Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Today's Art is... Prestigious

Today's art was brought to you by Z, who bought me a coffee and asked for a DEDBERT drawing! I was, as always, very excited to draw my boy, so here he is channeling his inner Zatara and performing some magic for us!

"Prestige"; colored pencil & micron pen; 2022

Dug out an old sketchbook of mine to do this. Unfortunately, this sketchbook is too chonky to go in my scanner (if the thing is works again...), so I had to snap a pic and upload it.

I love how he always looks faintly bored with anything he's doing! He's just so... mono-expressive, and yet that single look conveys so much lol!

If you'd like to have a say on what I draw next week, feel free to buy me a coffee over on Ko-fi with a message telling me what category you'd like to see next. This week's was "DEDBERT", for instance!

Available categories are:

• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Dedbert
• Location
• Geometric
• Word

Anywho, minor self-advertising aside, I'm looking forward to sketching and writing more this month.

Yes, it's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so I'll be working even harder than usual on my various manuscripts. I'm hoping to make some real headway this month, too.

I'm not, however, ascribing to the, frankly insane, wordcounts recommended by some people doing NaNoWriMo. No, your manuscript does not have to be 80k-100k words long for the love of God.

You're not Stephen King.

You're don't need to write 1200 words a day. You don't need to avoid sleep or food or hygiene to get your book done.

Just... write.

Just sit down and write a sentence.

Will you finish your novel this month? Probably not. It's an unrealistic expectation for a world where a lot of aspiring writers work 40-90 hours a week.

Just write one sentence after another as often and as long as you can without causing yourself undue hardship. Don't skip meals. Don't skip sleep. Don't skip hanging out with friends. Don't deny yourself your life while you're writing.

Your book is in you. You're just putting it down into writing. It's not as scary or complex as you think it is. You can do that. You can write your book.

And so can I!

By the way, if you're more art focused and feel a bit of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) with NaNoWriMo, then you could try writing/drawing a graphic novel of some sort? They're usually much shorter than a novel, but that's because you're cutting out most of the visual detail in the writing process and putting it into the art process! I still recommend writing out a script for a comic or graphic novel - that way you have a plan for what you're going to do!

Heck, if you're an artist who wants to branch out into writing, you can also use Visual Storyboarding to help you work out what you'll write! Basically, just storyboard out a scene, image by image, and then try to write out what you just drew - describe it! Writing is just describing life, whether or not that life you're describing is or was happening in the real world.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me. I'm a little bran-jellied from the art and I'm gonna try to figure out my next move in my manuscript.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In Which a Dreamy Day Was Had By A Certain Birb

Dedbert had a wonderful day today, which is very good for him. I didn't have quite so nice a day, but we can easily chalk that up to today being a comedy of errors.

First, I woke up around 3AM and never got back to sleep. Then I tried to take the returnables back, but the redemption center was closed (again). Then I tried to pick up snacks, but the Family Dollar was closed (again). Then I tried to get two cans of Dr Pepper but they only had one at the Food Service, but that was alright because I got a Coke instead. Then my mom and I went to Staples and tried to print a photo for someone but the photo printer booth was closed. Then I went to the Dollar Store, which is, of course, the buck twenty five store now, and they didn't have M&Ms. At least they had my popcorn. For twelve cents more than usual.

All in all, a very frustrating day.

So of course I had to paint something soothing today, rather than frustrating and complex.

Thankfully, today's category was the newly-added DEDBERT, so here is our boy chilling in a pond, unbothered, in his lane, moisturized, etc.

"Dedbert Dream" watercolor on rag paper, 2022

Look at our boy! He's so calm, so relaxed in his little spa, surrounded by grasses and wildflowers as the sun gently sets.

Pure bliss.

In fact, I absolutely wish I was him, floating gently in a cool but not cold pool under a cotton candy sky with no cares, no regrets. Just pure Dreamspace.

It's why I love painting Dream Creatures!

My day may have been frustrating, but now I'm just vibing with my smol damp son, so maybe life isn't so bad?

I hope you all have a day like Dedbert's soon, where you simply exist and are enough and are satisfied.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

In Which I Review A Palette!

