CAT NAP Illustration

 I've had a slower, resting type of week when it comes to art-making, so I thought I wasn't going to have anything to share as a finished creation for week 45 of 2026, but I do, in fact, have something to share. I started this little illustration the day before yesterday and finished it up last night. 

Again, this was a situation in which I just fell into a zone while working on it and that felt so good. I've long wanted to do an illustration with this cute kind of frame, all checkered and filled up with small designs or words. I'm super pleased with how this turned out. I do love to draw a sleeping kitty. I feel like the color palette came together really well. It never occurred to me until looking at it in just this moment, but the border gives it a kind of quilt-like effect, which is very fitting for this particular subject.

This week I also repaired and re-listed a piece of hoop art that I had de-activated along with one other earlier in the year. The problem was a handful of golden metallic bugle beads, which had become dull and tarnished over time. It is mortifying to say so, but the reason I found out the beads were as they were was because someone had purchased a hoop that had some on it and when I pulled it out of the drawer in which I store my for-sale hoops, I saw that the beads were no longer shiny. I bought higher quality beads and replaced the tarnished ones, then sent the hoop on its way, but the feeling of embarrassment and shame has lingered for a long time. Lesson learned, though. Of course, I knew that not all art and craft supplies were created equal, but now I know that just because something looks good at the store, it doesn't mean it's going to stand the test of time and a bit of research with materials I'm not familiar with is always worth it. Anyway, this hoop is available once again.

I have no Ordinary Beauty photo to share and I'm starting to fall behind, so I'll need to catch up this week. 7 more weeks left in this year and I am currently behind on four out of nine of my challenges. I can catch up with three, no problem, but the last one... might end up being a challenge I let go of. Also, I have been thinking of various ways to structure my creative life in the coming year and I am getting excited about it.

Purple Pikmin Painting

 This past week, I organized and executed a spontaneous Pikmin Bloom contest series for myself, Pat,  some of our offspring, and their partners (I successfully roped all of those people into playing Pikmin Bloom with me). Why did I do this? I don't know. I watched a video on Youtube in which a man in Japan informed me that from now on November 1st is Pikmin Day. So I wanted to celebrate because I like to do stuff like that sometimes. Anyway, one of the prizes was to be a Pikmin-themed artwork made by yours truly. This is what I came up with and this is what will be sent off to Denver to live with the winner of one of those contests (1st child).

Here is my Ordinary Beauty photo for the week, which may be a little gross if you consider that some of the streaks on there are from bird poop diluted by rainwater. So don't consider it.

Speaking of ordinary beauty, though, I would like to leave you with this quote, from Nishant Jain's book, Make (Sneaky) Art, which I am currently reading: "The job of the artist, I would come to realize, is not to depict beautiful things, but to find the beauty in all things. This beauty is sometimes not on the surface, invisible at first glance. It is the artist's eye that must go beyond the first glance, plumb deeper than the surface, in order to unearth it. It is the artist's job then to share this beauty with others, so that they might see it more easily."

In other news, I made a friend on one of my walks and on that same walk I saw two Northern Flickers (no photo, sorry), so that was pretty cool.

Happy Halloween! A bit early.

 This week I created a spooky season Procreate illustration. I wanted to recreate an embroidery design I had made a few years ago, but this time as something fleshed out with digital brushwork instead of stitchwork. I've always loved those silly ghosts swirling out and around the smiling jack-o-lantern. This gave me an opportunity to mess around with layers and opacity again in order to make the ghosts' tails sort of less substantial than the rest of their (bodies?).

original design

This illustration afforded me a handful of happy hours in which I was able to really lose myself and be in the creative zone. This is a good thing because I really enjoy being creative and making art. It does result in a sense of lost time, though, which is not as great.

I also started two other projects, both of them based on sun and moon images. One is a painting and one is an embellished fabric embroidery. I'll share those later when they're done, assuming they work out as I want them to.

Here's my ordinary beauty photo, taken when we went to a concert. I liked the bright colors against the night sky. I'm still a week behind, so hopefully I'll be able to take two this week and get caught up. 9 weeks left to 52.

Arena

Oak and Aspen Leaf Stamps

 Last week I carved a set of two leaf stamps. I started with a simple oak leaf, somewhat inspired by a sketch I had made in my sketchbook. I opted for the inner part of the leaf to be the negative space of the stamp and I really love how it turned out. I even (maybe especially) like the little bits of line leftover that weren't fully carved away.

After that I opted for an aspen leaf. Aspens hold a special place in my heart because I grew up around them in Colorado. Also, we had just recently gone up to the mountains here to take a look at the aspens as they started to change color, so that was fresh in my mind. Again, I opted for the body of the leaf to be negative space and I'm not as sure I prefer it that way for this one, but I think it turned out well enough.

Together they made a nice little page of falling leaves in one of my sketchbooks.

Also this week I finally listed the last abstract hoop I finished (which happened months ago now), so it can now be found in my Etsy shop. And I sent off a piece that I sold one minute after I listed it (wow, that's a great feeling!).

Moose + Drizzle, A Painting I Forgot to Share, & Thoughts About Social Media

 This past week's creation was a digital illustration based off of two separate 'tober art challenge prompts (moose and drizzle). The challenge prompt part is not really of any consequence because I haven't kept up with any of them. But it did result in an illustration I am rather pleased with.

