Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which The Horse is 20 Hands High
And I am 5'3"

They tell you when you fall off of the horse to get back on. I am usually very good at this.  This month, however, as mentioned on Tuesday, I'm just kind of... not feeling it.

That being said, I did manage to finish one digital piece based off of one of the first week of Cozytober's drawings that never made it onto the blog. You'll get all 31 pieces by Halloween, I promise. I want to see these images come to life!!!

Anyway, here's Prompt #5 - Cabin

"5 - Cabin"; Digital; 2023

I went for something of a storybook/illustrative look for this one, and I'm actually... quite pleased with the result! The original sketch was awful, I'll admit. Barely more than some scribbled lines that vaguely looked like a lop-sided a-frame cabin with a beagle puppy that looked more like a tamandua posed woodenly in the doorway. This at least looks like it's supposed to be a bit more sketchy!

I have... so much more art to do this week. I'm catching up, but it's only 5 days to Halloween, and I want to be finished completely. There's some great prompts to play with.

As for tonight, I'm going to work on at least one more sketch before turning in. The last few days of cat-pilling have taken their toll and I am pooped.

That's it for tonight's blog, sorry!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I... Am Playing Catch-Up.

Let's be real, I struggle mightily with keeping up with... literally everything. I actually have done a bunch of crochet! I actually have drawn a bunch! I just really have not had the energy or concentration to write in the ol bloggerino.

It's October!

Which means that it's time for me to try and mostly flub an art challenge! This year, I've decided to take on #Cozytober!

Since I'm unhinged, I also wrote out a list of 31 animals and am slowly, carefully, trying to work my way through the prompts with a different critter for each day!

I... am not done with today's prompt.

Turns out it's very hard to draw a cabin.

"01 - Leaves (Colin the Wombat)"
Brush pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, PLANT]

"02 - Pumpkins (groundhog)"
Brush Pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, VEGETABLE]

"03 - Home (kangaroo)"
Pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL, LOCATION]

"04 - Scarf (lop-eared bunny)"
Brush pen & pencil on sketchbook; 2023
[ANIMAL]

Today's prompt was "05 - Cabin (beagle)", and I have only managed the vaguest of outlines, so faint that it never showed up on the photo I took lol.

I'll probably have it done by midnight. Maybe.

Regardless, I'm enjoying this challenge!

And I hope I have enough oomph to write more next week.

For now, though, I'm gonna get back to work on that beagle - if for no other reason than so I can show it to Z lol!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which The Universe Is Trying To Tell Me Something...

It was a very wet, very hot, very crappy summer here. My whole goal this year was to paint outside once a week.

I've done it maybe three times because the weather has Not Cooperated.

Today it was gorgeous out.

Puffy white clouds, slightly hazy sky, not that humid, gentle breezes, approximately 75℉ (23,9℃)...

I had to try it. I had to go for my stupid little walk for my stupid mental health! It was now or never!

Well, the walk was pleasant enough - traffic cooperated, I managed to check the produce that gets left out for free at the library (just kale and a few random peppers, but that's on me, I should've headed out before noon), and I even felt comfy enough to shed my flannel shirt.

Main Street was the kind of bustling you get from off-season tourists who just want to see what a small New England town is like when there are no cruise ships or leaf peepers (spoilers, it's cozy but largely boring unless you're into art and relaxation). I hopped onto a bench outside one of the bigger galleries and set up my clipboard and watercolor palette, sketching out a very sloppy view. My goal was to try out some brushwork ideas I'd had, practice glazing, maybe figure out how to do impressionism with watercolor if I was very very ambitious.

A gentleman set up near me with a violin. He had an interesting song selection that he was playing with speakers. Dunno if he was legit or one of the scammers, but that was besides the point.

The point is that this is when I started to get a familiar feeling in my gut that something might go wrong today.

I ignored it, because I'm anxious, so I feel that way a lot.

I mean, sure, I'm anxious because when I feel like something is about to go wrong, it does, but that's besides the point. People aren't supposed to give in to anxiety, right? So I keep painting.

I'm adding a bunch of dabbed brushwork leaves to a tree when I realize there's an older fellow in a western-style shirt standing close to me, watching me work. Okay, that's cool, he seems to be just watching my paints, trying to see what I see. It's a first for me, but I've seen other plein aire artists have this happen.

No sooner does he start asking me questions about my art (which I was really excited about, because this is new! People don't often take an interest in what I do in the real world!), than a yellowjacket starts hovering around me. We both remark on it and laugh it off.

Then it's joined by a friend, who lands on my thigh and starts moving... oddly.