 Christmas saw me getting a lot (and I mean a lot) of pajamas, but also some other fun stuff, including a very cool blue sweater and a gift card to a local bookstore from my younger sibling! It has taken me until now to use that gift card, and here is what I got:

The Peter Pauper Press Studio Series Watercolor Field Kit
With 48 Brilliant Colors!

This kit fits in my purse, is easy to carry, is relatively strong plastic, opens easily, and does in fact contain everything advertised (mixing palette, 48 colors, aqua brush, sturdy case, and a sponge). It has a foldable loop on the bottom for easy balancing in one hand.

The mixing palette lifts out on pegs!

Those are some fresh paints lol

A clearer view of the paints

A Swatch using both paints & brush!

So let's talk contents. 

The palette is a palette. There's not a ton to talk about with it - it works and it's pretty decent!

The sponge is a tiny sponge, and I don't hold much hope for its long-term survival, nor am I 100% certain what the sponges are used for, since I usually travel with tissues that I use for cleanup.

The brush... the brush is weird. I've used water brushes before, but they're usually as easy to fill as "unscrew brush from handle, pour water into handle, screw back together, voila". This one is... weird. It has a little black thingy over the opening in the handle when you unscrew it, and that prevents you from just filling it from the tap like the other water brushes I have. It's also very short, so it doesn't hold very much water when you do fill it, which you do by holding it underwater, squeezing the air out of it, and letting the water fill it up. The whole time, you've got your hand underwater and cold and it feels like you're going to break the brush handle. All in all, the worst water brush I've ever used, filling-wise. Actually using it is great, though. It seems to have a more consistent flow than other brushes. I'd say it evens out, frustration in filling vs ease of use.

As for the paints, they're pretty! They're very nice, and they go on very smooth! They do smell... bandaid-y, though. That's odd, but not too unusual for watercolors lol. I think they just contain a lot of gum arabic. No idea about their lightfastness, but since this is a travel set, rather than a proper in-studio set of paints, I'm gonna say they'd be ideal for watercolor sketching rather than permanent art. I will also say that some of the colors are water-hogs. That second lavender on the 4th row down especially soaks up water when you dampen the pans and it ends up not looking like any of the paint reconstituted. Don't believe its lies, it's perfectly fine, it just doesn't swell lol.

The pans after the first wetting/use, also the brush.

One last note on that weird lil water brush: it stains just the same as all the other nylon-tipped water brushes I've used lol. Does anyone else have that problem? It doesn't spread the color, it just completely stains!

But as we all know, the real test of a watercolor kit isn't what it looks like or smells like in a box or on swatches, it's what it looks like when you use it! And here we see my first use of this kit:

"Sketching With Dedbert"; PPP watercolor on watercolor paper with Micron ink; 2022

I think that with a more robust brush, this paint will be fantastic even at home, and on the go I usually have at least 3 brushes on-hand at any given time just bc I'm paranoid about running out of water (a real concern with the weird filling-method on this new one!). I did forget to erase the pencil lines, so sorry about that! But this was a lot of fun, and it's given me ideas on what else to do with my future art!

And that about covers today's art adventure! My conclusion is this: this kit is worth the $20 I spent on it and I encourage anyone on the fence as to whether or not to pick up a Peter Pauper Press field kit to go for it!

Don't forget to Go Enjoy Something!!!

Thursday Art Walk

 

Still sleepy as heck, but I still drew/painted a bit

Some weeks, you slam out a bunch of amigurumi and paintings, and some weeks you want to crawl into hibernation and do nothing whatsoever. This has been one of the latter weeks. Is this burnout? Eh, maybe. I still *want* to draw and paint I'm just super sleepy.

Part of the reason I'm so tired is the oft-mentioned pilling of my cat. The last few pillings have been pretty hard - she's been stealthily spitting the pills out, and she went on a hunger strike that just made the antibiotics hurt her belly, so that has sucked. She finally ate tonight after giving her a bunch of choices (including cold oatmeal and lettuce because she's weird), and she let us pill her at 8PM so that was nice.

Another reason for my chronic sleepiness is that it's deeeeeep winter where I live. Yes, there are colder places and snowier places even in this state, but let me just say I'm glad today was 32℉ (0℃) because on Saturday it'll feel like -26℉ (-32℃) and I am not at all down with that.

