Got asked if I let my students ever ask to use AI, and the answer is no! I think a lot of folks got convinced young people are obsessed with it and they just aren’t I literally make print outs for some classes to fill out by hand, it isn’t a big deal. I’m surprised that people are surprised

They killed nearly 200 children on the first day of this war and no one of authority suffered a single consequence. That’s how we got here.

We are terrorizing an entire country. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Made a tutorial on drawing animals, using horses as the example for my Sophomore-level class. Here is one of the many steps getting to a somewhat nice, functional pony

Officially doing my first tabling event of the year the day after I finish my first semester back at teaching, I'm sure that won't be stressful or overwhelming (please stop by and give me coffee that day haha)

The thing that may launch me over the edge today is seeing a cybertruck with a license plate design meant that when purchased and used funds and supports marine mammal conservation and research The cognitive dissonance or whatever else is happening here is beyond me

Was going through my unused editorial sketches folder from the last few years, found some stuff that I wish had been used. Always a reminder that your favs likely won't be chosen, but that's the name of the freelance game! Hoping to make some new art soon🧡

An older woman pointed at me and yelled “CUTE SKIRT!” from across the street, so my whole day is now truly perfect✌️

Had the chance to illustrate for Quanta again, and got to draw one of my favorite animals: sharks! This is for “Shark Data Suggests Animals Scale Like Geometric Objects” by Joanna Thompson. It was really fun to focus on all sorts of species, from the large Whale Shark to the small Spiny Dogfish

It is Seti’s Sweet Sixteen! Through my nearly my whole adult life he has been there. School, a variety of jobs, freelancing, and every move. A cat I impulse adopted from a small rescue just next to my old college is running around and as nearly as active as the day I brought him home

I won’t go into why I’m saying this again, but every person should have to work a food industry job at least once in their lives I am pretty sure it would improve how humanity functions

Even after five years of living in my current building, it is pretty wild to have an issue and they fix it. There isn't any fighting or making us pay money, they just fix it. My first ten years of adult life in apartments was so the opposite of this and I'm just never going to stop being grateful

Every three months or so I need to go stare at the Pacific Ocean for my health

Overheard a person saying how greedy public school educators are, and really now wishing I had whipped around and just screamed at the top of my lungs directly at their face

Found more of my old posca and gouache work for gallery shows. This was for the Nucleus Portland coaster show in 2021. All pieces were on 4x4" coasters, and while these are sold out I'll be making a new set of three for this year's show soon!

Was going through old work and found this set of micro minis I did for Microdose 3 at Nucleus Portland. All four were done with gouache and poscas on 2x2" wood panel

The continued demonization of immigration is wild to me not only because I was raised in a multigenerational household with an immigrant grandmother, but also because six of the nine homes in my cul-de-sac were immigrant households This admin’s worst nightmare was my very normal neighborhood

Time to career shift into teaching people to ride horses at the rate gas prices are going up

I wrongly thought aging would eventually make me invisible to creeps, but here I am thanking some coffee shop baristas for letting me hide in their store because someone decided I was the person he was going to follow and harass

Realizing I don’t need to do warm ups before I draw wasn’t life changing, but it was helpful in just getting into the mindset that for me art is a light switch without a dimmer. Wish I could be a cool art girl, but this thing is just a mechanical ability and muscle memory half the time for me

Air travel has been a testing ground for Americans to accept fascism since 9/11. Remember life before there was even TSA? They said, to get on a plane you need to accept the airport as a site of surveillance & infringement on your human person. ICE being there really just expands that.

I don't have the emotional bandwidth for this, but some pet adoption groups are now using AI to fill their photo rosters of pets who need homes. I can't really imagine this going well as these renderings of those pets beautify them and make them look super different This feels really wrong

Thank you everyone for enjoying the short, but sweet Monster Mashtober run this year. Life got in the way, and I had to return to current work and prepping for an upcoming return to part time work. I hope I can draw more monsters next year Happy Halloween everyone!

