Thursday Art Walk

 

I Have A Sketch!

Today has been a major art block day. I have a pile of crappy papers next to the bed covered in junk scribbles, but I finally have something to show for it.

"Creature 01"; mechanical pencil on legal pad; 2021

That lil critter up there is a fusion of a South Indian Marble Tree and a lion. Why? I... couldn't think of anything to draw, tbh. I'd love to pop that lil sucker into my digital art program and color it! The branches should be a deep reddish pink darkening to red at the tops of the bell-shaped flowers, the fluffy bits inside the flowers should be white, the body of the lion should, of course, be a golden brown, and the mane should be dark green with rosy veins! I really hope I can do this boy some justice, tbh.

Now... why the South Indian Marble Tree?

Because I wanted to do something based off of a living thing, and that was the first living thing with a photograph that popped up when I hit "Random Article" on Wikispecies lol.

And why the lion?

Because that was the first non-human, non-building being that showed up on Google when I typed in "South Indian".

Inspiration isn't always pretty, but it is useful!

Anyway, I think I'll try a few of these kind of picture, and I hope I can actually figure out how to color them up all pretty-like lol!

Anyone have any video tutorial suggestions for Paint.net or Krita? I still can't get Krita to do anything that makes sense, tbh...

Whatever is going on, I hope you

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday - Wednesday Edition

 

In Which It Is Too Hot

I live where the air, 3-5 months out of the year, hurts my face with cold. I live out of pants and flannel shirts 9/10 of the time. I hate being barefoot.

So for the 3-4 months of summer we get up here, you'd better believe I'm miserable.

It felt only slightly cooler today than yesterday, which, if you'll recall, got to about 90℉ (32.22℃). Today felt that hot - especially in my room, which has no AC. I have my window fan gobbling up cooler air from outside now that it's near midnight (maybe if I type fast and ignore my growing urge to pee I can get this blog out before it's actually Wednesday?) and my ceiling fan spinning that vaguely less hot air around, but man does it still feel to hot to live up here.

I spent a good portion of today downstairs. I even went into the basement to grab some bottled water and it developed condensation halfway up the stairs. I wish the internet wasn't balls in the basement or I'd have stayed down there.

And then of course the internet fluffed off at some point in the afternoon. Maybe around 4? It didn't come back until like quarter to five, though, so that sucked because that's my usual blogging time.

I have a small amount of grumpage, yes, why?

But seriously, I'm not built for hot-and-humid days with no AC.

Today was better than yesterday in a couple of ways though! Namely in that my COVID Vaccine Arm cleared up.

Yeah I got my second Moderna jab on Wednesday last week, and for the next few days it felt like someone had grabbed both of my arms and tried to pull them out of the sockets after hitting me in the back with a steel chair. I felt a little nauseous and very tired, but I prefer that to drowning in fluids and choking on my own sloughed-off lung lining, so jabs it is.

And the fact that I got to have sushi last Wednesday as a treat for getting vaccinated was pretty great too.

But not even a single day after I started to feel better, body-wise, a new symptom appeared in the form of a goose-egg-sized-and-shaped patch on my upper left arm (the arm I got the shot in).

It didn't itch, but it was really red and sore to the touch like a bruise, and weirdly, it was about three inches away from the injection site. Odd.

But it was there, and I was on the verge of freaking out until I looked up some of the weirder side effects and learned that, yes, anywhere from 3 days to a week after getting vaxxed, you can in fact develop this reaction. The suggested treatment was simple: ice if you need it, painkillers if you need them, allergy meds if you need them.

I took the allergy meds mostly bc the lilacs are in bloom but they helped and now my arm is more or less normal! Still a small patch that's a little raised but nothing hurts and it's not red anymore.

In less health-related news, though, I have high hopes for Thursday since it should finally not feel like Satan's butthole then and I can draw and maybe pick up some snax. Those are my goals. The total sum of my goals for this week are

1. draw
2. get snax

That's it.

That's all I wanna do :P

Then again, it's midnight, and I should really be asleep, so who knows what else I'll come up with tomorrow during the possible thunder showers and gross heat?

Whatever the weather brings, I hope you guys are doing well and can

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday: Filet And Blather

In Which I Am Working On A Thing

I am a sleepy potato. It's been about 90℉ (32.2℃) and about 50% humidity all day. If you live in certain parts of the world, I'm sure you're laughing at me, and believe me, I do the same thing to you in January when you're complaining that it's half this temp and you're bundled up while I'm still walking outside in short sleeves, but please remember: in the cold months, you can add clothes to keep you warm. I cannot strip my skin off when it's hot, no matter how much I'd like to.

Gotta admit, too, that I'm not really crocheting today. I just wanted to show you the progress I've made on this design I'm making for my mom's new bread bowl.

Don't let the zoom fool you, this sucker is LONG!

Around 19" long (48.26cm)!

And it's not even half finished

so it could be about an inch or two wider before I'm done!

As things stand, though, it'll be just the right length

So I hope my mom likes it for her bread tray

I really enjoy doing filet crochet, to be honest.

Even if my tired monkey brain has a hard time counting the right amounts, and even though I seem to drop a block once every couple of rows, and yes, even though that means frogging for ages before I can hook back to where I was when I noticed the error...

But it's just a lot of fun, yeah? I love seeing the design take shape, block by block, in a way that I can't really get with colorwork. There's no extra ends to tie in (though if I ever find myself brave enough to take on the Godzilla Shawl, that will not be the case...), I have an easier time counting out multiples of 3 than multiples of 2 for some reason, and I really enjoy practicing my foundation double crochet stitches! This project has been a blast so far.

Yeah, I also had to take a break last Wednesday because I got my second jab, and boy was I sore afterwards. I'll try to remember to tell y'all about that tomorrow, but for now, I'm just gonna go enter some contests and go to bed because it is exhausting to be this overheated. Yes I'm wearing a tank top. Yes I'm wearing ridiculously tiny shorts. No it's not cool enough. No I don't have AC.

I may also be a wee bit cranky due to the heat :P

However this blog may find you, I hope you're able to get comfy and!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk - Yard Care In The Outback?

In Which I Drew Another Cute Pic!

Blogger is being a bit finicky today, so I'm trying to copy/paste images as opposed to use the tool they built into it.

Also, it's really beginning to alarm me that the underline under my title keeps turning red...

Regardless, I have, in fact, drawn a picture! And it's another Australian mammal! Specifically another marsupial!

It's another wombat - nature's lawnmower/tiller.

"Lawn Care Down Under"; graphite on printer paper; 2021

This is a Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat who has just finished grazing the lawn down to an appropriate height. She's quite satisfied with herself and the enormous meal she's given herself lol!

I should draw more of these odd, large-nosed marsupials. I love how they waddle along, how their butts are both a shield and a weapon, and how they're just so cute! Just... wonderful critters :)

There may not be a drawing next week - I'll be getting my second Moderna shot shortly before then and may be out of commission for a bit.

How are all of y'all doing?

Until next time, then,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday: Sleepy Days And Sleepless Nights

 

In Which I'm So Sleepy And So Stupid

I need to stop drinking caffeine right before bed lol! In my defense, though, I was trying out that Pepsi Mango, and now I'm in lurv with it.

On the other hand, I didn't get to sleep until 2 or 3AM and woke up for the first time around 6AM when my dad had to go to work. Didn't end up getting up until 9AM because I'm lazy, and didn't get showered until after 11:30AM because.... I'm lazy. What can I say besides that? I just don't like moving around for the most part.

Except I did go for a walk today!

The weather was gorgeous, all sunshine and a balmy 65℉ (18.3℃). There was a strong breeze from the mountains that kept me in my flannel shirt and jeans, despite yesterday having been so hot that I regretted my capris and tee! Amazing what 12 hours can do.

And of course, tomorrow is supposed to be hellishly warm and thunderstorming. While my poor dad goes camping for the first time in maybe 8 years. In a camper he rebuilt by himself. Except for the half-rotten canvases he's been trying to repair...

Poor dude.

Anyway, I've been keeping busy. I'm trying to figure out how to make a two-toned panel, trying to make an oval filet crochet piece, working on old projects. I've been writing more in my wrestling novel, which I had to restart the second part of (again). Been playing more 3DS and Switch Pokemon games (New Pokemon SNAP! especially lol).

My big problem, as I mentioned, is caffeinating too late in the day. My cutoff should be 7PM, but... I've been getting sugared up past 8 lately and I'm suffering for it.

That's on me. I'm being dumb.

I have plans this week that involve finishing up some of the above-mentioned crochet projects, working on some art (maybe physical art this week?), and trying to remind myself that I can only drink herbal tea and water after 7pm.

I'm also going to try to walk 7 miles at least between today and next Tuesday since we've got our treadmill up and running again lol.

I think that'll do it for me. I've been dithering around on this blog since probably 10:30AM and it's 10:30PM now... Am geniuz.

Oh! One last thing - my alarm clock is possessed! Came back upstairs from my morning coffee on Sunday and my clock radio was playing static. I had not turned on my radio. Instead, the alarm light was flickering on/off rapidly and I could not at any point turn the radio off. It's currently still staticky, but I've turned it as low as possible so I can't hear it.  Now I will probably be looking for a new one lol!

RIP alarm clock radio - you've served me well since 2004.

G'night, y'all!

And Enjoy Something!

Thursday Art Walk: The Drip

 

In Which I Practiced Some Art!

