Thursday Art Walk

In Which Spoopy Season Has Officially Begun!

Every October, I try to do one of those 31-Artworks-in-31-Days Prompt Lists. I started with Inktober, but then I learned about the controversy with that, and I don't need drama, so I have started experimenting with other Prompt Lists. Last year I attempted Witchtober. This year I went with Kick In The Creatives' "Creeptober".

Know how I just said I don't need drama?

Yeah, this prompt list has caused drama.

Not in the ways you may think, though...

See, I'm pretty sure - about 99% certain - that this prompt list is either Cursed or Haunted.

Why?

Well, the first prompt, Dracula? When I sketched it, I created an abomination so terrible, so upsetting, that I couldn't even look at it. I had to give it hair and play around in both Paint.net and Krita to get it to stop scaring me.

It also broke my scanner.

Kind of.

See, my scanner sometimes forgets how to scan, somewhere in between my computer and the machine itself, and when that happens, usually restarting my computer works for resetting it.

Guys, nothing on earth will induce my scanner to put that Dracula drawing on the internet.

My camera phone, meanwhile, is not superstitious, so I snapped a pic of the sketch and sent it to myself.

AND NOW BLOGGER IS REFUSING TO UPLOAD THE PICS TO THE BLOG! What on earth?!?!?!

"Dracula Lineart"; pencil & digital sketch; 2022

What I'm having to do to get this freaky, upsetting image online is switch back & forth between HTML and Compose mode in Blogger, so I'm now 100% convinced this Dracula is haunted.

Here it is in color:

"Dracula"; digital painting; 2022

See? Much less creepy in color.

And yes, I still have no idea how to use Krita effectively, though I'm experimenting, so we'll see how that goes.

The second through 6th prompts are far less problematic, but oh my god this one picture has been running my life. Not ruining, necessarily, but running it. I have been practically glued to my keyboard trying to draw and paint it.

"Ghost" digital Painting; 2022

I'm so proud of this ghost, even if it took me about a dozen tries to get it looking alright. Blending tools are so cool, and I really do like all the brushes available in Krita.

"Hidden"; Digital Painting; 2022

I'm... not impressed with this one, to be honest. Just getting the colors to work together was a bear, and honestly, the tree kinda looks poopy. But I dig the eyes, and... hold on... did I leave the color swatch at the top? Oh no I did! Oh well. I'm leaving it, because that's actually pretty funny. Always check your layers, kids. Always.

After Hidden, I was tired of wrestling with art programs that refused to cooperate and didn't want to tempt fate playing around in my creepy basement scanning, so these are photos of paintings/sketches I did for the rest of this week's prompts (4-6)!

"Pumpkin"; Watercolor on cotton paper; 2022

"Candle"; Watercolor on Cotton Paper; 2022

"Candy Apple" pencil sketch on dot matrix paper; 2022

You read that right, I drew the Candy Apple sketch on dot matrix paper.

It's 2022, and I have a ream of dot matrix paper.

My joints creak.

Honestly, though, this prompt list is a lot of fun, though I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle #31 "Something You're Afraid Of". You're all gonna laugh at me.

And rightfully so. I'm scared of some really silly stuff.

Like a sketch.

It's face down across the room and I'm still creeped out lol!

Anywho, here's the prompt list written out in case you don't want to follow any links:

1. Dracula (👍)
2. Ghostly (👍)
3. Hiding (👍)
4. Pumpkin (👍)
5. Candle (👍)
6. Toffee Apple (👍)
7. Facepaint
8. Candy
9. Cauldron
10. Witch
11. Mummy
12. Under The Bed
13. In The Dark
14. Spell
15. Monster
16. Horror Film
17. Festival
18. Scary Face
19. Graveyard/Cemetery
20. Goblin
21. Punch
22. Clown
23. Silhouette
24. Twilight
25. Full Moon
26. Through The Window
27. Goth
28. Costume
29. Party
30. Trick-or-Treat
31. Something You're Afraid of

How about you all? Are you doing a prompt list this October? And do you want to influence some of the content of my pictures? If you'd like a say in what I draw/paint/bang my head against in Paint.net or Krita, go ahead and send me a coffee on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like me to tackle - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Geometric, Location, Word, Dedbert. I can incorporate any of those categories into these prompt challenges!

