#i got new colored pencils and I’m a happy camper

[daxwormzz]

OC content jumpscare

[thoughtsofanexcitedspacechild]

The question is inevitable. I stop wiping down the ice cream equipment and look up. For the past two years, that’s all anyone’s ever asked me. Now as I sit here, I realize that by this time next year, I’ll be preparing to move. By this time next year, the question “what do you want to study?” will be answered. The thought of growing up and going to college has always been in the back of my mind, but it always seemed far off. Now as my boss asks me the same question I’ve been asked a million times, the answer doesn’t just feel real; it feels tangible.

“I want to hopefully study something in the arts,” I reply. “I’m hoping to study to then get a job as a concept artist for movies and TV shows.”

"Well, you know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m three years old. I’m sitting at the kitchen table with white printer paper spread out all over the place. Half of the sheets are filled and the other half to go. My tongue sticks out in determined concentration as I finish what feels like my fiftieth self portrait today. I’m still not happy with how the hair looks, but I’m getting better with every one I make.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m eight years old. I wait nervously outside the classroom in the aquatic and community center for my first ever real drawing class. I wait until the door opens and file in behind the rest of my peers into the classroom. I find a spot a little further away from everyone else. Once the teacher begins instructing us on how to draw the basic construction of a horse, I immerse myself into the lecture. Soon enough my anxiety melts away as I immerse myself in the drawing. By the end, I’m not quite satisfied with how my horse looks, but I look forward to the next day. There’s still three more days of camp, and I’m ready to get even better tomorrow.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m twelve years old. I’m sitting with what feels like my entire body sunken into an overly plush floral print couch. I watch as Mrs. Scalabrino, a family friend, teaches me how to make a magic loop with the yarn and crochet hook. “I’ve been doing it all wrong! Now I finally understand!” Deb hands me the yarn and hook and urges me to try myself.

This time, instead of having the hook slip through and make a tiny slip stitch, I loop the yarn though and then pull through a final time to create a stitch.

“I did it! I was doing it wrong!”

“It looks very good! Keep going and you’ll be making full projects in no time!” I smile at her compliment and keep practicing.

By the end of the afternoon, I have a long rectangle of clumsily made single and double crochet stitches, but I don’t mind. I’m proud of my lumpy, uneven, handmade rectangle.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m thirteen years old. It’s my first time at Blue Lake Fine Arts camp, and I’m taking my first pottery class. I’m carefully carrying my freshly reglazed pot to the back room of the pottery studio after fixing it for a second time. The first time it got damaged I had dropped it after molding the structure and the second time someone else bumped into me, messing up the glaze and sgraffito pattern and glazing in multiple places. I stayed after class during my recreation time and painstakingly remolded and fixed the intricate glazing pattern.

At the end of the session art show, I’m called to the front of the crowd of visiting parents and my fellow campers. I’ve just won the Outstanding camper scholarship. My cheeks flush furiously with embarrassment, but inside I’m also elated. Even though the pot wasn’t perfect. I was still proud of it. I worked hard to save and fix the pot twice broken, and for once, that work pays off. I look out and see the faces of everyone who was with me on the journey to complete the piece, and I know that that pot will always be more than a keepsake planter.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m fifteen years old. I lay in bed before my first day of high school. I should be worried about my academic classes, and I am. I can’t stop thinking about the homework for my double paced math class and honors biology, and the more advanced reading we’ll do in honors english this year.

I console myself by thinking about the art class that I’m going to take. By chance there was a scheduling conflict with my social studies credit, and there wasn’t a spot to fit it in. I’d have to test out of the class over the summer, but that meant that I could take Art 1 instead. I stay up and wonder what it will be like. Will it be like my art classes in middle school? Will I finally be able to try oil painting? What about ceramics?

I drift off to sleep anxious, but ready to try all new mediums and make more; to be able to create amongst all the chaos that comes with advanced academic studies.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

I’m sixteen years old. I’m almost finished with what was supposed to be my sophomore year, but because of the pandemic, quarantine has made the past month of march even more grey and dreary than normal. The trees outside droop with the heaviness of the recent freezing rain and the sky is a somber grey. I stare absentmindedly at my computer screen waiting for my last zoom meeting of the day to end.

I return to my painting once I log off of our AP Art zoom. I glare at the canvas in front of me. I hate this piece. Even the dull grey color palette outside seems more appetizing than the same oranges and blues that I’ve stared at for the past three months. It’s the feeling in the pit of the stomach when you don’t feel particularly welcome and you know something is off. The dynamic is all wrong and you infuriatingly search the faces of the people there for an answer but to no avail.

I sigh and start to reach for my paints to force myself to push through to a solution, but set them down. “There has to be another way to get through this,” I say to myself as I open my sketchbook against my better judgement. After a quick image reference search, My pencil migrates from the jar to the page. I don’t worry about making it perfect. This piece is just for me.

I sketch out the figures of the boy and girl and boy in the photo, their arms intertwined in an embrace and their lips in a gentle kiss. I make sure her thumb just skims the length of his forearm and that his hand is placed just so on her waist. I step back. We’re getting somewhere.

Long since abandoned for my previous acrylic piece, my colored pencils feel slippery and foreign in my hand. I reach for the tan and brown colored pencils to start, but the bright fuschia red catches my eye. I cautiously begin to apply it to the girl’s face and neck area. Perfect. I don’t stop until the shadows crossing the girl’s face are all shades of pink and red and the boys silhouette is coated in deep blues. What next?

My watercolor palette sits just inches from my paints. I open it and observe my options. I water down a bright pink, an ocean blue, and my untouched cake of deep purple watercolor. I haphazardly splash the pink on one side and the blue on the other, applying purple to blend the area where the two seas of paint mix. I remember an old painters trick of using salt to make cool backgrounds, and apply a generous amount. The scissors come out next, and I delicately cut the form of the girl and boy out. I paste it right on the background and let it sit under a book overnight to press.

In the morning, I observe my work. It’s not perfect. The proportions on the girl’s arm are off and I never quite managed to capture the folds on the boy’s shirt, but I smile. I love it. This is my piece. No one told me to make this. I just did. It’s for me.