Thank goodness I have warm fuzzy things to wear and curl up in (like the sweater I made! And some cozy pajamas I got for Christmas along with some super comfy slippers)!

I also have my boy Dedbert to keep me company.

"Here Comes The Boy"; watercolor pencil & Pigma micron; 2022

I hope I can get together enough motivation and focus to do more art next week. I'd really like to be making more art! Hopefully after I'm done pilling the cat, I'll be more rested and can do more & better art.

How is the winter treating y'all? Hope you're warm and safe (or cool & safe if you're in the southern hemisphere!). 

That'll do it for me tonight lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Am Back!

Welcome to 2022! Kinda a lot like 2021 (thankfully sans crazy people trying to break into the US Capitol!) but a fresh new year when we can do anything we want!

You haven't heard from me since before Christmas, huh. I'm sorry about that, but I've been quite busy! I'll talk more about that on Tuesday, but I've got a lot of stuff to blather about lol.

For today, though, I'll show you a very very nice gift my boyfriend got me for Christmas:

A lovely set of watercolors!

So pretty and metallic/pearlescent!!!

They do swatch up pretty nice, too!

This paint set has 36 gorgeous shiny paints in it. When it shipped, I'm sure it was all in order, but at some point it must've tilted because the pans were in disarray when I opened it up. As you may be able to tell from the stains on the sponge and the lid, I had already started swatching it.

It came with a pencil, a thin brush, a water brush, the dampening-sponge, and an eraser, and I have to say, both pencil & eraser are fantastic! I sharpened the pencil up so I could use it to draw a nice little New Year's painting!

"Happy New Year 2022!"; watercolor & Pigma pen; 2022

I have to say, at first I was unimpressed with the pigmentation of these paints, but then I realized that I have been using pans incorrectly.

Apparently, you have to rehydrate them a bit before painting with them (a quick spritz or drop of water left to soften the paint for a moment before you try to load your brush is recommended). Once I dripped water into the pans, it layered on beautifully! It's hard to see how bright and rich the colors are in that picture, because with how reflective these paints are, the light kind of bounces all over the place! Those feet are super orange-copper!

A very shiny birb!

Thank you for coming back to see my art, and I hope you'll stick around for Monday when one of the reasons for my blog silence will be made obvious, and then Tuesday when I'll explain myself even better!

Hope this year is treating you well so far!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I have HAD A DAY....

I have been painting all. freaking. day.

And I failed.

I failed so hard.

What I was trying to do was a wet-on-wet splotch background using all of the paints I currently have.

What I ended up with was a mess because my dumb butt forgot to turn off all my fans, so the "wet" part just... dried up. And puddled.

It was bad. Don't believe me?

An Attempt Was Made

I tried, guys. I really tried. And it almost looks cool, but the hope was to use that as a background, and it's waaaaaaaaaaay too saturated for that.

So I tried again! This time I wanted to paint lines, so I did that... but...

Cue Sad Trombone...

I think the worst part is that it almost looks interesting.

But almost doesn't make the grade, my peeps. It simply does not.

I have been cranky and grumpy and really, really disappointed all day because of this nonsense, and my poor boyfriend has had to hear it allllllllllllll. I probably whined for 40 minutes about how it just wouldn't cooperate.

But as you might have noticed from the doodle up top, not all is lost, because Sharpie and some random fineliners I snagged at one of our local bookstores had my back and I whipped out these lil Dedbert drawings in five minutes flat!

"Fine."; marker on printer paper; 2021

And thus ends the saga of the no-good, very bad, awful crappy art day.

Lol I just noticed that you can see the greeting card I was using to protect my notebook from marker bleedthrough...

Anywho, yeah, sometimes you can work very hard and still not have your project work out. And sometimes walking away and coming back later doesn't help. Sometimes even starting over doesn't work. Sometimes you just need to do something else lol!

So I hope y'all are having an easier time than me, creatively!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Am Proud Of Myself :P

This week was a pretty good one, creatively! I'm setting up and prepping a bunch of future fanart sketches involving some Pokemon Original Trainers (really looking forward to introducing the McHannon Cousins and Zed with their pokepals!), wrote a bunch of notes on what to include (and contemplating fanfic - sorry Z!), and picking color palettes. I am also trying to figure out if I'll do this 100% digital, 100% traditional, or a combination of the two... I'm leaning towards "combination".