For the record, the paintings today correspond like this: "Dracula" = Animal (people are animals!), "Ghost" = Animal (dead people were animals?), "Hidden" = Location (it's technically a landscape), "Pumpkin" = Vegetable, "Candle" = Location (It's inside?), and "Candy Apple" = Vegetable. As you can see, I'm... loose with meanings when I'm on my own, but if you want to see what I do with a combination of your tip and the prompt from Creeptober, give it a go!

I hope you're all having a good time out there. Try not to create any Actually Cursed Images, and...

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

What A Day!

Today, I went on an adventure with some friends. It wasn't like we went skydiving (though we drove by a place that offers classes), or hiking, or wakeboarding or anything like that, but I'm a homebody, so for me, an adventure can mean a short road trip with people I like where we go hang out in a town that isn't ours.

We drove to Waterville, today. You may be thinking, if you're from Maine, "why Waterville?" and the answer is: "We wanted Thai Food we haven't had before". Our Destination was Pad Thai Too. Since we headed out around noon, we needed to kill some time before we got to order, so we took a snack break at one of the two Taco Bells and then crawled along the mean streets of Waterville (they're not mean, that's just poetic license). There were a lot of fun stores and restaurants, and honestly, I had to rethink my stance on the town. See, I'd always seen it as a place like Union or Waldoboro - quiet, basically economically dead areas that would be nice to live in but weren't really busy.

Waterville is apparently a small, more river-based Portland.

There were sculptures, monuments, and parks, and honestly, it was very pretty.

I wish I'd taken pictures, but I put my phone away while we were touring the Two Penny Bridge because I didn't want to drop it in the Kennebec. Instead, I just took it in. A pair of ladies jogged past us on their exercise circuit, sending the suspension bridge jumping just slightly. It was just enough movement that you could tell the bridge was held up by wires, but not enough that you'd be truly jostled. I really loved seeing most of the locks, too - much like the Pont des Arts, couples will put a lock on the bridge to symbolize the permanence of their love, and unlike the Pond des Arts, there are nowhere near enough to warrant removal yet.

The fall pollen was collected on the surface of the Kennebec like an oil slick made from powdered ivory. The river itself was so steeped with tannins that it was almost a black brown. The overall effect was suitably spooky for someone wearing a plaid flannel shirt and a neckerchief of lace skulls, and I was enchanted.

Overall, a positive experience. Even the homeless guy who came over and bothered us was in a good mood. We left before that mood could sour. (I hope the dude finds somewhere warmer to stay as the winter rolls in. No one deserves to freeze, and a public park is not gonna cut it come November).

We went from the park to Pad Thai Too and put in our orders. I had the regular Pad Thai with chicken, my boyfriend had the Pik Pow Pad Thai with chicken, and they were both really good. I'd have to say that the Pad Thai is more sweet-and-sour than rich-and-sweet, and mine wasn't at all spicy. The Pik Pow wasn't spicy either, but it was spiced. That was a tangier, stronger sauce, and it went really well with the pineapple. Overall, I'd absolutely eat there again. I am interested in what their Drunken Noodle tastes like!

Now, normally, when there are spicy dishes on offer, I'm all in on that. I love me some spice. Unfortunately for me, though, I've been suffering some of the worst heartburn of my life for the last week or so. It's been bad enough that I've had to listen to my own heartbeat to make sure it sounds normal (a little elevated, but that's fine when I'm anxious and uncomfortable). It's just heartburn, but it sucks. I don't just get the "warm chest/hiccups" anymore, either. I get the "feels like some giant has lodged one set of  knuckles under my sternum and the other set of knuckles just under my shoulder blades and is trying to press those knuckles together through me".