My abandoned assignment sits waiting on the other side of the table. I look at it again. This time I do see what’s missing. Like I did while I was working with the pencil, I need to add more depth. That’s why I hate it. That’s why it felt flat and boring. I set my new opus aside and reach for the beaten up acrylic brushes and paint tubes.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

The computer screen finally loads. I'm exhausted and have just returned from a missions trip to the Dominican Republic, but in my blissful sleep back in my own bed, I'd remembered that AP scores had come out while I was away. The three numbers I've waited for loom in front of me:

AP Spanish Language: 5

AP Language and Composition: 4

AP Studio Art: 4

A four.

I stare in disbelief at the screen. I'd expected a three at best. I rush to tell my parents.

“You know art can be just a hobby, right?”

***

"Yeah, I know," I respond. "But it's so much more than that to me."

[sassy-santa-baby]

My coloring book Santa nailed it!!! I needed some new colored pencils,and the binder I can keep all my pencils in. The binder is something I wanted to buy but I never got around to getting. I’m a happy camper,and I’m off to go color now. Thanks again Santa

[missbrightsky]

Velaris National Park

Fics Masterlist

Chapter 1

Green light filtered through the canopy, patches of gold peppering the road ahead. Rolled down windows allowed the late spring air weave through the car, carrying the scent of growing things and warmth to wrap around us.

Elain had some 2000s pop station pouring from the speakers, all of us belting out the familiar words to our audience of Mother Nature. Nesta had called shotgun at the beginning, leaving me to have the back seat to stretch out, propping my feet on the bag that held our borrowed tent.

It was May in Prythian, warm and good and green. I had just graduated from my master’s program in Art History, my whole future stretching out ahead of me. Elain had insisted we celebrate but all of us were in educational debt and couldn’t afford to fly anywhere. Ever the florist, she found a state park a few hours away that boasted the largest collection of wildflowers in the country, one especially that bloomed once every three years. And because Elain was always lucky, this year was one of the few that it blooms in full.

A few days after graduation, she managed to wrangle Nesta away from the publishing house and me away from my couch and stuffed us all into her 2005 Honda.

Velaris National Park

Turn off 5 miles

Elain’s singing broke off mid-verse, a squeal replacing the lyrics as she pointed out the sign. I could only smile at her excitement; camping was never really our family’s thing, but her happiness was too infectious. At least I had managed to throw my sketchbook and watercolor pencils into my bag before she dragged me out the door. It had been a while since I had done some wildlife sketching, there was not a lot of green space or biodiversity in the city.

She turned down the music while Nesta and I straightened in our seats, ready to hop out of the car and get blood flowing back into our legs.

Even Nesta who normally tolerated Elain’s antics had a ghost of a smile playing around her lips, the fresh air loosening her iron grip on her emotions.

Elain slowed the car, turning right before the massive stone wall that announced the entrance to the park, gravel crunching under the tires.

The rough road weaved with the terrain, up and down and curving around hills and patches of meadows that peaked through the trees. We even rumbled over a wooden bridge that spanned the banks of a sparkling stream, the water throwing shimmering rainbows into the air.

A low log cabin-like building greeted us, its small parking lot only holding a Jeep with the park logo on the side and another car.

Elain turned the car off and all of us popped our doors open, slightly stumbling as our legs reacclimated to moving. Small groans slipped out of our mouths as we stretched feeling back into our lower halves, taking in the new environment.

A small sign in the window informed us of the park’s office hours and the emergency phone line. Elain pushed in first, a petite ding announcing our arrival.

The inside was a simple, square room, half the room stocked with souvenirs and anything campers may need in a pinch. A long, low counter ran along the back wall with an open doorway hinting at the back room. This was where a perky blonde emerged, greeting them with a bright smile. Her long hair was braided down her back, a forest green polo stamped with the logo somehow accented her curves instead of looking dorky and too stiff.

“Hi! Welcome to Velaris National Park. I’m Mor, what can I help y’all with today?”

“Hello! I’m Elain and these are my sisters Nesta and Feyre,” she gestured to each of us in turn, we all shook her hand, surprised to find it calloused and strong.

“How long do y’all plan on staying?”

“Two nights, please. And if you can point out on a map where the Starfall flower will be blooming?”

Mor laughed, a grin splitting her mouth. “I should’ve guessed, this is some of our busiest weeks of the year. Well, you’re in luck, we have only a few campsites left. Any preference to where?”

“None at all, we’re not too picky.”

“Perfect, how about y’all take site 20. It’s near the trailheads and not too far from the bathrooms.”

Elain turned to confirm with us, we each nodded back. Our lack of experience had us indifferent to where we camped, as long as it wasn’t out in the middle of nowhere.

Elain and Mor exchanged money and maps, paying for our spot and pointing out the major landmarks of the park.

“We do allow fires, as long as they’re in the designated fire pits. Please use the trash cans we have all along the park, anyone caught littering can be fined up to 200 dollars along with not being allowed to revisit the park. No glass or alcohol on park grounds. If y’all need anything, please don’t hesitate to call up to here the main office, and the numbers for our rangers are on the maps, along with the emergency line. Further into the park, cell service can get a little spotty, but as long as you stay near the trails, our rangers can spot you if you get into trouble. A little tip, don’t feed the wildlife, we have them on a diet,” she finished with a laugh and a wink. We laughed along with her, it was easy to feel a friendship forming with the bright woman.

“Well if that’s all y’all need, just keep following the road and you’ll see the signs pointing out the campsite. Parking gets a bit limited so try not to double park.”

We thanked her and headed out to pile back into the car.

As we were pulling out and getting back onto the road, I spotted one of the rangers on top of a horse.

The animal was tall, taller than any of the horses I had ever encountered before, and blacker than the deepest night sky. Its rider was sitting perfectly still, used to having to blend into the background.

I stifled a gasp. The ranger was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. I was too far away to see the color of his eyes, but they peeked through the leaves, boring into mine. His shoulders were broad, covered with a khaki shirt, he gripped the horse with powerful legs clad in dark green pants that were tucked into wore brown boots.

Our car soon turned a corner, breaking my gaze from his, banishing me of the spell he had cast.

