Willow (they)

Flower painting experiment with gouache, floral art, botanical illustration

Flowers experiment with gouache from yesterday 🌷

#gouache #art #illustration

Lantana camara flowers painted with gouache, an open mixed media sketchbook page, botanical illustration

Some loose flowers I painted today, I'm learning how to paint with orange !

#art #sketchook #bloomscrolling #spring

A photo of four library books stacked on a shelf. The library books from top to bottom are: "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. Le Guin, "Alien Clay" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Our Missing Hearts" by Celeste Ng, and "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller.

Today was library day! Ran short on time for "The Dispossessed", but thankfully no one had a hold on it.

–Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" (Renewed!)
–Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Alien Clay"
–Celeste Ng's "Our Missing Hearts"
–Madeline Miller's "The Song of Achilles"

💙📚 #BookSky

A drawing of a unicorn looking up at a starry night sky. The caption reads, "the future can be better let's hang in there and see"

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ༄˖°.

A digital drawing of a duckling and a ladybug meeting among lots of flowers. It is drawn in a loose and expressive way.

Friends :))))

#art #illustration

A drawing of a snowdrop plant with 2 flowers, surrounded by a halo of 7 moths. The background inside the halo is light blue and dotted with white snowflakes, and the snowdrop leaves and stem are coloured green. The moths are a cream coloured with green markings to echo the inner petals of the flowers. The background of the moth halo itself is coloured night sky blue and sprinkled with stars.

Last week was rough, and I worked both days this weekend, so I'll have to finish off my last #FebruaryFrost26 drawing some other time.

But this drawing from the first prompt is my favourite thing I've drawn for myself for chuffin ages! 😁

Thanks to all the hosts is this challenge 💖

A comic of two foxes, one of whom is blue, the other is green. In this one, Blue and Green wake up next to each other in bed. Blue looks at Green drowsily, while Green yawns. Blue: Good morning. Getting up, Blue is already wide awake as Green still looks groggy. Green: Did we have anything particular planned for today? Blue: I don't think so. Green raises his tail to his chin in thought, as Blue turns to look over his shoulder. Green: How's the weather? Blue: Let's see. Blue returns from checking the weather, completely covered in snow. Blue: It's a lovely day to stay in with board games.

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.”

-Terry Pratchett

#booksky #skybrarian

Finished Alice Wong's "Disability Visibility"!

This was an anthology of Big Feelings that my alexithymic brain can't translate into the right words. It's one of the most emotional books I've ever read. I love and hate how relatable and relevant it is, and at the same time I wish it weren't.

💙📚

It's time to vote for March's #BlueskyBookclub book!

Like any of the posts below to vote for your choice! Feel free to vote for multiple options.

Please repost, let's get as many people on board as we can!

Voting will close on March 5th!

📚💙 #boosky 💙📚

The cover of Zora Neale Hurston's coming-of-age novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" as designed by Stephen Brayda, with art by Patrick Dougher and photography by OSTILL is Franck Camhi on Shutterstock: an illustration of mixed media and vibrant colors and textures, a black woman stands in profile with upturned face against a gold sun on a jewel-blue background of overlapping, faded newsprint and worn canvas; paint splashes add color to the woman's monochromatic bust, while a frenetic celebration of patterns and hues overlay her blouse and the crown upon her head.

'"Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore."'

—Janie Crawford, from Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

💙📚 #BookSky #SundaySentence

A small Northern Pygmy-Owl with bright yellow eyes and spotted brown and white feathers, perched on a mossy tree branch.

A Northern Pygmy-Owl from this morning.

#owls #birds #nature

A digital drawing with a collection of doodles scattered around a page: robin birds, stars, sparkles, a mushroom, flowers, a cat, a star guy and so on.

My final drawing for #FebruaryFrost26 with prompts "robin" and "sparkling". (Pretend I posted this yesterday oops)

#art #illustration

The cover of Amal El-Mohtar's folk fantasy novella "The River Has Roots" as illustrated and designed by Faceout Studio, Spencer Fuller: dahlias flower in shades of rose, coral, violet, and through their sun-dappled leaves and stems twines a river metallic and serpentine cutting through the white field to a view of cloud-speckled sky and wooded hills.

The cover of Zora Neale Hurston's coming-of-age novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" as designed by Stephen Brayda, with art by Patrick Dougher and photography by OSTILL is Franck Camhi on Shutterstock: an illustration of mixed media and vibrant colors and textures, a black woman stands in profile with upturned face against a gold sun on a jewel-blue background of overlapping, faded newsprint and worn canvas; paint splashes add color to the woman's monochromatic bust, while a frenetic celebration of patterns and hues overlay her blouse and the crown upon her head.

Didn't read as much this month, but that's all right: my reading's for fun, not for metrics. February favorites:

–Amal El-Mohtar's "The River Has Roots" (First book of the year to make the get-my-own-copy list!)
–Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

💙📚 #BookSky

I thought that looked like the Cheshire Cat! What a terrific little treasure.

A photo of a reader holding a library book up in front of them, before a tidy bookcase filled with more books. The library book itself is "Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century" edited by Alice Wong, featuring Angela Carlino's cover design of colorful overlapping triangles on a white field.