Needless to say, spicy food was not an option today.

And I've started a course of Omeprazole for the first time in about a decade. I don't get consistent heartburn often, so I don't take stuff like that often, either. I've also been crunching Tums.

And hydrating.

And apparently that thing about laying on your left side? Not an old wives' tale. It works. Lay on your left side.

Anywho, you're probably wondering about the rest of the week, right? Here ya go:

• On Thursday I'll post what I've got for art this week. It's Spooky season, which means I have Art Prompts to fill, and... uh... I may have terrified myself with one of my drawings. Just a bit. Eugh.
• On Monday, I hope I have some finished projects to share. We'll see lol.
• Next Tuesday I'll be back here for a chatty like today's.

I'm shockingly tired from our little jaunt today (that and staying up until 3AM due to heartburn), so I'm going to go watch Madagascar Giant Hognoses hatch in Minnesota and go to bed.

Go Enjoy Something, folks!

FC

EDIT: My awesome boyfriend sent me a bunch of pics he took on our roadtrip!

A view from the bridge

A roofed area attached to the bridge

DUCKS!

the locks on the bridge

one of the locks

the sign before the bridge!

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Am Distracted Again

I am incredibly easy to distract. Hilariously so. Like... I should be finishing those gloves, that bag, the Lady Sibyl shrug...

But here I am, trying to make a hex cardigan...

It's going pretty well!

But when it's unfolded, it looks pretty bad...

So it turns out that hex cardigans are really quite easy, but uh, boy are they ugly as you work on them.

If you know how to make a granny hexagon, you know how to make this cardigan. Basically, you just start making a hexagon and keep going until it's about half your body width when you fold it in half. Folding it (like the first photo) naturally turns it into that right angle, so use that for your measurements, since it makes up the arm and body like that. After you finish one hex, you make a matching one, seam it up the back and sleeve, and voila, you have a cardigan!

Hopefully I can finish that one. I really love the color. If I can't, I've got some old Bucilla yarn from probably the 80s I can try :)

Also, I don't seem to have an L hook. I have 3 K hooks and 4 or 5 N hooks, but no L hook. Weird.

I know I make a lot of excuses, but the reality is this: I love making new things and I don't like waiting, so inevitably, I end up with a lot of newly-started projects that eventually get frogged into other projects.

That being said, I should probably finish a few more things lol.

That'll do it for me tonight. I've got a heartburn pill to take, water to sip, and a cardigan to crochet!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

Today I Made Something GEOMETRIC

This week's abstract geometric creation was brought to you by too much coffee and hyperfixation!

I plonked myself down in front of my computer at around 11AM with every intention of just... doing some lineart over a pre-scanned sketch or something. I wasn't feeling too creative.

And then I started making lines, and...

"CHAOS"; digital art; 2022

Now, at first blush, this doesn't look too odd. It's some colors, fractured around each other like broken glass. If you zoom in, however.... it's a madhouse in there!

Yes, it has taken me until now to experiment with the different fill settings on Paint.net, why do you ask?

The only other thing that really happened today was that a squirrel took a breather on my kitchen steps today. She scurried up the railing and leaned against the top post, keeping an eye on things. I think me standing in the kitchen in my fuzzy Darth Vader pants and Power Rangers tee, sipping coffee, made her nervous, because she never once looked away from me. Unfortunately, I have a screen door and my phone only wanted to take pics of the screen, so no squirrel for you :(

I really enjoyed falling down the creative rabbit hole playing with this one, and I think I could do some more with a similar concept (not identical, though). I'll keep playing tonight, I think.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Le Tired

Yesterday was Quite A Day, let me tell you. It started normally enough - took a shower, drank some coffee, chatted with my guy, and started to get ready to finish the shrug I was working on...

And my mother told me to get ready for an adventure with the cat!

I'm always down for a kitty trip, so I threw on some Tromping Around Clothes (I'd changed back into pajamas after my shower, not anticipating the surprise adventure), and came down to find a paper bag on the counter.