More gorgeous forest passed us by, feeding my artist's mind with texture and light and color. Maybe this trip would replenish my weary mind after years of rigorous study. I loved every minute of my classes, but it left little free time for drawing and painting.

Wooden signs ticked up, eventually indicating where our sight was. Once again parking, we exited the car and took in the scenery.

We were to share a small common area with a few other campers, picnic tables and grills dotting the grassy area. Two cars were already parked there, brightly colored tents peeking out from the bushes that gave each sight a bit of privacy. Under a massive oak tree, there was a ring of rocks that held gray and black ashes from prior fires, stumps surrounding it for us to sit and enjoy the company.

I grabbed the tent from the backseat and slung my pack over my shoulder, leading the way to the small clearing that would be our home for the next few days. It was simply packed dirt, slightly raised from the rest of the ground so that if it rained, our tent would not get flooded.

I had never set up a tent before but with the instructions from the bag combined with the store owners’ tips, it was soon popped up in no time. Maybe only slightly leaning to the left but that would be a problem for later.

Nesta had pulled out our coolers of food, prepping sandwiches for a late lunch. Elain was already off in the surrounding area, making notes of the greenery and wildflowers that grew nearby. It was not the elusive Starfall but it did not take much for her to get wrapped up in flora.

Satisfied at my work, I tossed our bags into the tent and zipped it up. We could unpack after a bit of exploring.

Joining Nesta at the table, I swiped one of the completed sandwiches, ignoring her protest to wait for Elain. She was the one who refused to stop for lunch so she would just have to get the next one.

My fingers itched to start drawing the massive oak tree, its complex branches and multicolored leaves begging to be noticed and put onto paper. My stomach, however, told me it can wait.

Nesta somehow pulled Elain away from a blue flower, convincing her that it won’t disappear in the next 15 minutes.

“So, what’s first on the agenda, sis?” I asked her.

“Well it is getting a little late so I don’t want to go too far before it gets dark, but I thought we could start with one of the short trails!” Elain radiated energy, feeding off the teeming forest around us.

I smiled back at her, excited to start cataloging the world around us. We finished off the sandwiches and repacked the coolers into the car. One thing we all learned from watching TV was to not let wild animals get into a camper’s stash of food.

A quick trip into the tent had us changed into t-shirts, shorts and tennis shoes with light jackets tied to our waists. Even with Prythian warming up, the nights could still get a bit cool.

Elain consulted the map Mor gave us, confidently leading us to the first trailhead. It was only two miles long and would introduce us to the wildlife we could see in the park.

Every few hundred feet, plastic signs would pop up, listing fun facts about the park and giving an example of some of its inhabitants. Some would show a burst of color followed by the flower’s common name, scientific name and any medicinal or historical facts about it. Others would tell you how to spot an animal camouflaged in the surrounding foliage.

We all talked and joked with each other, with no tension that usually accompanied us when we got together. Nesta told us a story about an author that tried to sneak in her friends’ manuscript that turned out to be an awful rendition of Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey. By the end, all of us were in stitches and barely able to walk, clinging onto tree trunks and each other in an attempt to stay upright.

Just as the sky was glowing orange and pink, the trail delivered us back to the beginning of the campsites, all we had to do was follow the gravel road back to ours.

The smell of meat and potatoes set our stomachs growling, the sandwiches from earlier long gone from the hike and laughter.

The other campers that were out earlier had returned.

“Howdy!” one of the men shouted at us waving his arm. He looked to be in his late fifties with combed back salt and pepper hair, sporting cargo pants and a navy long sleeve to ward off any wayward cool breezes.

We all gave back nervous smiles, unsure of who our neighbors were.

“Kevin,” a voice scolded, “you can’t just yell at unsuspecting young girls.” The source of the admonishment appeared from the bushes.

“Sorry about my husband, he’s just excited to have more company,” a man apologized. He also looked to be in his fifties, a bit shorter than Mike but leaner. Dark brown skin was covered in matching cargo pants, but a faded Prythian U sweatshirt covered his torso.

“I’m Raymond, this is our third night at the park.”

We tried not to look too relieved as we shook his hand. All of us had experience taking care of ourselves but we were in the middle of a national park with the other nearest humans about 50 yards down the road.

Kevin looked appropriately sheepish as he came to greet us. “Sorry about that, I am excited to have more company. The couple that’s over there just keeps glaring at us and avoids us like the plague.” His words were playful enough but there was a deeper sadness buried in his eyes as if he was used to this sort of treatment.

“Well it’s awesome to meet you,” Elain gushed, ever the social butterfly. “I’m Elain and these are my sisters, Nesta and Feyre. We’re here in celebration of Feyre graduating!”

“Congratulations! Where from?” Raymond asked.

“Well you’re actually wearing my college right now,” I replied with a smile. There were tons of people who went to Pryth U but it was always fun to meet someone who graduated there in the past.

I fell into conversation with Ray, who insisted on using the shorter version of his name about the campus and how much it has changed from when he was there. He was an engineering major but still asked me a million questions about the art history department and why I wanted to get my masters there. Elain roped Kevin into a debate about botany and the best soil for growing tulips in. It sounded like he was also in the flower business and was here to see the blooming of Starfalls.

Nesta was never one to make easy friends and opted to start our dinner, taking over the grill next to Kevin’s. Tonight was burgers with potato chips and then s’mores for dessert that would be roasted over the campfire.

Dinner was full of lively conversation under the night sky. We were far enough away from the city’s light pollution that we were able to make out constellations that we had only read about and see the dusting of galaxies that spanned the sky.

“And that’s when the professor realized he had designed a system that looked exactly like a dick!” We burst out laughing at the end of Ray’s story from his time in college, even Nesta couldn’t keep her giggles contained at the raunchy tale.

Our cheeks were rosy from the fire that crackled happily before us, the smell of burnt marshmallow filling the air. As perfect as Nesta was at everything, it took her a few tries to get the timing and distance right for roasting.

“Sounds like I missed a hell of a tale,” the new midnight voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Ah! Rhys! I was wondering when you would show up,” Kevin greeted the newcomer. “Where are Cas and Az?”