But alongside that hubbub, I was also looking for references on Twitter and YouTube.

One of my favorite folks to follow on Twitter is @Weird_Animals. They posted this hilarious photo of a Double-Crested Cormorant and I... I could not resist. At all.

Behold, my first attempt at a non-spherical bird:

"FEESH NOW"; watercolor pencil on watercolor paper; 2021

I cannot stop laughing when I look at this piece. Seriously, it's just so goofy, and I can't wait to take it out of the notebook and scan it onto Redbubble.

For now, though, it's getting a little late, and I'm enjoying an author talk with my partner (it's Richard Lange discussing Rovers, and it involves vampires).

If you guys have any questions about my fanfiction ideas, feel free to tell me! I have never actually posted a fanfic on the internet before, so I'm a wee bit nervous, tbh.

I hope y'all are having a decent week. Mine's been pretty alright, to be honest. I have been having a headache around 5pm every day, which is weird, but it's probably dehydration. It always is.

Anywho, that'll do it for me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which There Is A Lot Of Cold and Cheese...

I've been hard at work drawing today! Feels good to get something I said I'd do done. Which is a horrible sentence, but hey, I drew! I don't care!

And what did I draw?

Well, a couple of things, to be honest.

See, it's suddenly freezing (literally) cold again. It was all of 31℉ (-0.5℃) when I got up, and there were these horrid little flurries coming down. The birds outside were very confused.

Someone else was furious...

"What the Heck, Spring?!"; colored pencil on legal size printer paper; 2021

Poor Dedbert is not happy that his nice warm days have suddenly been interrupted by fluffy white nonsense fluttering down from a gray, dreary sky!

Thankfully, though, the snow isn't sticking around, and we should get back to springtime sooner rather than later!

Now, my other piece is somehow even sillier, and it also has to do with something white, though this something is delicious rather than precipitous. In fact, it's so delicious, it's begun to infuriate my partner with its awesomeness.

It's cheese, guys.

We're both obsessed with cheese, to be fair.

My partner is also obsessed with wombats - the adorable furry tank of a marsupial that digs burrows in Australia and whose closest cousin is the adorable, yet incredibly dumb, koala.

So I combined those wonderful things :P

"Triple Cream?!?!?!"; colored pencil and gel pen on legal size printer paper; 2021

This is Wommie. He is 100% obsessed with how perfect and delicious brie is, and he's just discovered triple cream brie - which is, in his opinion, overkill. I mean, he's still gonna eat it, don't get me wrong, but he's a bit overwhelmed at the thought of that much cream!

A minor disclaimer here, though - 99.999% of the wombat population cannot and should not eat brie, since they're herbivores and tend to have a hard time digesting dairy. Wommie is special. He's downright magical.

He also has a hard time with his R's, but that's because of the way his mouth is built. It's made for eating roots and grasses, not pronouncing silly human words!

Anywho, I'm ready for a break! If you've made something today, go ahead and tell me about it!

And Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk: Digital Inclusion

In Which I Have Continued My Experimentation!

I don't think I've rendered Dedbert in Digital yet, so here you guys go: my attempt at a Dedbert digital painting.

"LGBirbTQ"; digital, 2020

I'd like to return to this idea when I'm a better artist in digital - some of the balloons are really wonky, and I want to do more shading on Dedbert, but since this took all of my hand strength and patience, I think that's a very good first go for the Birb Himself.

Check out some more art today, if you're feeling down in this rainy nonsense (it's really gross here right now, I'm sure it's lovely where some of you are and I won't lie, I'm jelly as heck), and even if you're not feeling bleh, still look for good art wherever you can find it!

Art is awesome.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Also, this design is available on my Redbubble!

Thursday Art Walk 316

In Which I Did Another Experiment And There Were Birds

Today is gross. It's in the low 40s (that's in the 4.4-7.2 range for you Celsius folks), it's windy, it's somewhere between a drizzle and proper rain. This didn't discourage the local wildlife, however, since not only were my neighbor's chickens outside (which might be a bad thing as you'll see in a moment), but we've had ducks, cardinals, chickadees, goldfinches, and more songbirds in general today than I've ever seen before a wet spell.