Also, I realized I forgot to share this painting I did of my cat, Abed, either here or on Instagram or anywhere. 

Again, quite pleased with it, but I also look at it and think, ehhhh, I could have done better. The tail, though! I love the way the tail turned out. 

At some point during the week I had the brilliant idea to look through some older work of mine and it was a largely positive experience. Having some distance from one's work (via the passage of time) almost always (for me, anyway) results in a kinder eye toward it. I found myself saying, "hey, that's pretty good" over and over in looking at it and it also resulted in a fresh jolt of inspiration to keep it up.

Now, to return to the topic of social media again: some of what I don't like about social media (specifically in terms of using it the way I've been trying to use it, as an art-sharing/marketing account) is the feeling of obligation surrounding it. It became increasingly obvious to me over the years that social media companies were very extractive and demanding (though that part of it is not obvious). I have never been interested in following trends and I've never felt great about making sure I was being "consistent" with my posting (and no matter what anyone says, to me it feels like consistent=prolific). I have been thinking about this blog and how it feels more like a place of my own, subject to my own needs and guidelines, and so I want to develop it more and devote more of my energy to it, as opposed to Instagram, which is where all my art-sharing energy used to go. If the internet is a river, my blog is like a calm little inlet while Instagram is right in the thick of the main flow. But, being right in the thick of that flow, it can be useful in directing people toward my little inlet (hopefully, the type of people who would enjoy being here!). So, I don't want to abandon it completely. 

The thought of writing a weekly blog post and coming up with however many posts or reels per week feels overwhelming and the biggest internal response I get to that idea is UGH. But, it just occurred to me (like, today) that I could make Friday my posting day for not only this blog, but also Instagram. That there's no law that says I have to have different content for both places. Once a week is something which is more than the nothing I've been doing there. And putting it on the same day makes it less overwhelming. It gives me a way to keep my toes dipped into the social media way of sharing my art, while still giving me the space to explore other avenues to see how well they fit and how beneficial they are. So, I'll be doing that, probably, but like I said, I just thought of it today, so I reserve the right to abandon this system.

Here's my Ordinary Beauty photo for the week:

what does the tree see?

Watercolor Attempt

 I am not too pleased with my creation for this week. It's an attempt at a watercolor landscape, but once again, I am foiled by my tendency to jump into things without knowing what I am doing and without having a clear plan. It's fine. I can reconcile it by being cognizant of the fact that things were learned.

This is from before I took the tape off, which really did create a nice, clean white border, so at least there was that.

This week we took a little day trip to the mountains and it is from there that I took my two Ordinary Beauty photos (an additional one for the week prior, which I missed). 

Bark Patterns

Mallow

At the beginning of this month, I decided I was going to try to post every day to social media. I lasted three days and then had to give it up. It's somewhat difficult to analyze. All I really know is that I get a very distinct feeling of repulsion and distaste lately when I think about posting to Instagram or Threads. It is frustrating because there is a persistent voice in my head that says, you need to do this if you want to build an art business. But, then again, I am in a pulling-back, hibernatory-like, learning phase right now, so it doesn't matter much anyway. For now, I will keep to here, my little space on the internet, to share my artistic journey, though I am sure I will dip my toes into those other places occasionally.

Getting Caught Up With All My 52 for 52s

 Over the past several weeks I have made a lot of progress in catching up with all of my various 52 for 52 challenges. So much so that last week I discovered that I was actually ahead with my blogging challenge and was able to take a week (Fri-Thurs) off. Now I can return to a once-a-week schedule, which I prefer to do on Fridays, so see me here then, assuming I can manage the consistency.

This past week I also got caught up on my 52 creations challenge. I finished a page in my sketchbook, which came out... okay. I do not love the butterflies and I had intended for a far more abstract look.

I also put together this piece from my Alice Tea Shoppe miniature set and that brings the total number of pieces completed to two. Pretty sure I've had it for more than two years now. I swear I will finish this thing some day.

And then, I also did this Procreate illustration for one of the 'tober art challenges. Prompt: blackbird.

I like it quite a lot, but one of the things about me and Procreate is that I always use the same brushes, and the same techniques and the only reason for that is that I don't really know how to do otherwise. I think I should try out some tutorials because I'd really like to explore other ways of using the app.

So, here's what I've learned from all of my catching up with my challenges: first, that the absence of schoolwork really does make a difference in my ability to find creative time. Seems like the biggest "duh" of all time, but for some reason my brain really expected to be able to handle all of the assignments, studying, writing, reading, exams, and projects and still squeeze in all of these other things. Now that I'm done with school, I am miraculously able to catch up with all of my creative input and output goals. Who knew? 

The second thing I have been learning is that I really like having challenges like this. Lists, goals, plans, prompts, themes--I love it all. There's a little dark and cynical voice inside of me that wants to devalue this tendency, to call it "cringe," "meaningless," or "stupid," or to say "why bother when you'll never follow through?" I am learning to ignore that voice (in this and many other instances). My brain likes to organize things in this way. It feels like playing. It feels like curiosity. It's fun. The trick is to not take it too seriously. I need to be flexible. I need to know my own limitations. I need to be able to get up and try again a different way if I don't meet the mark the first time instead of giving up completely. Or change the rules. I love changing the rules. There's a lot of power in saying, "Actually, I don't like it that way, so I'm going to try it this way."