The figure stepped into the ring of light and perched on an open stump beside Feyre. I forced myself not to freeze and stare at him. It was the same man I saw on top of the horse.

Closer up I could see how his dark hair shone blue in the firelight, no longer hidden beneath the Mountie hat he wore earlier.

He shifted his body to angle slightly towards me, catching my eyes with his. They were so blue they seemed to be an impossible violet, sparking with hidden laughter at an inside joke. “They’re right behind me,” he said without breaking eye contact with me.

I forced my eyes to drop to the page I was intermittently sketching on. I was lucky that I had started a new outline of the stream we passed on the way in instead of still having the sketch of him on his horse open. Hopefully the blush that was already on my cheeks hid the new blood that was rushing there.

“What was all that laughing about? I hope someone was making fun of Rhys,” another male voice called out as he came into view. He was tall and even more well-muscled than the man beside me but had his dark hair pulled into a low bun on the nape of his neck and his eyes glowed amber.

Rhys broke his stare at me to twist to the man, “No, I was telling them about the time you got stuck in what you thought was quicksand but turned out to be just a massive mud pit,” he shot back. The group laughed at the retort, including me while trying to shake off my embarrassment.

He pouted at the memory, “Aw com’on, you promised you would stop bringing that up.”

“Never in your dreams, brother.”

“Cas, come sit by me and have a s’more, I’m sure you thought you were right at the time,” Kevin teased, offering a marshmallow already speared on a stick. Cas threw one more sulky look at Rhys and walked over to where Kevin and Nesta were sitting. Nesta sized up the addition, bracing herself for interaction.

Cas saw her reaction, immediately forgetting his brother’s teasing. There was a new opponent to spare with. He aimed a feral grin at her, spurring her to narrow her eyes at his assessment.

A final figure, presumably Az, emerged from the dark, almost as if melting from it. He nodded a polite greeting to the group opting to stand near Ray and Elain. It took no time at all for her sister to draw him into a conversation about what all she can see at the park and if she was allowed to take any wildflower clippings home to preserve.

I turned back to my book, darkening the path the water took over, around and through the stones on the creek bed. The weight of Rhys’s gaze settled over me, making me tighten my grip on the pencil.

“You’re a good artist,” he remarked.

I smiled slightly in his direction. “I would hope so, I staked most of my career on it.”

“You do this professionally?”

“Well, I hope so someday,” I admitted, “I just graduated with a master’s in art history.”

“Really? Congrats. What’s next for you?”

He finally succeeded in pulling me away from the drawing, meeting his gaze again, looking for any sign of mockery at my chosen path. Most heard the words “art history” and assumed I would become a starving artist or elementary art school teacher.

There was no trace of judgment in his face, only open curiosity.

“In my dreams, I would open up my own studio, maybe a few galleries. For now, I’ve applied to a few museums as a curator and I have an interview with one of them next week.”

“I hope it goes well, anyone who can draw that well must know a thing or two about Picasso.”

I barked a laugh at his statement, “I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong you are,” giggling my way through the sentence. “You won’t believe the number of students I met who couldn’t tell the difference between Picasso and their own ass.”

His eyes flashed with surprise, followed by laughter rich and clear as a bell spilling from his mouth. “I can believe it, I’ve met my fair share of idiots in this world.”

“I bet, being a park ranger must set you up for a whole slew of idiots who watched one episode of Bear Grylls and thinks they can survive out here with nothing more than their wits.”

His face jokingly darkened, “Do. Not. Get. Me. Started.”

“Please, start,” my sketch was now long forgotten, pulled into his expressive voice and body. He wove the tale of a couple that thought they could go all Naked and Afraid only 20 feet off the trail, managing to get as far as cutting down a few trees to start a shelter before another camper contacted them and they were able to stop them from scarring any more people.

My cheeks hurt from the constant smiling and laughter, unable to stop myself from leaning closer to catch every detail.

By the end of his story, our knees were brushing each other every few seconds, both of us catching our breath. He paused at the end, taking the small bubble we had trapped ourselves in.

His eyes dipped to brush my lips before meeting mine again. My breath caught in my throat at the intensity of his gaze, heat blooming across my cheeks and down my neck. Our shared air was sweet with chocolate and heavy with anticipation…

A hiss startled us apart.

Across the fire, Nesta looked to be about two seconds away from slapping Cas, fury twisting her face into a knot. Cas looked like he was the cat that got the cream, lazily reclining against the stump, looking up into her wrathful face.

“And that’s our queue,” Rhys muttered under his breath. “It was wonderful to talk with you. I’ll see you around the park.”

I blinked a few times, mentally shaking myself out of the trance he put me in. “Uh, yeah sure, see you around.”

“Cas, Az,” his voice was sharp, “We need to go to the next campsite. Thank you for the s’mores and have a good evening everyone.” He pulled his brothers away, retreating into the dark. From the blackness came the sound of a sharp slap and angry words being whispered.

Everyone exchanged awkward looks at their departure. Nesta was still fuming, glaring at the direction they disappeared in. Feyre and Elain knew better that the question her on what Cas said, knowing it would only infuriate her more.

“It’s been a long day, and we have a lot of hiking tomorrow,” I broke through the tension, “I’m off to bed.” Elain and Nesta got up to join me, bidding Kevin and Raymond good night and that they’ll see them for breakfast.

Elain and I exchanged worried looks behind Nesta’s back, but it would be better to let her sleep it off. She was quick to anger but given time, could squash it back down.

We all climbed into the tent, leaving our shoes by the door. It was colder away from the fire, so we didn’t waste time layering on warmer clothes and crawling into our respective sleeping bags.

I fell asleep with purple eyes burning behind my eyelids, chasing me through my fitful dreams.

Next Chapter

[purplesurveys]

630

SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Sin 1: Lust 1. Who was the last person you checked out? Did they check you out too? Surprise surprise, it’s my girlfriend. Yeah she did - I think I’d start worrying if she didn’t, lmao.

2. Who was the last person you desired, but they didn’t feel the same? Gab, at one point. Other than her, I haven’t desired anybody else; but I was on the ‘didn’t feel the same’ side at least once, back when Mike used to like me.

