artistic collaborations with insects and time

Stay cozy and bright, my friends. Love and cheer today, and throughout the season.

Me turning up to the Bluesky holiday party.

Stay cozy and bright, my friends. Love and cheer today, and throughout the season.

A small Festivus miracle: my leggings covered in oil painted pictures of George eating various things still fit. 🦐

NGL, having a really rough bad week. Posting this as a reminder for myself mostly.

Peril Wyrm #wyrm #dragon #dragonlove #dragonart #throwbackthursday #painting #watercolour

"Moxxi" 🧡 Art by Elisabeth Alba Painted with watercolor, a layer of matte medium, and acryla gouache, varnished. The original painting is 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size. Another one of the lovely studio kitties of @valkiri.bsky.social! I've painted 3 or 4 of her cats now.

My 2025. I know this year has been difficult for many. At times, it truly feels like we’re sinking into some dreadful dystopian dream. But we keep creating and pushing forward anyway because that’s simply how we work.

Oh, hello! I didn't see you there. Here's a thing I made last week that I really had fun with. Trying to channel the dreamy quality of Redon- one of my favorite Symbolists. "A Dream of Knowledge" 12 x 16 Oil and pencil on panel. Original available at : everydayoriginal.com/product/a-dr...

OH DANG Will my holiday cards be sent out before February? Seems like maybe!

Y'all thought I was gonna say Cow Tools but actually it's this one. Gets me every time.

Mood... Good tea and big thoughts for next year. ✨ 🎨 🌿 (Today's tea is from @dryadtea.bsky.social - highly recommend their Heart of a Kirin blend)

Finishing up my holiday painting today 🎉 Here's a look at the first "winter Woolbeast", from a few years ago... This was also the first time I used gouache in a watercolor painting, and fell MADLY in love with that process.

If you were visited by 3 ghosts for Christmas, who would you want them to be?

Seasonal ghostly skulls 🎄💀

“Octopus’s Garden,” a small mixed media original including bits of used envelope and stamps. Available! I’ve just added a number of small mixed media animal pieces to my shop: www.joannabarnum.com/shop

Finishing up my holiday painting today 🎉 Here's a look at the first "winter Woolbeast", from a few years ago... This was also the first time I used gouache in a watercolor painting, and fell MADLY in love with that process.

Some winter trees for your winter morning 🌲

More roughs for characters from the pre-Rivendell part of the adventure: the barrow-wight and Farmer Maggot (with Fang, Grip, and Wolf)

Do you want to know how I sculpt things? Want to support an independent artist, and help me create strange things? Want to hear about the book I'm making, and help me get it out there? Want to read an artist's 10-year journey? I have all that, for $3: Patreon.com/posts/very-much-alive-145311305

The sketches for the purple tongued fangle, a creature you'll find in my book Secrets Of Strangehollow. I do enjoy a wide apart eye setting. #creature #sketch #art #creaturedesign

The four stages of "Hungry for Knowledge", my book-loving Woolbeast troll sculpture at Beinart Gallery this month. Lumps -> doodle -> lumps -> "draw the rest of the owl". #artprocess #sculpting

C H I C A G O ! Come visit the lovely Sulzer Library today and check out the delightful work of my husband and our amazing friends!

♥️

Quote your art with glasses on! Raymond Unwin: champion of garden villages and roundabouts. (commissioned narrative portrait - I do those, yep. MelissaSueStanley.com/portrait )

This song may be the sweetest thing I've heard all year. And totally inspiring - write those ideas down - immediately! Consider supporting Lone Valentine on #bandcamp ! (album art by @shayneart.bsky.social ) lonevalentine.bandcamp.com/track/a-song...

I’ve been enjoying sketching with the Arrtx acrylic paint markers. Trying out a new set.

This is a good idea! Here are some of my favorites I bought from Bandcamp this year… Remember on Bandcamp you can listen for free a couple times and see if you like it.

Beep Beep! (Brazil Commission)

I've been staring at this picture for a few days (using my old work as reference for new work) (how did I do that thing?) (lol) Anyway you can stare at it for a bit now, also. A wee Shackling in the garden. (cosclay, watercolor, glass, wire, acrylic)

The weather in Chicago today is "shopping for quilted housecoats".

It's December 3. Thirty deg outside. Six inches of snow on the ground. Time to take down the Halloween decorations.

Stretch Goals. Original Art. Campaign Exclusives. This is your final chance to be a part of PRIMAL ENCOUNTERS on Kickstarter - don't miss out. The campaign ends tomorrow morning: Kickstarter.com/projects/aaronbmiller/primal-encounters-5e

I also have a bunch of shot glasses (because I was commissioned to make a bunch of shot glasses, and made double what I needed to in case of failure).

Now is the time of Yule and Monsters

Cooking commences in an hour.

I'm contributing some illustrations to this 5E Supplement on Kickstarter!! Check it out!!!

Thanks for asking - yes, Lemon Pig is still doing great!

It's true!

Dragon doodles. (Cleaning and sorting the hard drive today, finding fun old photos and all that).

Sculpted thorns all dang day.

Friday stuff.

Chicago! Go see these wonderful people in our wonderful library!

Reskeet with a time you looked cool. I mean, I still look cool most of the time. But in 2009 I was wearing that Scott Radke necklace a LOT (now it just hangs on the wall in the hallway ;)

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

Eyeball day.

I gave one of my dudes a nose as a joke and we're all having thoughts about it.

Freeport is now available as a poster print. ralphhorsley.etsy.com/listing/4407...

I gave one of my dudes a nose as a joke and we're all having thoughts about it.