As any wildlife biologist or naturalist can tell you, wherever there is a high concentration of prey animals, you're sure to find predators, and while cats aren't too uncommon around here, they're not the top dog, so to speak.

That honor goes to the birds of prey we have hovering around. During the summer, the chirping cries of the osprey are so common as to be background noise. I saw a bald eagle last week, wheeling near one of the neighboring churches. I see turkey vultures at least once a week, soaring on the thermals from the slowly rotting dump nearby. Sometimes, if I'm walking at night (or if they're being inconsiderate creepers outside at 3AM), I'll encounter an owl - usually a barred owl.

But by far, my favorite birds of prey are the hawks and falcons who sometimes make an appearance, culling the overabundant pigeon flocks with impunity. Often, the crows or ravens will bully our hawks, eagles, and owls (one owl even met a grisly end due to being harried at all hours for several days - they're called a murder of crows for a reason!), but today, one of the larger hawks paid us a visit:

He's on that low branch - see him?

He hung out for a bit, then swooped towards me and vanished.

So that was my morning - coffee and birds. Kinda normal, eh?

But what art do I have to offer you?

First, the lineart of my tubby boi, Dedbert, rockin' that Self-Isolation body...

I've been testing out a new art style - intersecting lines with cross-hatching in different colors, and today, I decided to experiment with that.

"Line Frequency Experiment 1"; sharpie and graphite on legal size printer paper; 2020

I'm not particularly happy with how this experiment turned out - namely because I lost track of which lines were which!!! I just wish it was easier to keep track of :( Still, part of the problem is that I'm not going big enough with my points between lines - if I could increase the distance between lines intersecting, then I could really get some good stuff done, I think.

I'll continue to experiment :)

***

NOVEL UPDATE:

I am continuing the work, but since the last update, I've only written maybe 50 words. I'll do more work tonight and onwards.

***

Here's what I did today:

• Coffee and banana bread for breakfast - it came out great
• Observed Hawk
• Turkey and cheddar sandwich
• received package: five-pack of black garlic oil tonkatsu ramen (excited about this)
• cleaned up cat vomit (not excited about that)
• Did That Art (exciting!)
• sent a PC off to a new home (also excited for this)
• wrote a blog post
• got into argument with cat over whether or not the ramen is a suitable spot to lounge. She is for it. I am against.
• Cat has adjourned to stovetop. Thankfully stove is not in use.
• Now I'm finishing this post :P

Thanks for sticking with me guys.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk 313

In Which There Is A New Friend

So, for a while now, I have been bringing you pictures of my boy, Dedbert (seen at the top of basically every blog for a while now), but he's usually by himself. I don't want you to get the wrong idea, though. He's not a lonely birb. He has friends.

"Friendship"; ballpoint pen on sketch pad; 2020

I plan on coloring this in later, and if I can get my drawing pad working, I'd love to start doing digital art of this pair.

... it's also now occurring to me that I have never asked Dedbert his friend's name. This isn't the only bunny he's friends with, either - he's got a small brown and white adoptive brother named Benjamin, after all. (I've had BB since I was very, very young, almost as long as Patches, the plaid-pawed bear, and Mr. Bear, the white bear with the red bowtie).

I think I may start making pictures of all of Dedbert's friends and family, actually :)

That might be a lot of fun.

Anyway, it's pretty crummy out today - cloudy, drizzly, not that warm. Thankfully, this drizzle should stop soon, but it's still going to be hovering just above freezing (and it will feel colder) tonight. Thank goodness for gloves and hats and scarves.

I'm also thankful to everyone who pops in to check out what I'm doing, lately. I see you in my analytics, and even though you're all quite quiet, it's good to know you're swinging by. Dedbert and I are grateful.

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

I'm going to go check out how my Dedbert's siblings are doing, since most of them moved into the closet to hoard the VHS tapes...

Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 312: Art Block And Overcoming it

In Which Sometimes Everyone Gets Stuck

Art block can happen to anyone who makes art at any point in their careers/hobbies. It can happen multiple times. It can persist for an exceedingly long time, but the important thing to remember is that, despite what your self-doubt is telling you, it's not because you're a bad artist. Maybe you've run out of ideas, or your ideas are bigger than you think you can handle, or maybe you're just not motivated, but none of this makes you a bad artist or a bad person.