3. Ever cheated on a significant other? If so, have you learned from it? No, I’ve never cheated.

4. Do you watch porn? Yes. I’d have phases where I’d view it 2-3 times a week, then I’d completely stop for months – kinda like how everyone plays The Sims lol. I don’t know why it works like that for me.

5. Do you masturbate? Sometimes.

6. Best physical features on your preferred sex? I don’t have a preferred sex, and my favored features differ per person.

7. Who are some celebrities that you think are totally hot? Kristen Stewart, if you don’t me already haha. Also Eugene Lee Yang from the Try Guys, Beyoncé, and Jennifer Aniston.

8. Did you ever lust after a best friend’s significant other? How did it turn out? Mmm nope, I never found myself attracted to Hans in any way. The fact that he has always been associated with Angela ever since high school also helps.

9. When was the last time you had sex? Like a week before Christmas, I think.

10. Ever pursued someone, even though they were taken? No, that’s a little awful.

Sin 2: Gluttony 1. When did you last eat at a restaurant? What restaurant was it? Last Monday – Gab and I went to Yabu to catch dinner. We had been entertaining my mom’s guests and their kid all day and thought we couldn’t leave the house cos it’s a bit impolite, but I had such a craving that I ended up asking permission if we can go to Yabu by 8:30 even though the mall closed by 9 lol. I realize I talk about Yabu an awful lot on here so for those who wanna know, it’s this local Japanese place that serves theeeee best katsu.

2. When did you last have fast food? Where did you get it? I don’t actually remember. If I’m not wrong, it was around two or three weeks ago, and we had KFC delivered to our house because we were too lazy to cook or go out. I had the Zinger Steak, which I hope they never phase out because it’s insanely good.

3. What was the biggest meal you had all day? I haven’t eaten yet, and it’s only 10:51 AM. 

4. Do you have too many clothes? How often do you go shopping? I wouldn’t say it’s overwhelmingly many, but I definitely own more clothes than the pieces I’d usually wear, and that’s because I don’t like throwing old stuff out just in case I’d need them in the future (definitely got my great-grandma’s hoarding tendencies). I go shopping once in a few months, which in itself is pretty seldom, but that’s because when I go shopping I usually already buy a shit-ton of new clothes, enough for me to be able to mix and match to come up with new outfits for the next few weeks.

5. What’s something you have a LOT of? Black clothing. I’ve made an effort to get more colored tops, but the blacks still overpower.

6. Do you eat a lot? I’m very takaw-tingin, which is a Filipino term used when you get a crapload of food either because you’re hungry or because you’re confident you can finish it – or both – then you never do. Takaw means greedy or glutton, tingin roughly means sight, so it literally means that you just kinda want to get everything because it looks like a lot. So to answer the question, I always feel like I can eat a lot, but at the end of the day I just end up with stomachaches and I never learn.

7. What was the last thing you splurged (spent a lot of money) on? If a bunch of stuff counts, then I splurged on Christmas presents for various people that I all bought in one go – I got massage oils, a garlic press, a frisbee, Marikina sandals, lipstick, and Instax film. If you’re talking about a single thing that I had to drop a ton of money on, it was for my dog’s blood test and some arthritis meds that the vet recommended.

8. What do you spend most of your money on (besides bills and anything necessary like that)? I only ever spend on necessities like gas, clothes, and food, honestly. Other than that... I spend on (and this is very seldom) whatever hobby I’m into at the moment. At one point I spent on slime because I got interested in them, and before that – and y’all know about this – I spent my Christmas savings on adult coloring books and pencils.

9. Last time you ate candy? What was it? A week or two ago; I had a Crunch bar.

10. Last thing you ate too much of? Eggs, I think. My mom makes it for breakfast so I have it almost every day.

Sin 3: Greed 1. Do you share things? How often? Yeah I can be pretty generous with my stuff. I know I’d appreciate it when other people lend me their belongings, so I try to do the same. I once lent my phone to Rita for over an hour just because she wanted to play Mario Kart, and I also lent a book that’s really important to me to an online friend I barely knew; it was with him for like two years, lol.

2. Someone asks you for a piece of your cookie. You break it in half, but the pieces aren’t equal. Who gets the bigger piece? Usually it would be me; but if the person who asked for it was Gab, or if that particular person likes the cookie I have, then they get the bigger piece.

3. When you see change on the ground, do you pick it up? Only if it’s a 10-peso coin, because I’m greedily picky like that lmao. Other people might need a peso or a 5-peso coin more, so I leave it be.

4. How often do you lend money to people? I don’t, and that’s one thing I wouldn’t tend to lend. My parents just give me allowance and it’s usually enough for necessities and for treating myself once or twice a week, so I wouldn’t be able to have some left for others. Besides, that’s my parents’ money and it would be pretty fuckin’ unfair to them if I just give it away to others lmao.

5. Do you loooove money? I hate what it’s done to society, how it’s divided the rich and the poor, and how the people with the most money also tend to be the most selfish coughcoughBILLIONAIREScoughcough. But I love spending for my own, hah.

6. If someone offers to pay for you, do you decline or readily accept? Oh no no no. Decline all the way. If they keep insisting then I’ll probably give in because it’s the polite thing to do, but if I can, I’ll keep declining.

7. Which of your friends is the wealthiest? Rita. Her grandpa is a former senator and she lives in literally the swankiest neighborhood in Metro Manila; I was a bit intimidated when she invited us to her place for the first time lol. She’s the simplest person I know, too; and that’s my favorite kind of rich.

8. Would you take a high-paying job that you didn’t really like just for the money and benefits? That’s definitely what I plan to do, lmao. At least this is how I know myself now: I have enough money to buy whatever I want, and I’m a happy camper. That may change in a few months or within the next year and I may eventually wanna search for a passion – but for now, it’s the mindset I’m going with when I go job-hunting soon. If I survived four years of college with a very burnt-out, emptied passion for journalism that I thought I had, I could probs do the same in the workplace.

