January 6, 2024

The first painting is a bouquet. Today I finally put paint in the palette I was gifted. I initially wanted to put still lifes and landscapes I could see in the little book, so I started with the bouquet I've had on my table this week. But I found it was too small for making satisfying design so I went a little beyond it and made something bigger.

I love painting flowers and organic shapes, especially on such a small scale. It is very satisfying to take my big brush and paint such tiny little dots and watch them take shape.

January 7, 2024

Today I checked on my lemon sprouts! Why am I growing lemons in January? Don't ask!

They're coming along very nicely. Though they are rooting through the paper towel I'm germinating them in, but I'm sure it's fine.

I have always loved watching things grow. I have kept plants (though admittedly none for super long) since I was about 13. I may not be good at it but it still brings me joy. I hope to have a greenhouse and fruiting trees some day. For now, I just keep growing and regrowing my seemingly infinite supply of chia seeds.

January 8, 2024

Today was the first day of classes this semester! I am wrapping up college pretty soon (which I am very sad about) and decided to paint these mannequins that sit in our classroom. They're pinned costumes in small scales.

I am optimistic I will enjoy this semester. My show assignment only runs through the very beginning of February and that is my usual main source of stress. With it being so short, I think I will have more time to work on my hobbies during the latter bit of the semester. I hope to get my zine up and rolling again as well as continue working on this site.

January 9, 2024

Today was the first day of my design history class. So, I've painted some tudor chimneys, which we learned about in class. Tudor era architecture had some really complex bricklaying, especially in the chimneys. My professor jokes that they competed to see who could make the most complex.

The designs were repeating patterns that wrapped or cascaded down the chimneys, which usually were placed on the roof in tight rows of three or four.

I didn't paint them in a row for fear of running out of room on a portrait orientation canvas, but I realized that didn't quite matter after the fact.

January 10, 2024

This is my artistic rendition of one of over 100 props in my show assignment this semester. I am the props manager for a show at my college and hoooooly shit is it too much.

They (actors or stage managers, who knows) managed to break the wings off this bird before it even came on in the end of Act I. How did they do that?

My friend nicknamed it "Torpedo" after its shape with its wings missing. Which I thought was pretty funny.

But anyway, now I have to devise a way to actor-proof its already delicate wings. >:(

January 11, 2024

Now, I know this looks INCREDIBLY silly, but it is just a teeny tiny painting of a GIGANTIC puppet my co-manager and I had to devise for the same show as "Torpedo" pictured above.

This is a big, menacing crocodile with 20 feet of teeth and two giant, glowing red eyes. I am very excited to see what the actors manage to do with it and make it come to life.

I was responsible for constructing the teeth and attaching them to the ropes that they're manipulated with. It was a fun, interesting, albeit time consuming challenge.

January 12, 2024

Today my girlfriend and I played Dice Forge for the first time! This is one of the many board games that she has received since her birthday and Christmas.

Dice Forge is a dice-rolling, dice-building game, where you can influence your odds of getting certain resources by spending gold (that you rolled to get) to buy new faces of the dice. It's actually a pretty innovative concept, and I really like it.

Here, I've painted the logo from the cover of the box. It was fun getting to blend such pretty colors, but I really really need to work on my watercolor lettering.

January 13, 2024

Behold! The polka dot wasp moth (syntomeida epilais)

Turns out these beauties are very native to where I'm from and somehow I had never seen one before today.

They are a deep blue, almost iridescent color with white spots and an orange bum.

I was very lucky to spot one hanging out by a magnolia tree while I was loading up a xylophone and snapped a quick picture.

I love bugs! I was so excited to see something so beautiful in the wild. :3

January 20, 2024

Here is an artistic rendition of the beautiful set design for the show I'm currently working. It doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't already know what the set is like, but I enjoyed painting it.

The black of the theatre wall bled a little onto the proscenium :( but it's fine...

January 20, 2024

Again with the same show, here is a simple painting of the flowers that hang up in the flyspace of the theatre and come in during Act II. They're gigantic and very very beautiful.

I've had a lot of fun working this show. It has been relatively less stressful since my last show, so that's nice.

However, the director has been moving at a snail's pace through tech and spent 8 hours yesterday on one scene. That's frankly a little ridiculous. I don't know how we're going to finish the show at this rate.

January 21, 2024

Today we played more dice forge with some friends! Well, I say "we" - I sat out for this one because there were too many of us. It was still super fun though! Everyone had a great time and it was a really competitive game.

So, this is a (rather low effort) rendition of the symbols used in the game. There are beige-y dice, purple moons called "lunar" currency, orange-ish fire currency called "solar" and just some gold. The symbol up in the corner (that I had initially forgotten) is the "Victory Point" icon that tells you who's winning.

I can't wait to play more games with these guys.

January 22, 2024

I sincerely hope this doesn't doxx me, but this painting is from a funny moment in the show I'm working on. I also made little cards with the same general layout for people I cared about on the production team as little show gifts.

Everyone seemed to really like them, which makes me very happy.

As much as I love theatre, I didn't care for this show very much as it had some rather racist elements in both the script and the director's vision that were hardly addressed in the story or the creative process. So that kind of ruined the magic for me.

January 23, 2024

Today! My girlfriend and I got in a car accident in her car! Wow! Yippee!!

It wasn't super serious. We were stopped at a red light and someone rear ended us by "not breaking hard enough." :/

Both of us were fine and it's in insurance's hands now, so hopefully it all gets smoothed over. Her bumper does need to be replaced though, which kind of sucks.

I won't lie though, it was scary as HELL and I am kind of surprised by that. Like it was just a little bump but it made me panic like crazy.

January 24, 2024

Today was the last day of tech for this show! I am sooooooooooooo glad it's over.

I am kind of upset though that it is my second to last show at university. I graduate really soon and I am NOT ready AT ALL. It's horrifying, not just in an existential way but in a practical way because I sincerely feel like I lack the necessary skills to succeed.

I have worked really hard in this program but I've definitely spread myself too thin as far as areas of interest go. So I've done assistant lighting, props, and technical direction, but no full-fledged designs, which I'll need to do next semester before I graduate.

January 25, 2024

Today I transplanted my lemon sprout! It's about three inches tall and the root is really long. It is already producing a second set of leaves above its first, which is cool.

I put it in this really beautiful little pot with some root-promoting soil made for sprouting seeds. When it is more established, I will put it in a proper pot with citrus soil and such.

I am so happy to Finally have an outdoor space I can keep plants. They seem to be thriving so well with all the sunlight and fresh air. My only complaint is that the pothos don't seem to be handling the chill too well. It doesn't even reach freezing here, so I wasn't worried, but its turning a little yellow, so perhaps it doesn't like the cold.