And then they're both joined by a third yellowjacket who zooms aggressively towards my eyes. I hastily packed up and headed for home. I wasn't about to run because I know that a fast-moving target with hornets, bees, or yellowjackets around it is a stung target. I apologized for my quick departure to the baffled art enthusiast and trudged home.

The weirdly persistent bugs followed me.

They followed me for almost a half a mile.

They continued to aim for my face.

I finally lost them by leading them past a bottle redemption place with a whole swarm of drunken hornets outside. My stalkers decided that the booze was far preferable to my face, so they stuck around the pallets of broken beer bottles and crushed Mtn dew cans.

I bought myself a couple of 69 cent cans of soda at a nearby shop and went home, defeated.

Some days the universe just tells you "No, you're not allowed to enjoy yourself outside." This was apparently one of those days.

It's a frigging bummer.

No one has ever talked to me about my art on Main Street without prompting from someone who knows me.

Never.

So of course the one time it does, my stupid stinging-insect-attracting powers have to activate.

Heck.

Anyway, here's the watercolor sketch I was working on:

"God Said Stop Painting"; watercolor on paper; 2023
[ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, LOCATION]

As you can see, I was trying to use a flat brush and fill in the foliage of the tree I was looking at...

Those five dots in the sky are pigeons. Same with the dots on the background building.

And the buildings you can see are a secondhand store, a bakery, a movie theater, and a contemporary art museum.

I've probably just doxxed myself. It's been that kind of day.

Is this the universe's way of telling me not to freaking paint outside anymore? Telling me I'm not allowed to paint at all?

I feel pretty defeated, to be honest.

Weird crap happens every time I try to do anything like this.

Nature just likes to mess with me I guess.

Last time it was a freak rainshower. The time before that, a cruise ship arrived and I felt like I had to leave so that other people could sit down.

I want to sit somewhere with shade and paint.

Apparently the only place I can do that is at home.

That sucks.

Anywho, if you want me to make some art for ya, I'm happy to do that - you can commission me via Ko-Fi, DM me on Twitter (it's Twitter, not X, Elon's a doofus), if you're an IRL person I know, you can reach me via Facebook.

If you just want a say in what I post next week, feel free to drop me a small donation on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you want to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll make it for next Thursday!

I'll just probably be painting or drawing it either at the local library or in my backyard.

Probably the library, to be honest, because last time my mom sat outside, she was swarmed by bees.

What the heck.

Anywho, Go Enjoy Something!

FC

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

Thursday Art Walk

 

TFW you accidentally ruin a fairly good piece
by trying too hard...

I was trying for a fun color study today, using different crosshatches of different colors from my big box of 72 Arteza watercolor pencils. 71 colors (because I accidentally got 2 Turquoises and haven't had the brain to go through and figure out which color they replaced with the spare Turquoise) hatched chaotically across a page of watercolor sketchbook paper later, I got the bright idea to try some blending.

So you guys know what happens when you blend multiple colors from differnt areas of the color wheel together, right?

Yeah. It went from a riot of desaturated, sketchy color to a muddy sprawl of shades of greige (that awful gray/beige tone) and unwell taupes.

It, in short, sucked. A lot.

So I had to start over a few hours ago when I'd finished the pencil art yesterday like a good blogger.

Oh boy did I have a better idea!

"Rainbun"; watercolor & Micron brush pen on watercolor sketchpad; 2023
[ANIMAL]

I really, really love how the outlines came out on this one, and the shadow actually looks pretty decent too! All told, I'm pretty pleased with this image.

Eventually I'll try to scan it, but for now, I think that's a fairly decent photo! It's just slightly brighter in real life than it is in the picture, but I think it gets itself across well enough.

If you'd like a say in what I draw for next week, feel free to shoot me a donation over on my Ko-Fi account with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word)

Tonight is a sleepy night - I only got about 6 hours of sleep total and night before last was a bad sleep night too. It's really damp and muggy in my house, but I don't really dare to take my fan out of my window since we really need the ventilation. The moisture keeps me clammy, which is gross as heck.

As sleepy as tonight is, though, I still crave reading and writing and art.

I'll go until I fall asleep, I think, and forgive myself if I wake up late.

For now, I'm going to watch videos and relax with a book.

Go Enjoy Something,

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which The Best Laid Plans are Often Laid on by my Cat...

I've been working on a couple of pieces lately, and they're going really well, it's just... my cat, you see. She thinks it's a good time to lay on me. All the time.

Yesterday, 90% of my Working time was taken up with Mandatory Cuddles, and they absolutely are mandatory. You wouldn't think an 8lb cat could push a laptop off of someone's lap, but she can and will if she wants those cuddles.

Today at least she decided to sleep on my pillow instead of invade my personal space.

That being said, I couldn't finish either Da Big One (a 4200x4800 pixel piece) or Button Study (which is made on a button template that I had to finagle hardcore because I do not own any form of Photoshop and of course Threadless only offers templates in psd. Thankfully Krita opens that format, but I can't really use Krita for pixel art the way I do it, so uh... finagling). Too much cat, too little work.

Instead, I managed to sketch a little wandering Korok for you guys!

"I Need To Find My Friend!"; colored pencil & ink on sketch paper; 2023
[VEGETABLE? ANIMAL? (what even are Koroks...)]

Here's a lil guy trying to go on an adventure just like the Hero! It's even easier for Koroks, because most monsters and people cannot see them, and therefor, they cannot harm them.

Obviously Koroks can't get hurt.

Look what all these psychopaths are doing to Koroks in Tears of the Kingdom.

I could never! I honestly feel bad when I accidentally let them roll down a hill. Do I almost always deliver them in the longest, most difficult manner possible? Yes. Do I still do it as gently as I can? Absolutely. They're just little guys who don't get why you're disappointed by their rewards. Yes, a giant golden poo is... not a great reward, but my guess is they know you're gonna get a garden and think you could use the "seeds" as fertilizer.

This does however make me wonder if Mineru can attach a Korok onto her back? I doubt it. You can't Fuse them, after all. The meat arrow Recall trick only works because you Ultrahand the Korok to the meat arrow before you recall it...

Of course, future me now wants to draw Mineru with a Korok in a baby sling because I am ridiculous.

Yeah, it's the Big Thing for me lately, Tears of the Kingdom. I'm sure most of you who've been playing have already kicked Ganondorf in his Dragmires several times already, but I'm 1) a coward who is too scared to go into the depths and sweaty-palms their way through the Sky Islands, 2) fighting drift in both sticks now (Link, please stop WALKING INTO THE CHASM I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE), and 3) exploring my heart out in all these familiar-yet-utterly-changed places! Seriously, it's such a different world from Breath of the Wild. It feels way bigger than BoTW, just on the surface!

So yeah, that's been my week. I hope you guys are all having a good art week!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Done Some Art!

This week I received a Ko-Fi Request for a picture of Dedbert!

"Dedbert Afternoon"; watercolor brush pen and watercolor pencil on sketch; 2023
[DEDBERT, FOOD]

The weather turning warmer means that not only do I crave things like boba (yes that's the wrong straw, but you try getting a wide straw into your beak and see how that works lol), but the camper is now being opened up to be checked for leaks and prepped for the camping season.

For those not in the know, my dad has a cute lil pop-up camper that he restored during COVID. He basically had to rebuild the thing from chassis to roof, even getting new canvases so that it wouldn't smell musty and leak like a sieve. It is now a great place to retreat to, when it's set up in the yard. He uses it as an office when he's fixing things and knows he'll need a rest after. I use it as a studio when the tv downstairs is too loud.

So the other day, the camper was open, and I was looking for a place to get out of the sun and the breeze without sacrificing all of the natural light. I succeeded in banging out a very small piece while munching on a Sweet Chili Dorito flavored meat stick and sipping at a Cherry Coke I'd picked up on my earlier walk.

"Floral" watercolor on paper; 2023
[VEGETABLE, ANIMAL]

"Floral", here, is a watercolor sketch. I put down no lines, I did not linger over any single facet of the piece. The whole thing took about 15 minutes total. Much of my art is made in a similar way. I don't tend to give myself a lot of time to paint because my brain still thinks that art is not something I should be doing, there are... stupid reasons for that. I struggle to value my creative endeavors because people don't tend to be happy with me when I tell them "yes, that can be yours, but I'd like some money first", and I... really want people to like me.

Yeah. It's taken a lot for me to get to the "oh, I can offer my art as a service!" stage.

Anywho, let's talk more about "Floral"!

Do I know the names of all the flowers I painted? Nope. I know that three of them are real, but the blue and yellow one is wholly invented, based off of the pansies my mom picked up. The light purple fluff flower is supposed to be a thistle, the yellow fluff is supposed to be a dandelion. I know the red one is a real plant I just can't remember the name.

If you want to have a say in what I draw or paint next week, please feel free to make a Request via Ko-Fi or hire me for a Commission. All info is in the link sidebar, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have for me!

For now, I'm going to go eat dinner, play some Tears of the Kingdom (I've just finished hunting down the Fierce Deity set, built a house to accommodate the Sword of the Fierce Deity, and I'm tracking down the Tingle Set now lol), and maybe make some decaf while settling in for a YouTube binge with Z!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

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

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Am Out But Still Working On Art!