9. Ever stole from anyone? What about stole from a store? What happened? I unknowingly stole a box of crayons from a store back when security equipment wasn’t that rigid yet lmao. I realized I ‘stole’ it because I had it in my hands and not in a paper bag when I walked out, so I immediately went back to pay for it. I’ve never stolen anything from anyone.

10. Do you ever have enough money? I don’t think anyone ever feels this way. Ever heard of billionaires?

Sin 4: Sloth 1. Last thing you procrastinated on? Washing the dishes last night.

2. When you’re at a strip mall and the next store you want to go to is at the other side, do you drive over there instead of take a short walk? It depends how far “the other side” is. <-- Yep pretty much. If it’s literally on the other side of a street, then obviously I’d go walk. But in places like my school which is super big and where ‘other side’ could mean 2 km away, a drive would be more convenient.

3. What’s a typical day off of school and/or work like for you? I’d normally spend the day lazing around on the couch with my dog beside me and lurking around social media.

4. What’s one talent you have that you don’t really work on, even though you have the ability to be good at it? Public speaking, or debating.

5. How many hours of television do you watch a day? I keep Friends as a background noise on Netflix nearly all day because I hate when it gets too quiet around me. As for watching on an actual television, I haven’t used one in years.

6. What about the amount of time you spend on the internet a day? The internet takes up my entire day it’s crazy lol. I kinda need it for everything now.

7. How many hours of sleep do you get a day? Do you sleep in late? It’s always different. I can go anywhere between 3 and 10 hours of sleep. I don’t sleep in often, though.

8. Do you drive to places that are less than three blocks away? I don’t know how big blocks are supposed to be since we don’t use that system here. But yes, I usually drive even though Point A to Point B is very much walkable hahaha. My friends make fun of me a lot for it but I don’t care, at least I don’t get to my destination all sweaty and smelling like the sun.

9. When was the last time you exercised? November, on my last PE class.

10. Ever copied and pasted your homework from a website on the internet? I never did this. My schools always emphasized the consequences of plagiarism so as someone who always stuck by the rules, I always made sure I at least paraphrased the content I see on the internet.

Sin 5: Wrath 1. If you could kill one person and get away with it, would you do it? I know it’s pretty dark to come from such a place, but I’ve always thought death is an easy way out for people who’ve done awful things. I could answer this question with a name of a corrupt politician, rapists, or animal abusers, but tbh they don’t deserve the sweet escape of death, even if it were from murder.

2. Is there anyone you honestly and truly can say that you hate? Anybody who has hurt cats and dogs.

3. Is there anyone you want revenge on, whether you want to get them back big-time or just play a little prank on them for hurting your feelings? Like I said, I’d daydream about getting revenge just to satiate my desire for it, but I think it’s pretty childish and downright cartoonish to actually go through with it. I’ve only ever seen people getting petty revenge in movies, but it seems a bit stupid in real life.

4. Are you fighting with any friends right now? Why? No. The most that’s happened was me kinda scolding Andrew for not letting me know beforehand that he submitted our thesis proposal to our prof through VIBER, which is incredibly unprofessional and I definitely let him know what I thought about it. I didn’t fight with him though.

5. Last time you were really angry? What happened? The aforementioned thesis prof letting me know we’re missing a part of our thesis on the last day for profs to submit their grades. That meant that however early we submitted a revision, she wouldn’t have been able to give it a mark anyway. That definitely pissed me off, especially considering that she was silent for two weeks and didn’t give back any comments which made us think we were good to go.

6. When you’re angry, what do you do to calm yourself down? I watch Friends or any one of my favorite YouTubers so I can have some relief. Other times, I’d force myself to sleep.

7. “Hate is just the fear of loving someone.” true or false? No. That makes no sense to me.

8. What’s the best revenge you ever got on someone? Never done this before.

9. Was there any hard feelings after your last break-up? On whose end was it on? There were definitely hard feelings in the beginning because she executed the breakup so poorly and I thought I didn’t deserve any of the treatment I was getting, and I was also mad that I wasted my time for that long only for her to break up with me in the end.

10. Ever been cheated on? How did that make you feel? No.

Sin 6: Envy 1. Is there anyone you’re jealous of? Name a person and tell us why. Envious is the better word, and I feel this way towards anybody who live with both parents. My dad’s worked overseas all my life, and as grateful as I am for his sacrifices, having a dad at home is more foreign sensation to me than the idea of having a dad who’s gone for 4-6 months a year.

2. List three physical features some other people have that you’re envious of (no need to get specific and name people; you can just say something like “brown eyes” or “having perfect eyebrows”). Straight teeth, fixed eyebrows, legs that don’t need much shaving.

3. List three personality features that other people have that you’re envious of. Confidence, independence... is privilege a personality trait lol?

4. Are you a jealous significant other? I can be. I don’t make a big deal about being jealous as much as I did two or three years ago anymore though.

5. Could you date someone who was really jealous? Gab can be a little jealous but for the most part it’s endearing because it’s never turned into abuse.

6. What celebrity’s looks do you envy the most? Audrey Hepburn.

7. Do you think anyone is envious of you? In your opinion, what characteristics (physical and mental) do you possess that you think someone might be envious of? Being in a long-term relationship, definitely. A lot of people my age want significant others so bad, and I know this because a good chunk of them post the same wish over and over on social media lol.

8. What are a few things you wish you were good at? Drawing, playing an instrument, dancing ballet, changing a car tire, COOKING.

9. Did you ever date someone, break up, and then see them dating someone very attractive a few days later? Were you jealous of that person? This has never happened to me.

10. When looking at a love interest’s exes, do you often find yourself jealous of their good-looking exes? I haven’t had to do this, because I was Gab’s first. I wouldn’t want to fixate on exes if I were in a different situation, though.

Sin 7: Pride 1. What’s something you brag about a lot (be honest–we all brag sometimes)? My school is easy bragging rights. Everybody wants to be in UP.

2. What physical features do you take the most pride in? My body figure in general. Also my fingers, legs, and jawline.

3. Are you satisfied with what you have? Yeah but as the above questions have made it clear, I can always use more money lol.

