contains a bunch of random stuff that I would use for the blog.

That does it for the shameless self-promotion for this week, so I'll just head on out and get a little snack before working on more art!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which It Is Warming Up!

I'm pretty sure it reached 58℉ (14,4℃) today during the short period where we got sun instead of sprinkles, and with the sun came a flock of wild turkeys! We had a very tall tom and six hens, all of whom converged on my mother's bird feeders. Thankfully, none of them tried to empty the feeders themselves, but they were certainly cleaning up the mess the squirrels and chipmunks left behind! That tom could've probably just stood all the way up and eaten from the feeders himself if he'd wanted, to be honest. He was truly enormous!

Sometimes, when we see wildlife in my back yard, they're not very healthy. It's the 21st century and I'm about a mile from the center of town. It can feel like we're in the middle of nowhere when my neighbors all seem to own poultry or livestock of their own (seriously, our newest neighbors have brought a pair of either lambs or kids onto their property, and I'm a bit baffled, to be honest), but I can see Domino's and the busiest street in town from my childhood bedroom. It's not a rural neighborhood. Anything wild does run the risk of mange or accidental poisoning - especially since the dump is close enough to smell on a bad day.

We've had sick coyotes, poisoned owls, tick-ridden deer, and possibly possessed squirrels.

But those turkeys were some of the healthiest animals I've ever seen!

The tom was completely relaxed, too - he just milled around under the feeders with his harem, utterly unbothered by my face plastered to the window quite obviously. Evie was enraptured with them, for a bit, but since she's a cat, she got bored pretty fast and went back to trying to convince one of us to take her out to hunt the poor chipmunk. She's got a vendetta on the poor lil guy...

Also I found a fly and a cellar spider in my room. These bugs combined with the abundance of healthy wildlife outside and the balmy-yet-damp weather tell me that it indeed spring is upon us. Fred, the cellar spider, has been relocated to the basement, where they will continue their duties as an exterminator in peace. No one will bother them in the bulkhead, so they'll get to keep chilling. The fly has vanished and I can only hope it found its way downstairs and possibly out of my dang house. Don't need any maggots up here, thanks. I'm good.

I may have to put my window fan in tonight. I'm pretty toasty and I have my lightest sheet on and the ceiling fan on. I would rather not put the window fan in before my folks turn off the heat, though.

Regardless, I've got work I am going to do this week!

Tomorrow I'll be sketching and figuring out what art to make.

Thursday I'll be posting an Art Blog!

Friday-Sunday I'll be working on my crochet

Monday I'll post the next part of the Mystery Project!

Next Tuesday I'll be back here blathering again lol.

I think that'll about do it for me tonight. My brain is pudding and I cannot think lol!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am A Bit Scattered

Since I'm starting this at about 10:30pm on Tuesday, it'll probably be a Talk About Wednesday, for most of you, but hey, I'm trying lol!

Today has been a day of chasing my cat around, experimenting with yarn (new project? Maybe after the Mystery Project is done...), chastising deer, and eating delicious leftover boiled dinner. Doesn't sound like a lot when I say it like that, but trust me, today was a long one.

Now, I usually love hanging out outdoors with my cat - especially when she's chasing leaves and stomping them into crispy submission - but today was a surprisingly cold one. It was one of those days where the sun feels warm, but the wind is whipping around so hard that you end up being sandblasted by road salt and gravel. It may have been about 40℉/4,44℃, but it probably felt like maybe 32℉/0℃. And it wasn't even that sunny. It was mostly cloudy with a few moments of warmer sun. And Evie was... uncooperative when it came to wanting to go back inside. My hands are still a little chilly, and that was around 1pm!

We have had a lot of critters in the back yard lately, too! The deer have been... awful. They're raiding the bird feeders and they have zero fear of me, which is probably not healthy for them. They're heckin chonkers now, too. We've seen the hawk a couple of times, and it has probably been feeding better closer to Main Street, since that's where the pigeons congregate when they're not in my yard or copulating on the roof above my bed. Please stop that, pigeons. Please.

The ducks have been by a few times, and we have had two confirmed sightings of a chipmunk! Unfortunately, the chipmunk may be wearing out their welcome, because I found some awfully suspicious holes next to my house's foundation today when I was walking Evie around. Chippy, please stay outside. Evie did tumble you last year and if she catches you indoors, you will end up battered.

My dinner tonight was a rehash (badum tss) of the corned beef dinner we had on Sunday. It was kind of a deconstructed bubble & squeak, since my mom stir-fried the cabbage & onions together, but she used three frying pans total! She had one for the cabbage & onions, one for the mixed veg (rutabaga because there were no turnips left, carrots, and potatoes), and one for the slices of corned beef. They were truly just as delightful for a Tuesday dinner as they were for Sunday's dinner.