USPS must be fought for and protected. If USPS goes away, or is made private, it will negatively impact EVERYONE. The USPS is a service and not a business. The cost for operating shouldn’t be seen as a business loss. Stand up for the USPS! 💌 CALL YOUR REPS 5calls.org

Every day there is sun and every tree that turns green again is lifting me out of my late PNW winter depression

I know I’ve harped on this before, but I’ve had a lot of people tell me happily “you don’t look Jewish!” I do. It’s okay, I am ethnically Jewish, Irish, and German. I look more like one than the others. Looking Jewish isn’t bad, but when you say this I know you think it is

The Seti art prints are now available along with a big restock of prints and stickers for everyone looking for a little new year’s art refresh. Funds help support this linearly 16 year old guy keep going strong🐈‍⬛🧡 samanthamash.etsy.com

Got asked again if I make over six figures a year I am a freelance illustrator who hasn't had time to draw in six months because I had to prep to be an adjunct college instructor...so no

This is why I truly believe researching, checking and evaluating sources, branching out into teaching yourself about mundane and complex things is so important They have such little else to take from us, they’re trying to make using your own intelligence harder and behind a paywall Don’t let them

Living in a neighborhood where you see a lot of the same people, but don’t know any of them well is interesting because today a man I see on my daily walks stopped me and said “you seem perturbed today!” and he was right! So I told him I was worried about various health stuff and he encouraged me🥹

I returned to my past linage of medieval peasant roots this Sunday: practiced the act of two sleeps (had insomnia), bartered (sold clothes to second hand stores), ate fresh bread (got a handmade loaf from a local bakery), and worried about medical woes (this one is literal)

A piece I redid for International Women’s Day this year This piece was about hopefully finding a day in the future where all women can live without fear of harm or discrimination with a emphasis on ALL women. We can't just support cis women and watch as trans women are harmed over and over

Overhearing “…at my business we use ChatGPT for one thing and then send it to a different AI for another thing and no humans have to be involved,” is bleak

Taxes are finally done (I owed less than I expected), my senior cat's bloodwork came back (his IBD and chronic kidney issues have remained stable, which is good), and my doctor feels like my stomach issues are anxiety related (which is good, but also my anxiety isn't going down anytime soon)

Another day with a twitching eye, another day I wish I was on a past vacation. At least I finally got my taxes done and can start to dream of a future visit to somewhere new💫

A friend has a dog that isn’t always used to people and can be fearful, but today that dog saw me from a block away and got super excited and happily greeted me like it never has before and that makes getting through another week possible

With everything going on, a slow down in client work, having to put drawing on the back burner as I start teaching again, I have just felt really bad about life and my art for some reason Saw my stuff for sale at the Portland Nursery today though and that at least felt encouraging

actually crazy how we always have the military budget to attack other countries at will and launch wars but we can’t put that money instead towards fixing the affordability crisis. providing healthcare. education.

Nothing is surprising about the US starting another war. Nothing is more dangerous to Earth and mankind at large than the United States and its complete and utter failure to curtail the worst excesses of humanity. The US oligarchy and its influence on global politics must end.

It has nearly been three years since I was in Portugal and not a day has gone by without me wishing I was back there. Need to set up a travel fund and be one of those people who goes on annual trips so I can be more inspired (and less stressed out)

I’ve come to realize people think slurs are just words that hurt our feelings. No. Slurs, particularly the N-word, F-word, antisemitic terms etc. aren’t taboo because of that. It’s because historically when these terms are said they precede or pair with pitchforks, torches, lynchings & gas chambers.

Sad boy vet checkup time So expensive because his vet visits are now labeled “super senior” 😭

It is #portfolioday again! I'm Samantha and I specialize in editorials, publishing (mostly book covers), and branding! I also sell my work at the links below ✉️[email protected] 🧡samanthamash.com 🧡samanthamash.etsy.com 🧡inprnt.com/gallery/samanthamash 🧡patreon.com/samanthamash

I don’t have time to work on personal art, but I also am falling into that financial crunch I see so many other artists going through right now…so I’m going to have to start making some originals and finding ways to reopen my Patreon with a less time consuming plan Or win the lottery! Either or!

My cat is really talkative and in his old age just like chirps and chatters a lot, especially if you talk TO him. It is honestly like having an Animal Crossing character living in your house

One of the baristas I see a lot at a cafe I like thanked me for always being a good tipper, so like yeah…please tip food service workers I worked in food for a long time, it is one of the hardest forward facing jobs. Tip well and treat people well!

The hard part of being a creative is that tons of folks assume you’re a free, go with the flow, spirit…and I am most certainly not I’m like, oh you’re looking for a chiller painter or ceramicist I’m a quick turnaround editorial illustrator…we’re like mice on a wheel after ten pots of coffee

Rolled my ankle on a super uneven sidewalk while holding a pizza slice and comically held the slice above my head as I tumbled to the ground My pizza was okay, my knee, elbow, and ankle are a little beaten up

Restocks of both these stickers and the mini prints are now live! They both sold out last time really fast so the stock is increased