Sometimes it's just procrastination because you fear failure - spending hours on a piece only to hate it to death once you've decided you're finished is excruciating, but it's part of making art. Sometimes we don't like what we produce, and it can make us very prone to giving up or not wanting to try again.

But that's not how art works, right? You know that!

Art is 100% practice.

It's a secret that no one likes to believe because we've all had that one classmate or relative who puts pen to page and produces beautiful work like it's second nature (and it may be!), but here's what that person likely never told you:

They have Art Block and Self-Doubt, too.

Unless they're a narcissist, then it's just not fair to everyone else :|

But yeah, everybody fails sometimes, everyone struggles to see the worth of their art, and everyone stares at a blank canvas or page or notebook, or through the viewfinder of their camera or GoPro or whatever, and has no idea what to put into it. Everyone is out here fighting to pour out their art into the world.

And sometimes it's a slog.

Art isn't always fun. Sometimes it's fighting the urge to break your pencil in half because it's your last one and the sketch is just not coming together. Sometimes it's staring down at an entire day's effort and realizing you have to do it all over again because something is fundamentally off. Sometimes you're bored to tears because this is the 80th time you've tried to draw that damn penguin and it's just... it looks like a panda and a peanut had a very productive New Year's Eve or something...

Sometimes, the joy of creation is actually a miserable wallow, and it can be hard to come back from that.

And sometimes you just... don't feel like making art. Even though you know you should (or you need to for a class or your job or something).

If you don't feel the art, then how do you make it happen?

You follow the advice of those dumb Nike ads, is what.

You just... get it done.

How do you start? Well, for me, I just... doodle. I start sketching out vague shapes on the page until I can start filling in the details into something more picture-like.

Sometimes that's enough.

Sometimes, I'll just find a poem and break it down into coordinates, then have the internet give me a random pallet of colors and make a bubble art from that. It's not always pretty, but at least I've started something!

Today, I did the doodle shape approach and came out with something that I actually think is adorable:

"Radbert"; permanent marker and ballpoint pen on printer paper; 2020

It's a blurry photo because I had a cat on my lap (she's still there, guys, she won't move, I have to pee so bad...), but there's my little dude pulling some (I'm sure) sick tricks or something on a skateboard. He also found a clip-on earring somewhere lol.

The shapes I started with were a long horizontal oval and a circle (the board and his body). From there, I started filling in Dedbert's recognizable features and suddenly I knew what I was drawing. At first, it was going to be a surfboard, but I think Dedbert is feeling more 90s than 80s, so skateboard it is!

Fun fact: I can't skateboard. I've never had the balance.

But yeah, doing something artlike while you're not feeling the art can absolutely help trigger your creativity, so I recommend arting when you don't want to art. It can be as simple as sketches or as silly as just mushing up some Play-Doh while you're staring into space, but creation begets creation, and there's very little better than that feeling of accomplishment when you've wrestled something from nothing.

I hope you all have creative days!

Stay safe out there.

I love you all.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 311: March Weather

In Which It Is Definitely March

It's a gorgeous day out there, today. The sun is shining, the birds are going around and doing happy early spring bird things, and it's 46℉(7.8℃)!

The wind is also screaming through the trees and tried to toss me into the bay, yesterday.

Seriously, we've got gusts up to 24mph (38.6kph)! It feels like 37℉(2.8℃).

It's 100%, absolutely certainly March.

"March Weather"; ballpoint pen and graphite on printer paper; 2020

Poor Dedbert has to stay inside today, lest he take an accidental flying lesson he didn't sign up for!

I'll be heading out into the maelstrom soon enough, returning a sack of bottles for the deposit and meeting up at the library in anticipation of another day talking about books, writing, and all the nerdy things we love with my partner.

It's a beautiful day for it.

If a windy one.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 251: 1950s Gray

In Which I Made More Art!

This week's prompt was "1950s, Gray", so that's what I've done. I wish I'd had more shades of gray available in my sharpies, but sadly, I only had silver and... gray. There weren't really any tones I could do, so I did my best with the design :)

"1950s Gray"; permanent marker on printer paper; 2019

Dedbert here is posing with his new guitar in front of an artificial (likely aluminum) Christmas tree that's been painted green with silver and gray baubles all over it. The topper is a 1950s Sputnik Star, which, I mean... does that make him a Commie? Oh no!