4. Be honest… when someone is telling you something, do you often change the subject so it’s about you and your accomplishments instead? NEVER. That’s one of the worst things anyone can do. I feel like I used to do this when I was younger, then it just hit me one day about how tasteless it can be so ever since then I’ve let other people hype themselves up and be excited about accomplishments or new things in their life as much as they want with me, as long as they aren’t being so conceited.

5. Do you like talking about your achievements? If I’m in a group and we started sharing our achievements then yeah I’d join in. But I wouldn’t bring it up if it wasn’t already being brought up. It’s better to let the accomplishments speak for themselves.

6. Do your parents tend to brag about how well you came out? My mom is definitely more ~braggier than my dad, but she’s never come off as an asshole about it. If she was, I’d pull her aside.

7. Do you strive to be better than others? Do you think competing with others is healthy? I keep a mindset of competing with others, but I keep it internal.

8. What do you do better than most people? See the little details. I’m always surprised at how most of the people I work with just look at the big picture – like how they don’t pay attention to the red squiggle under misspelled words on a group paper (or if they do see it, they don’t do anything about it), or how they don’t seem to care about proper spacing on a Powerpoint and proceed to just dump a bunch of text on one slide. Now this is something I can brag about too, cos a lot of people are just so not detail-oriented lol.

9. Do you believe in taking pride in things you can’t control (ex. being proud of your heritage, being proud of your skin color, being proud of your natural artistic ability)? I don’t see why that’s an issue.

10. Who are you competing with right now (it could be anything–classmates for a grade, co-workers for a position, other girl for a guy, etc.)? There’s no particular person, but like I said, I’m always in this perpetual mindset of wanting to compete with others just so I’m more motivated to perform well and get things done.

[nancypullen]

Makin’ Stuff

One of the things that’s keeping me sane through this lock down is spending time with dead people.  You know how I love finding vintage photos that have the potential to say something funny.  I found this little gal but she was leaning on a poufy cushion and I felt she had a better story than that.  I got rid of the cushion.

Normally I print my people in black and white and add color using distress crayons or colored pencils.  She was so prettily colored that I left her as is.

Then I went in search of her prop.  I did a google search for vintage cookie tins and found just what I needed.

So I grabbed that image and printed it too.  I used to painstakingly cut out my people, then the mister presented me with a Cricut and life got ever so much easier. Look at all of my chubby girls!

This time around I grabbed a few blank cards and made a home for her.  I dabbed ink all over a white card.   I don’t use anything special, just wadded up paper towel or tissue.  Pretty fancy, huh?

After that I took a distress crayon and darkened the edges - rubbing it in with a finger.

This is where anything goes.  Because these are chaotic times and I want there to be a bit of that in the message - I got busy.  I stamped it a little.

Then I grabbed some scrap paper

 and one of my favorite tools .

I love, love, love die cuts.  I can put that metal plate on top of scrap paper, run it through my little hand cranked Sizzix machine and PRESTO!

Now I have some lace!  I often use actual lace or ribbon on my cards, but this is super handy.  Also, don’t judge that pic with the SIzzix machine -  I keep it on the floor beside my desk and that carpet is old.  Perfect room for creating a mess, right?

Anywho - by now my chubby girl and her cookie tin have been glued into place on the inked and stamped card, and once the lace is added she’ll need some words.

I printed that on some pastel colored paper, then cut the words out.  Again, I wanted it to look a little kooky, but not full blown ransom note crazy.  I used my handy dandy distress crayon to darken the edges and then glued them in place.

It’s wonky and I’m okay with that, I like wonky.  Perfection is for factories.  I like handmade, old, chippy, and tattered. Funky is a bonus.  I am not a card maker, I’ve never taken a class, and I’m sure I’m doing it all wrong.  I mash things together until I like how it looks.  Still, I’ll crank out a few of these, put a happy message inside, and send them off hoping to make the recipient smile.  

I don’t want to know the right way to do it  - that would take all of the fun out of the process!  Sometimes I have to make a couple before I decide what looks best.  That’s not time wasted, that’s time that I’m not worried, stressed, complaining, or listening to the orange buffoon’s lies. See?  Even the mistakes are time well spent!  Then I meet a new dead person and it starts all over again.

I encourage you to lose yourself in some creative activities.  Learn a new dance routine, chalk paint some picture frames and make a pretty collage,  if you sew, use up your fabric stash making something for summer - pretty outdoor placemats or throw pillows for porch chairs.  Heck, make a sundress for your cat, I don’t care.  If you’re a poet or a songwriter, lose yourself in the flow of words.  Make jewelry, knit, build something with wood - planters or shelves!  Do something that takes time and delivers satisfaction and pleasure.  We’ve got plenty of the first and too little of the others.  The constant barrage of bad news and scary headlines can put a dent in even the most upbeat and optimistic of us, give yourself a break. Consider it recess!  Remember what a relief it was in the middle of a school day to run outside and let loose?  It was part of the school schedule because it’s necessary.  Take a break, have some fun. You deserve it. It’ll recharge your batteries.  I’m looking forward to really getting busy in the gardens and it’s almost time.  Once I can spend time in the sun taking care of blooms I’ll be the happiest camper in town.  Until then I’ll just keep hanging out with the dead. Pretty sure there’s a story here.

Keep on keepin’ on, guys and dolls.  We’ll make it.  Take a break, let your mind go play, and remind yourself that you’re doing just fine.  You are, I promise. XOXOO

[lalka-laski]

Have you ever had a really bad haircut? Yeah, like the time I got a lob expecting I’d look like Jennifer Lawrence but I actually looked like fucking Lord Farquaad.  Did you ever order any clothes from the Alloy catalogue? We got those catalogues sent to our house all through my childhood! I loved leafing through them but we could never actually afford those clothes.  What brand, color, and type is your favorite eyeliner? I hardly wear eyeliner but I have a few pencils in my makeup collection of various brands.  Do you wear eyeliner? See above

Was there ever a time in your life when you couldn’t cry? HA, safe to say that has NEVER been a problem for me. 