The plan was thus:

• Grab the cat and the paper bag, get in the car.
• Head to the Wal-Mart for some forgotten bread and a box of tissues
• Head to the next town over to drop off some Vicks, cold medicine, and tissues for my guy, who has a chest cold (Feel Better, Love!)
• Find a beach that was open and not too crowded.

Now you may be thinking that's a lot of car time for a cat. Would she be okay? Especially with a trip to Wal-Mart?

Sure, she was fine. Annoyed at being stuck in her carrier while I tried to find the tissues (I was lied to by an endcap and looked in the wrong aisle for like 5 minutes before I could find them), but fine.

The first beach we tried was Birch Point State Park, but apparently the state decided that, despite our Septembers being anywhere from 55-75℉/12,8-23,9℃, and Mainers swimming in the ocean up until about January, the beach had to be closed. What a pain.

Well, we weren't going to let a little State Park Closure prevent our girl from having her first ever beach adventure, so we headed over to another beach - Crescent Beach. Poor Evie the Cat was chirping crankily from her carrier and reaching out with her cute little paws by now, so we made our way down and parked. By the time we got her out on her leash (which she was very curious and very nervous about), I realized we'd made a fatal error that my fellow Mainers will probably tease me for.

We forgot to check the tides.

We arrived just as the tide was at its highest, just starting to ebb.

On a beach where the beach head is 100% loose stones.

Yeah, there was no sand for her to walk on for the first half of our visit.

She enjoyed sniffing the dried seaweed and climbing the rocks (which, yeah, was against the rules, but she's a cat, so she can't read signs), and we figured that would be it.

And then another family pulled up and came hiking across the stones.

If you've never met my cat, you need to know this about her:

Evie LOVES people. She is obsessed. She desperately loves new people and wants to hang out with everyone on Earth.

So of course, she immediately had to go visit these people, dragging my mother and I with her. Thankfully the family thought our 3-Braincell Tabby was the bees' knees, and they put up with her crawling under their feet and begging for snacks (they had a banana). Eventually, the water receded enough for us to put her down on wet sand and...

She hated it.

So, Evie did not enjoy her beach trip as much as we'd hoped lol.

And she was also so squirmy and exploratory that it was very hard to take pictures between trying to dislodge her from crevices where she got herself stuck. I did manage two pictures, though!

Here's Evie sitting on a rock, about to go wrap her leash around a rugosa rose bush.
She's just noticed the family and wants to go say hi!

Here Evie has failed to retrieve banana from the other family
And has grumpily decided she'll go climb more rocks in protest.
Also seaweed smells fun to her I guess lol

After that, we scooped her up and took her home, where she sulked outside with my mom. I ran upstairs and worked on yesterday's blog.

I do have to admit, though...

It was incredibly hard, being surrounded by all those delightfully smooth beach rocks in so many interesting colors and shapes and knowing I couldn't keep any of them. It's illegal to take the beach rocks, and at Crescent Beach, they're absolutely necessary for preventing erosion, so it's just bad all around to take beach rocks from there. If I'd gone wading and grabbed one from the water, I'd have been pretty ok with it, but I wasn't going to get in the surf while the tide was receding as fast as it was (we went from no sand to 5 feet of sand in 10 minutes, it seemed).

So that was my adventure this week!

The rest of the week's plans are thus:

• If you want to send me a coffee donation through that light green button, you can leave a message telling me what theme I'm drawing from this week! Those themes are:
• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Geometric
  
• Location
• Dedbert
• Word
• Art Blog on Thursday
• I forgot to post the tea last week so maybe I'll do it this weekend? We'll see
• More crochet for Monday!
• Blather next Tuesday!

I hope my feline misadventures have brought a smile to your face today!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

At Last! Progress!
Just not on the Mushroom Bag...

A month or two ago, I started work on another iteration of the Downton Abbey Lady Sibyl Shrug, this time in a beige cotton thread, and I am excited to announce that....