Actually, I'm surprised that the entirety of the nation didn't rebel against the very idea of Santa during this period. Guy dressed in red, breaking into your home in the middle of the night to distribute possessions gained from who knows where... sounds kinda socialist to me. Or just crazy.

But yeah, That's today's art!

I have been kind of obsessing over the idea of winter far more than the reality this year. I mean, yesterday was pretty nice - light snowfall, temperatures just below freezing, hardly any wind...

But today is brutal.

It's 11℉ (-11℃) and blowing a gale, which means that it feels like it's even colder. According to the internet, it feels like it's -13℉ (-25℃). This is nuts.

This is not what I want from mid-December. I don't even like this in mid-January when it's kinda normal.

December should be just around freezing with nighttime dips into the teens, if it must.

Ugh.

I think I'll just curl up with Dedbert in front of his fake tree and listen to him play guitar.

Come back next week to see what Dedbert got for Christmas!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 250: 1940s Red

In Which I Draw Another Line Sketch!

Today's theme was "1940s. Red." So I looked up some 1940s decorations and the like and... It was all way more complicated than I could draw. So instead, I gave myself a break and simplified things significantly. Today, we have Dedbert sitting atop a 1940s radio with his tinsel-and-garland strewn tree beside him. It being the 1940s, things are tight. Rationing and the war effort take up a lot of his time, so instead of him having a big tree surrounded by tons of gifts, he's using the top off of someone else's tree and has decorated it to the best of his ability. String tinsel seems to have been a favorite for these trees, and apparently little round baubles have been a mainstay for ornamentation for practically a century (or more?), so he's got a bunch of red ones. They may have been another color that he's painted, to be honest, but he's a frugal guy, so who knows? A red beaded garland and a handmade crocheted tree skirt complete the scene.

What do you guys think is in that gift box?

"1940s Red"; permanent marker on printer paper; 2019

I'm really enjoying this series of images, and I look forward to sharing more with you.

Also, I've mentioned it on the blog here before, but I do, indeed, have a Redbubble shop now! If you've ever wanted to wear my art before, now's your chance without typing out those fateful comments that, unfortunately lead to art theft...

Alright, that's all from me today!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 249: 1980s Blue Christmas

In Which I Made an Art!

So, I'm going to be doing some weird art this month. I'll be taking a random color theme and a random decade and making a scene! This week's pairing was "blue" and "1980s"!

"Blue 80s"; pencil and Sharpie on sketch paper, 2019

Dedbert has on his 1980s scarf and his aviator glasses, and there is a plethora of blue tinsel and blue satin baubles :) I'm pretty pleased with the sketchy nature of this picture, and I look forward to more weird sketchy Christmas art :)

I'm having a productive day, artistically speaking. Between writing and crocheting, I've gotten a lot done besides my art! I hope to get even more done before tomorrow!

That'll do it for me today (I know, very short, but I'm very distracted by a story I'm writing :P)

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 246: Sketching Along

In Which I Done Did Drawings

It's snowing.

It's 33℉ (~0.5℃), so cloudy it's nearly too dark to see, and it's spitting snow.

I am not ready for winter. My fluffy Star Wars jim jams are on. My soft sweatshirt is on. My slipper socks are on. My blanket fort and my blanket nest are well-stocked with fluffy coverings and I have my shawl wrapped around Dedbert to keep him warm (Dedbert is my cute green owl son). Yet still, I am unprepared.

My cat refuses all attempts at cuddling, as that would mean leaving one of the many blanket nests we've set up for her in the living room, which she refuses to entertain if food is not involved.

What I'm saying is that it's the perfect day to stay inside if you can, curl up with cocoa, and sketch random stuff you see.

"Coffee, Cardinal, and Cat"; pencil and ink study on legal size printer paper; 2019

I'll be doing more art as the day progresses, but that's what I've taken a picture of so far, so there you go!

Also, the wrinkles are because my cat decided that the papers were the right place to stand while waiting for me to arrange her new blanket tent. Which she proceeded to fall asleep on top of. :| Cats.

Such a sleepy baby she didn't even notice the flash...

I have many things to do, and a limited window in which to do them, so that's all from me :)

Go Enjoy Something!
FC