In the morning, I gently wake up my pet rats and watch them stretch and yawn, then I go outside with my breakfast to investigate my garden. I pick a mint leaf. I go back inside and feed the sleepy rats half a leaf. I watch them hold it in their tiny hands while they eat it.

Your mind is like a meadow. You can stand back and consider it as a whole. You can focus on the buzz of activity around a single bloom. You can follow a bumblebee from flower to flower.

Inspired by burlesque:

Nothing really special, just a dog taking a moment to appreciate the roses' fragrance. Original post

In Turkey, an elderly man who earns his living by shining shoes is visited every morning at the same time by a cat that asks to have its fur brushed. The man never turns down this little friend.😍👍💙

Lowered the color saturation of my phone about 90% and HOLY MOLY. It's not just good for staying off social media, it's downright repulsive to look at. And now I have THEORIES about why the color is gone from design of homes and clothes - maybe bc we're so overstimulated by the color on screens?

Please enjoy two Peach Faced Lovebirds dining on my sunflowers.

Here's how to spot me in the wild over the next few months, and a story about misunderstanding Catholic traditions as a child: dakotadrake.substack.com/p/oodles-of-...

Spent 6 hours yesterday working on my Peter Rabbit/ Prodigal Son mixed media house. Each room has a theme that combines the Beatrix Potter & the Biblical story. There are themes of growing up, family/society pressures, discovery & fear, growth & self expression. Still have a bit to go.

Working on the examples of the mixed media floral collages that I'll be teaching soon. They're not exactly where I want them, but I'm getting there.

Season of love, season of change

Connor: Undying Warlock. Neutral good. Undead aberration. A yearner & desperate for friends and love. Featuring his pup familiar, Charly! Because what better way to tell people you mean no harm with a puppy? Thank you SO much @eepystew.bsky.social for the hard work! #dnd #ocsky #dndart #dndoc

Hey #KidLitPostCard! I'm Dakota, and I want to illustrate all of the bright, sun, silly, serious, things for all ages. #kidlitart #kidlitartpostcard

"stock up on your prescription medications" ma'am I am on a controlled substance, if I so much as smile too much while I'm picking up a refill they make me swear a blood oath that I'm not selling my meds behind the nearest 7/11

A newsletter is coming soon! Are you signed up? This one includes info about how to sign up for my many classes, and a story about misunderstanding Catholic traditions as a child. Sign up here: www.dakotadrake.com/contact

I AM THE BIG RAT THAT MAKES ALL OF THE RULES

I'm going to be teaching a comics summer camp to art kids! Send me any and all (free) comics resources for kiddos please! Even screenshots of your fave short comics - I want them to see that this is a super varied medium!

Sweet! I'm not a Nature Journaling Ambassador through @wildwonder.bsky.social!

Even better than having a summer & winter home, would be to have mood homes: a foggy, drizzly moor to brood, a neon-lit city to be a rebellious gutter punk, a sunny forest to feel enchanted.

The Dream is Calling, 2026

This painting is titled "Clairvoyant" and was created by the French artist Pierre Bonnard. (1867–1947). Style: Post-Impressionism/Intimism

Tiny paintings on wood.

BeeBeeL (BBL)

One of my first commissions and first attempts at digital art is still my favorite.

🦖🌋🦕 Dino world sketches. More processes: youtu.be/r8etXLZo94c #illustration #draw #sketch #design #Procreate #lineart #art #dinosaur

Love & Joy — illustration — 2024 🔗 grafera.zone/archive/illu... #birdart #illustration #lettering

i love foraging. What do you mean this mushroom is named after judas because it grows on the same kind of tree he hanged himself from. That goes hard as hell. Also it's delicious

What I'm also trying to say is that medieval people were pretty much exactly as smart as we are now. They didn't have nearly as much information as we do, sure. But people have been people pretty much forever. They had fashion! Art! Stories, jokes, hopes, fears, politics, war, happiness, sadness.

It's also what I find the most interesting thing about history- it was all just people just like us, making choices of varying quality, having strong beliefs in some things, laughing at others, having dreams and aspirations, and plenty hardship too. People have always been people.

My pages from yesterday's nature journaling class at the Desert Botanical Gardens. The cacti are starting to bloom - and the bees would be PISSED when two would accidentally fall into the same blossom as the other: "you idiot there's only room for one of us and I got places to buzz."

artists, quote with your kitty art! #art #cats

Maynard Dixon, "Cloud World," 1925, recently acquired by—and now on view at—the Denver Art Museum www.denverartmuseum.org/en/blog/clou...

Stuck in bed sick sketch day @trueref.bsky.social

If you see this, share your orange art! 🔥

I slapped my friend's hand last night to get him to shut up when I saw a real Picasso sketch for sale at the Scottsdale Art Week show. I saw real Hockney, Harring, Hirst, Warhol, & Kusama works in person, for sale. I was not prepared. & the local-ish artists being exhibited: holy shit. Gorgeous.

Sketch day! @trueref.bsky.social

Reference vs Art I kept this pic in my refs folder bc this snail was... perfect. The heft, the softness, the arm draped over her thumb, the expression on its "face". The way she's showing it off to the camera, and the snail somehow poses. I want to meet this snail.

It is *fascinating* to me how quickly some people have gone completely from “we all must work in the office! human collaboration is vital and only happens in person!” to “I can replace all these pesky people with chatbots!” Definitely some commentary there about our society and who gets to choose.

Follow their lantern: They know the trail. You can trust them.

Boating party over ruins

La Siren. I'm considering making a series of Victorian curios for myself.

Please know that if someone messages me on a dating app with any messages written by A.eye, the entire person goes into the trash. No blocking, no deleting. Just yoink, hoist, yeet to trash.

Fut.

Another "someone making a joke about the horrors" and it's really a picture of people having the best time ever. This is such a gem. My god. I want to hang out with these women so bad.

Putting together som floral collages for an upcoming class I'll be teaching.

Pascal and Foxtrot. May we all have someone in our lives that allows us to sleep directly on their face, and seeks us out in the darkness of a sweatshirt.

I freaking love bitterns, ever since I saw one that looked even grumpier than me (I'd been up in the cold since 4am to birdwatch) eat a small rodent it caught near a river's edge. I love you, grumpy brown rat-eating bird.