The body is complete!

Now, before you ask, no this doesn't mean I'm anywhere close to being done with the orange/coral version. I... honestly am not sure where that project bag is. I do, however, now know that, without a doubt, it needs to be a bit wider for a linebacker-shouldered bird like me.

After trying this shrug on, even with the added width (I made my rectangle 17" long instead of the recommended 15"), it was a bit of a struggle to get on and off. Perhaps a 22"x17" (56cm x 43cm) would be better suited to me? Or perhaps it is merely the fact that I was trying it on with an unfinished border and a thick t-shirt, rather than a slipperier dress? I'm not changing into a tank or a dress to test that theory, and the border is... unique.

Why do a ch3, sc around into each chain space when the chain spaces are 4-5 chains each? Why was the foundation essentially 4 chains between sc? I don't understand so many choices with this piece, and I'm sure any errata I looked up could explain things, but...

I'm not in the mood to go looking things up, and honestly, I'm feeling too sludge-brained tonight to go hunting down explanations.

I may have had a fairly hectic day.

It may have involved my cat going on an ill-timed nautical adventure.

I may have pictures to share of this tomorrow.

Anyway, here's the first & second rounds of the border, which I've only got about... 30% finished around the body and have not even begun on the sleeves. How is this even going to work on the sleeves. I'll find out. Regardless, I have some work to finish, still, but this is real, visible progress!

I kind of like the 7dc shells, but...
Not sure how I feel about the rest.
We'll see.

Now, obviously, if I hate the edging, I can just frog it and start over. If you have any suggestions, feel free to @ me on Twitter or leave a comment on here.

Unrelated, but there's still time to send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and convince me to do art in a category of your choice (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, Word)!

I will be taking the rest of tonight to stare at a cursor blinking on a manuscript.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Attempt More Digital Art!

I am still 100% a novice at digital art, and I really don't know what I'm doing. I tried to use Krita today and all I can say is that either that program hates my XP Pen Star G430S, or I just cannot effectively use it. I just wanted to draw an outline! When I would start my line, the program would either hesitate and then hurry to catch up with me (which sucked, because I was tracing a pencil sketch), or it would pop up a menu.

I don't particularly like radial menus to begin with, so imagine my dismay when one kept popping up when I just wanted to trace an owl...

So I switched programs back to Paint.net.

I know, I know, Paint.net is more like photoshop than an actual art app (despite the name...), but it's what I've been practicing with for the past 5 years.

Yeah...

Progress is slow.

Anyway, I started with a sketch of Dedbert and his Pink Owl Ladyfriend (whose name he will not tell me) brewing coffee together!

As You Can See, It Was A Very Rough Sketch

I loved the composition, but I thought it was perhaps a bit too close to the bottom and off-center, so when I scanned it, I tried to move it around. Didn't 100% work, but it was cute.

From there, I started trying to outline the piece. Like I said, Krita was not cooperating with my tablet for that, so I went with Paint.net and scribbled the outline in with a gray tone. I actually liked the scribbly, scratchy outline I got from there, so I stuck with that and intentionally overran some of the colors when I laid them down!

I tried just doing flat colors, but that was less interesting than just the outline, somehow, so I did some experimenting with dark tones and transparency and managed to put down a shading layer!

If anyone wants to give me some direct pointers, maybe some links to some tutorials for absolute newbie beginners who've never used Photoshop or anything like that, please, please feel free to send me a message on here or Twitter. Links will work better on Twitter, tbh.

"Happy Owlloween!"; digital; 2022

On another note, this was a Ko-Fi mini-commission! I got a nice little donation with a message telling me my benefactor wanted to see a DEDBERT piece, so that's what my donor gets!

If you'd like to have a say in next week's piece, please feel free to hit that Ko-Fi donation button on the sidebar and include a message with your donation telling me which category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Word, Geometric) you'd like and I'll make something next Thursday!!!

I think that'll about do it for me today, guys!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC