fun

New paints = big fun

I bought myself a new pan of paints on Wednesday and decided to give them a try last night.

I did a few brushstrokes of paint on the page and, once they dried, I outlined them with black marker and little faces and antennae to create these fun little creatures:

A small drawing of stylized figures made from a brushstroke of paint with details added in marker
Image description: my small drawing of a series of creatures created by making a brushstroke with light orange paint and then outlining them/adding details with black marker. The figures are mostly rounded with big eyes and look like little ghosts or bugs, some have antennae. My initials and the date are on the right hand side.

I’m delighted by the one in the skirt. What a fun little dance they’re doing!

(Yes, I can be delighted by my own work, aren’t you? I didn’t know it would turn out so well.)

Saturday Six for April 1, 2023

I’m going to post every day in April just to see how I like it. Expect to see a fair number of lists. 😉

Here are 6 things I enjoyed this week:

1) Being able to walk in sneakers instead of boots:

A top down view of the author’s light purple sneakers as she stands on her street.
The fact that my shadow makes it seem that I have one giant leg is cracking me up here. Image description: a top down photo of my feet (in light purple sneakers) and the bottom of my legs (in black leggings) as I stand on some salt-speckled asphalt. My shadow extends up and to the left.

2) Feeling like my projects and ideas were organized. (Thanks for working the way my brain works, Todoist!)

3) Telling stories and teaching storytelling to a group of my Mom’s friends.. (We had a GREAT time!)

4) Finishing a big section of one of my current work projects. (Hurrah for working in short sessions! Perseverance for the win!)

5) Three sunny days this week. (Temperatures above freezing! Yay!)

6) Buying paint to get started on the living room. (I’ve been trying to get around to that for AGES.)

Real Live Conversation

A gif of Spongebob Squarepants with the word conversation appearing over his head.
Image description: GIF of the character Spongebob from the show Spongebob Squarepants (a rectangular yellow sponge with huge eyes and skinny arms and legs who wears shorts, and a shirt and tie) moves his arms over his head and as he spreads his hands, a rainbow appears. The word ‘Conversation’ is in white at the top of the GIF.

Largely by happy accident, I ended up in a delightful and lengthy conversation with my dear friend Alex M those evening.

It was so wonderful to be able to sit unmasked (at a safe distance) and to be able to have the sort of long, rambly, connected-but-not-direct conversation that I must enjoy.

One of the weirdnesses of the pandemic is how carefully planned everything has had to be. And that has meant that more of my conversations have had to be more focused, direct, and clearly purposeful than I prefer them to be.

It was an absolutely treat to be able to reconnect and chat freely, I look forward to more of those conversations in the future.

Small Bits of Art

I’m doing the Index Card A Day art practice again this year and I’m having fun with the prompts.

And it’s so very true that creativity thrives under constraint…or at least that you can have a lot of fun when you have to channel your creativity in a specific way.

Here’s my response to the ‘snapdragon’ prompt:

A drawing of a fire breathing dragon in a flowerpot.
Image description: a drawing of a fire-breathing dragon growing out of a flowerpot. Text next to the drawing reads ‘Well, I was going to draw snapdragons but all those little seed packs look the same, you know?’