I've been very busy the last 9 days!

Okay, that's not 100% the truth. I've been doing a lot of things, but I've also just not been thinking about the blog for the most part.

Exactly 7 days ago, I turned 32. I was busy last Thursday, as you may imagine, but an idea for more weird stuff I could do in a paint program came to mind and I decided to play with it!

That's where The Drip comes from - me playing with colors, layers, and just bein weird as heck :D

"The Drip"; digital; 2021

I won't go into the math I did planning this out (spoilers, it wasn't enough and I should've resized the canvas first!), but I will tell you it was so much fun! Was it frustrating at times? Yes! Was I annoyed when my computer installed updates and ate the original try I took at it? Very, Yes! But I'm glad I tried it!

Obviously there's a lot I'd like to experiment with, here, and you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be doing more of this style in the future, maybe playing with antializing, nearest neighbor, resizing, etc, but for now, I'm just happy it exists. 

I should be back on my nonsense come Tuesday, but for now, I got dinner to eat and pixels to place :)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday - Where The Heck Was I?!

 

In Which I Explain Myself
Probably Poorly

It's somehow been since the end of April since I last blogged. Yikes! I hope I didn't worry anyone! I promise, there's not really anything wrong.

Time just kinda got away from me.

I've been working on some big projects for family (which is my fault - I am not yet at the stage where I can make clothing patterns on the fly, but I tried it anyway!), playing around with digital art, working on my novel again, and...

not sleeping.

At all.

Kind of.

Let me explain:

Sometimes I go through these cycles where, instead of sleeping like a normal human being, my body does everything in its power to keep me awake for several nights. Sometimes it's triggered by stress - say, the anxiety of getting an inoculation when I'm scared of needles, having to do things by myself instead of with a support buddy, frustration of trying to do paperwork, etc - and sometimes it's just natural.

This time, as you may have guessed by my super specific examples, it was stress. And it was my fault.

In order to get a vaccine for the 'rona, I needed a valid photo ID. I did not have a valid photo ID at the time of my setting up my appointment, and had not realized I'd need it when I signed up. I noticed after I'd confirmed both date & time, and... had to cancel. Then I had to go get my ID, which was an hour of my life wasted at the DMV, five dollars down the drain, and a moment of panic beforehand when I realized I didn't have any recent mail with my name & address on it. Which it turned out I didn't even need for the ID.

Then I had to wait a week for the ID, during which I was panic-making a birthday present that just wouldn't come together dammit. The birthday was missed. By nearly 2 weeks. Because I gave the gift on Sunday the 9th. Oops.

The ID arrived the day after my original appointment, which the system did not cancel when I cancelled it, so I had to call the helpline which... not very helpful the first two times I tried, as robots tend not to be. The third time was the charm and last week I got my first dose of Moderna! The guy at the door complimented my Creature from the Black Lagoon shirt, and I bought myself sushi and dumplings and it was actually a great day!

So you'd think I'd be able to sleep again, right?

Lol no.

Instead, I got to have very mild muscle aches in my left arm and neck for two days (normal! All normal!) and then my body was just so used to not sleeping that I still can't sleep!

In fact, on Sunday I was operating on maybe 5 hours for the last week and that is Not Alright.

So I cut back on caffeine.

Fun fact, caffeine headaches will also not let you sleep.

So I added caffeine back in.

And finally I started feeling sleepy last night...

Except now my room is about 75℉ (23.9℃) and my optimal sleeping temp is in the low 60s (16.7℃)... I was roasting. And my head hurt. And my neck was sore from pressing my head into my pillow to sleep. And then my jerkwad neighbor decided that 5:30AM was a great time to start revving the engine on his crappy Cutlass.

So I woke up pretty cranky.

At 11AM.

I'm a mess, basically, is what I'm saying.

But! There is hope for a nap!

If the New Pokemon Snap doesn't consume me alive lol!

But seriously, on the second day of Moderna soreness, my copy of Snap came in and I. am. addicted!

Even though the underwater level is going to terrify me at some point. And even if there are some really upsetting moments (that poor Corsola! That poor Pyukumuku!!!) so yeah...

Uh...

Posts may be sporadic for a while due to a combination of temporary insomnia and a shiny new game :P

I do want to start posting again, though it'll be tough on Thursday, since it's kinda my birthday that day.

I have plans for Thursday.

They consist of sitting on my ass and eating Thai food.

I'm exciting.

So aside from all that and the surprise hailstorm we had today (which the ducks next door loved, fighting over the hailstones like they were peas from heaven lol), that's pretty much all I have to say!

Sorry for the radio silence, but now you know that I'm half-vaccinated, sleepy, and obsessed with fictional photography?

Anywho, Go Enjoy Something!

FC

PS It's raining on my roof but not the road. The weather is freakin weird, yo.