I'm cat-sitting this week out of town which means that I'm not in my usual "studio" (my bedroom/the local Main Street), but I still managed to make some art, including a Ko-Fi recommendation for a Location!

"Morning" watercolor pencil on sketch; 2023 [ANIMAL]

"Gazebo" watercolor pencil on sketch; 2023 [LOCATION]

The "Morning" painting is a rendition of the cat I'm sitting for and the "Gazebo" is... not the gazebo in the town I'm in. It's a random generic gazebo lol. It's loosely based off of one I used to play in when I was in the community band.

I'm having a blast up north where I've ended up this week, but I'll be back in my own bedroom soon enough. For now, I'm just enjoying my time away and working on other projects. My only regret is forgetting my copy of "Everybody Knows" by Jordan Harper. I'd have finished it on Monday if I'd remembered it.

In a way, I'm actually pretty happy that I didn't bring my Switch or receive my copy of Tears of the Kingdom before I came here. It actually arrived on the 15th, while I was already here. I've gotten to see a lot of videos of mechanics, fun ideas, etc, but fortunately the internet has been very very gentle about story spoilers (at least, as far as I've seen).

Anywho, I'm going to go work on more art stuff!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

It's Thursday, and I HAVE ART!!!

I don't just have one piece of art today, I have three! How productive of me!

First up, we have a silly little fanart I did of a Bulbasaur taking a nap in a Venusaur's flower!

"Bulbasnore"; watercolor on 100% rag 300gsm/140lb; 5"x7"; 2023
(ANIMAL, VEGETABLE)

Aren't they cute? I really like how the background got so soft and swirly!

Next up we've got the blog mascot Dedbert sipping at some kind of pink soda! This one was requested via Ko-Fi and was the first of these three to actually be finished.

"Dedbert Drink"; watercolor on 100% rag 300gsm/140lb; 5"x7"; 2023
(DEDBERT, KO-FI REQ)

Finally, we have the Guaranteed category from last week - "WORD". For this one, I drew a d4 with the highest roll, a laurel wreath, and the word "Lucky". Check it out - the U is a horseshoe!!!

"LUCKY"; watercolor on 100% rag 300gsm/140lb; 5"x7"; 2023
(WORD)

I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with this week. I'd love to hear any feedback y'all have. While I do have to moderate my comments, I'm happy to hear back when you leave them.

If you'd like to make a category request via Ko-Fi, send me a coffee with a message telling me which category you'd like (ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, DEDBERT, LOCATION, GEOMETRIC, WORD), and I'll finish your art for next Thursday to post on the blog!

I've got a lot of ideas this week, so we'll see how many paintings, sketches, drawings, or digital works I make next week!

That'll about do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Did Art :)

So last week I randomly generated a number between 1-7 to determine which category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric) I would draw from this week, and I got Geometric. 

Then one of my lovely readers, Z, bought me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and chose another category for me to draw from - Animal.

That means that I have two finished artworks for you!!!

"Bunnyboi"; digital; 2023 [ANIMAL] [Coffee]

I am.... so happy with how this little sketch came out! It's so cute and soft and sweet and I'm so impressed with the way I finally got some control over color and line. It's taking some time, but I feel like I'm really figuring Krita out.

Actually, the next image was created with me finally figuring out one of the things that bothered me so much about Krita and its color-picker. See, the default on Krita is the Advanced Color Picker, which is basically the square, circle, or triangle gradient that you click on to make your colors. I... don't like that, to be honest. It feels unnatural to me.

Turns out there actually is a way to manually input Hex codes into Krita, it just took a little digging on both Google and Krita to find. With the ability to take random colors on Coolors.co and plug them into Krita, I was able to make this week's Geometric piece:

"Lace Panes" digital; 2023 [GEOMETRIC]

I rolled some random colors, picked some random brushes, and scrawled out this fun piece for a Geometric fill, and to be honest, I'm not upset with the way it came out. Knowing now what I've learned from this piece, I think Geometric pieces will be a lot easier now. Turns out if you zoom in on the area you're going to fill and then carefully outline it with a freehand select tool, you can absolutely go to town on every single cell of a piece without overwriting the outlines! I look forward to making some fun stained-glass-like pieces now!

As for next week's Guaranteed Category, we've got... Location! So next week I'll 100% have a Location image finished.

If you want a say like Z had this week, you can send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi (it's not super expensive, I'm pretty sure it's just three bucks US) and leave a message with your donation telling me which category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word), and I'll make a piece based off of that category for next Thursday!

How are all of you guys' art projects coming along?

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!!!"

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