I have some idea of what I'm going to do this week, but we'll see. I also need to start planning out how I want April to go, so there's that, too lol!

Tomorrow/Wednesday is gonna be a day of me just scrambling around like a squirrel on a pallet of Red Bull, figuring out what to draw for Thursday.

Thursday will be me drawing and doing art. I have ideas, though I don't know if they'll work yet, that's what Wednesday is about lol.

Friday - Sunday will be me working on the Mystery Project, getting it to a point where I can share a new section of the pattern! (We shall see if that red thread actually works - sometimes it looks right by lamplight and then I take a photo and it's suuuuuuper different!)

Next Monday I'll have more crochet to share!

Next Tuesday, hopefully, I'll remember to post the blog before midnight lol!

Anyway, that's it for me today. I should go brush my teeth and go to bed so I'm not useless tomorrow!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Swear I'm Working Hard
And Not Just Hardly Working

It's been a Summer. Quite a Summer. Some days I feel like I'm endlessly floating in a humid pool of nonsense and others I feel like I'm hurtling towards some uncomfortable future at lightspeed.

Who knew...

Cereal makes me philosophical.

Today has been another hot and humid day (80℉/26.7℃ with 51% humidity). I woke up to cicadas outside, which I only hear when it's disgusting out. We don't get the constant summer scream where I live, and I truly feel bad for anyone with sensory issues who lives with an abundance of cicadas. Yikes. Sorry bros.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I tore up the backs of my ankles walking around town in the rain (worth it - that bookstore is loaded with sweet sweet literary goodness), and as of today they're still stiff and painful. Which means my plans for a walk were once more thwarted. I can't even use the treadmill. Wah.

I can, however, do crunches and situps (though not pushups, sadly), so I did those today. I also ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats for lunch, which was awesome and gave me some nice clarity and focus that lasted 3 whole hours! For reference, the focus hit I get off of coffee lasts maybe 15 minutes tops. I'm 99% sure it's psychosomatic, but that's fine because I also haven't snacked since the cereal. Win?

I'm also 99% sure that the latest birdur (murder-of-bird-by-bird) in my yard was perpetrated by a redtail hawk! I heard what sounded like a FURIOUS catbird on testosterone and went to the window and an enormous reddish brown raptor was sitting on top of a flattened pigeon under the bird feeder (RIP pigeon, sorry you got smooshed). When he saw me, we locked eyes and he SKRAAAAA'd at me one last time before taking off. For whatever reason, my phone blows at taking photos through my window (USA = window screens = focus issues galore but also less cat escapes and bug intake) so I do not have any photos worth sharing, but what an encounter!!!

Besides the big bad birdle borg not much has happened since Sunday's bookstravaganza and blisterpalooza. I almost went back to the bookstore today but needed my shower and so did not end up going. Maybe next Sunday if it's not pouring?

I'm hoping to do some sketching later today, maybe prep for another watercolor piece and test out my new erasers and pencil sharpener. Hopefully I also get to cook this week - I would like to try making bao! I'll let y'all know how it goes if I succeed. If you hear nothing, I did not succeed :P

I'm also hoping to get to work on some old crochet projects and maybe also start a gag gift for someone... we'll see if I can get that to work. I don't know if it will.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me! I'm riding that cereal high and about to go supplement it with coffee, despite the heat lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Made A Lil Drawing!

Considering the date, y'all are probably expecting some kind of prank, right?

Well I guess that's my prank - not posting a joke art :P

April Fools?

But I did draw a little something to share with you folks!

"Owl Be There For You"; mechanical pencil, ballpoint pen, crayon; 2021

These two are so freakin cute!

I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Moon lately (what can I say, I like bats!) and named my Rowlet after Dedbert, so here they are, meeting each other. I mostly call my Rowlet "Junior" anyway, so he and Dedbert are sharing their favorite crescent-shaped treats - Rainbow Pokebeans and crescent rolls!

I love how easy Rowlet is to draw, since he's 90% ovals, much like Dedbert is 90% circles!

Actually, now that I think about it, most of my favorite creatures can be reduced to simple geometry... new idea? Maybe. We'll see.

I think I might do some more fan art at some point, but for now, just coo with me at how stinkin cute these two are :P

As for me, I need to finish this massive cup of coffee and then vacuum a bit, so here - rock out to the best boss music in Moon - Guzma's Theme while you

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