Today's book: "Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century" edited by Alice Wong

This one's been on my list for a while. I'm only a few pages in and already I'm glad I picked it up.

💙📚 #BookSky #CurrentlyReading #NowReading

A photo of a sketchbook page with on it sketches of two cute little European Robins surrounded by sparkling stars.

A photo of a sketchbook page with on it sketches of two cute little European Robins surrounded by sparkling stars. The photo is a bit of a closeup towards the top robin who has a little flower on his head.

A photo of a sketchbook page with on it sketches of two cute little European Robins surrounded by sparkling stars. The photo has a bit of a close up of the bottom robin who is looking up at his friend.

February Frost week 4: Robin & Sparkling ✨🐦✨
I can't believe we made it to the end of this challenge. And I somehow did ALL of them! 😱
Did you participate in FebFrost this year? What was your favorite week?

It's not too late to enter, you still have eh.. 2 days! Haha

#FebruaryFrost26

A drawing of a pink barn owl looking into an oracle ball. The caption reads, "in every possible future... you matter, a lot"

🦉

A photo of a reader holding a library book up in front of them, before a grey-painted wall with a bright sticky note blue-taped to it that reads, "Goodbye, grey walls!" The library book itself is Simon Cavelle's "Paint Effects: A Comprehensive Guide to Home-Decorating Paint Techniques" and features on its yellow cover a tube of gouache paint alongside two detailing paint brushes, a photograph of a blue starburst-ribbon being painted on a periwinkle background, and across the top of the book twines a leafy, painted vine with round blue blossoms and a repeating pair of red dots like berries.

Today's book: "Paint Effects: A Comprehensive Guide to Home-Decorating Paint Techniques" by Simon Cavelle

It's more for reference than reading: this year I (finally!) banish these depressing grey walls. Gonna sketch up some possibilities over the weekend!

💙📚 #BookSky #CurrentlyReading #NowReading

Traditional mixed media painting showing a forest scene. There's a stream in the middle, with a fallen tree trunk acting as a bridge over it, with Pikachu and Eevee running through it, and Charmander clinging to the trunk behind them. In front of them, Bulbasaur stands on a rock in the stream, with Squirtle splashing around in the water, the two enjoying themselves. Various bug Pokemon can be seen in the distance: Weedle, Kakuna and Caterpie on trees, and two Butterfree flying around.

Many adventures still await! 🌱✨

30 years ago on this day, we both started our journeys. Happy Birthday to Pokemon and I!

#art #pokemonday #pokemon #pokemonart

Finished "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston!

What. A. Book. I definitely see why so many people love this; it's outstanding! The dialect slowed me down (dialect always does), but I didn't mind one bit. Did you know Hurston reportedly wrote this book in seven weeks? Incredible.

💙📚

A comic of two foxes, one of whom is blue, the other is green. In this one, Blue and Green are rushing towards each other, with a narrative text above each, with an arrow pointing at each fox respectively. Narration above Green: Heat-seeking behaviour Narration above Blue: Attention-guided missile The foxes reach each other, swirling together like liquid or koi fish. Narration: Impact! Curling up together, coiled around each other in a tight cuddle, the foxes rest, calm and content. Narration: Equilibrium

Read what you love and don't worry what others think.

Read romance.
Read horror.
Read biographies.
Read children's books.
Read sci-fi.
Read thrillers.
Read fantasy.
Read young adult.

Read.

💙📚

A photo of a reader holding a library book up in front of them, before a tidy bookcase filled with more books. The library book itself is "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, with cover art by Patrick Dougher, cover design by Stephen Brayda, and cover photograph by OSTILL is Franck Camhi on Shutterstock: an illustration of mixed media and vibrant colors and textures, a black woman stands in profile against a gold sun on a jewel-blue background of overlapping, faded newsprint and worn canvas; paint splashes add color to the woman's monochromatic bust, while a frenetic celebration of patterns and hues overlay her blouse and the crown upon her head.

Today's book: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston

In my perpetual quest to read diversely, this classic was cited both as a banned book and among a lot of people's all-time favorites. Good enough for me! (Also, this cover is stunning!)

💙📚 #BookSky #CurrentlyReading #NowReading

I don't remember the first baby steps of learning to read, but I do get the same "What is THAT?" feeling now that I used to whenever I encounter something—a word or phrase—that I don't recognize/understand. The only difference is now I can look it up right away.

Question of the Day: What was it like for you when you learned to read? #booksky

Consistent organization with very clear genre labels/signs (I about lost my mind trying to find anything in the last bookshop I visited). Also cozy reading corners and a variety of friendly bookshop critters.

Happy National Trading Card Day, lovelies! 💬📚

What is your dream bookstore like? 💙📚✨

#QOTD #BookishQOTD #booksky #readersky #bookishquestions

Finished "The Indian in the Cupboard" by Lynne Reid Banks

This was a fun story (even if the book-cupboard was an unaesthetic white metal medicine cabinet, ha ha). I liked Omri's growth in the book, but I'm very glad the 1995 film had much more nuance and much less stereotyping/infantilization.

💙📚

Not really, except when it's obviously learning-machine-generated (automatic nope). I've found I sometimes get attached to certain cover illustrations and would rather wait to acquire books with such covers. I do also avoid highly saturated covers that are physically painful to look at.