What’s your favorite type of yogurt? The texture of yogurt skeeves me out. Sometimes I like PLAIN greek yogurt with a little granola on top, but that’s rare.  What posters did you have on your wall as a teenager? I went through a few phases. The earliest poster I remember was a shirtless JC Chasez (from Nsync) posed underneath a waterfall. Not the most appropriate choice for a 7 year old? I also remember once being so excited to win a Spice Girls poster at a fair. I brought it home and a few days later I walked into the living room to find my sister on the floor with a pair of scissors just cutting it into strips. TRAGIC!  What are your favorite type of calendars? I don’t use calendars anymore but growing up I had them of various celebrities and characters I liked. Lots of Disney Princess ones, of course.  Do you have a full-length mirror? The doors to my coat closet are both full-length mirrors  When was the last time you bought stamps? I don’t think I ever have Do you have any overdue library books right now? No, although that’s one of my recurring dreams. (Or are they nightmares?!!)  How often do you do laundry? Usually once a week Do you have a piggy bank? Nope  Do you remember your locker combinations from high school? Funnily enough, that’s another one of my recurring dreams. I’m standing at my locker and completely blank on my combination and then I panic.  What’s your favorite DIY crafts youtube channel? I’ve watched a few here and there but I don’t have a specific channel  Could you spend hours on pinterest? Nah, pinterest annoys me  Do you own plaid pants? Nope Have you ever had to wear a school uniform? No, but I always secretly wished I did. I was so stressed about fitting in and wearing “cool clothes” and a uniform would’ve eliminated that problem for me.  What was your high school’s mascot? Titans What were your high school’s team colors? Blue & gold? I think?

Who were your best friends in high school? I had a few, all of whom are still really good friends of mine to this day

Who was your first boyfriend or girlfriend? His name was J.R. Which is funny because Glenn is also a junior and went by “J.R” occasionally growing up.  Have you ever been to Chicago? Nope but I’d love to. Polski Pride! If yes, what do you like best about it? Have you ever stayed in a hostel? Nope Would you rather sleep on the top bunk or bottom bunk? Hm, that’s tough. I’d really prefer to just sleep on a regular bed if anything.  Do you love camping? I do somewhat. I’m not exactly outdoors-y or adventurous but I have an appreciation for nature.  Would you rather sleep in a tent or under the stars? I’d only sleep anywhere that had zero chance of critters getting to me What insects are you afraid of? Ladybugs gross me out to NO end. I don’t mind many bugs, but ladybugs can fuck all the way off.  Have you ever had a secret admirer that left you notes? Mmm nope. Are you close with your cousins? My cousin Rachel is one of my best friends! Are you close to any aunts or uncles? Kind of. I honestly which I was closer to most of my extended family members. There’s so much weird hostility between everyone and I wish it wasn’t so. Are you close to your grandparents? I have very little memories of my paternal grandfather, although we apparently had a special bond. I was very close buddies with my paternal grandma though, right up until she died. And as for my maternal grandparents, we have a great relationship although I do wish we could be closer. Sometimes. 

Who betrayed your trust? Blah... Who was your first best friend (apart from a sibling)? Sean What was your favorite thing to do at sleepovers when you were younger? I loved ghost stories and all those stereotypical sleepover games like Truth or Dare. Oh, and my friends and I loved doing makeovers! What kind of popcorn is your favorite? SUPER buttery. Popcorn’s one of my favorite snacks and we eat it almost every night Does your town have a big fountain in it? Uhhh not that I know of  What is your town known for? My city has a super high crime and poverty rate so WOOHOO for that. But we also have some really cool history and a fun art/music scene.  Do you currently live in the city you grew up in? Mhm  What’s one way in which you’re behind the times? I don’t understand a lot of modern slang and I avoid using it at risk of sounding like a try-hard.  What’s one way in which you’re still a child? I’m obsessed with Disney princesses, I sleep with a teddy bear, and I’d eat Kraft Mac & Cheese for dinner every night if I could. What’s one way in which you’re old? Well being behind on modern slang as I mentioned above is one thing. I also can hardly stay up past midnight anymore.  Do you feel old or young? Or do you feel both at different times? I certainly don’t feel old enough to be 28, that’s for sure How old are you? ^^ Do you know what you want to do for your next birthday? No clue yet. For one thing, it’s too far away to think about and secondly, who the hell knows what state the world will be in by that time? If yes, what is it? What is the last new thing you discovered that was really good? Glenn & I started watching this make-up competition show that is fascinating. The talent is mind-blowing! What would be the best surprise you could receive right now? If my work could shut down & I could quarantine for months again while still getting unemployment bonuses I’d be a happy camper Do you usually forgive when someone hurts your or try to get revenge? I’m all too forgiving. And I’m not clever enough to plot revenge Were there any subjects in school that were really easy for you? English If so, what? ^^  Did you ever skip a grade or get held back a grade? Neither  What time of day were you born? 5:45 PM What is the best hairstyle you’ve ever had? This is currently the healthiest my hair has ever been. And I really do love the shade of it.  Do you think you look better with dyed hair or natural hair? I haven’t seen my natural hair in ages. It’s a darker, more brassy shade of the blonde I have now. I definitely like my chosen color better.  Do you think your look better with curly hair or straight hair? Wavy  Do you have bangs? Nope. although I did for all of my childhood Do you think you look better with bangs or without? Without. I mean, I think I was a cute looking little kid but my mom definitely kept me in bangs wayyyy longer than I should’ve been. Do you think you look better with long hair or short? LONG, for sure.  What’s your favorite rock band? The Killers Who’s your favorite country singer? I don’t care for it Do you ever listen to Celtic music? Mhm. I mean not regularly but I like instrumentals for studying/relaxing.  Do you listen to Hillsong? Nope  Did you try the unicorn frappuccino, and if yes, were you a fan? Nope and I am so thankful that I no longer worked at Starbucks when that was a thing Have you ever won a contest? None that I recall  Have you ever wanted to be a model, actress, singer, or dancer? I always thought I’d make a decent actress, but anxiety got in the way of me ever venturing into that territory. And I do wish I could sing.  When you look at your baby pictures, do you recognize yourself? Yep  Has your hair color changed since you were a toddler? Actually, my current (dyed) hair color is pretty much the same shade I had as a toddler.  Do you wear matching socks? When I have to wear socks, yes.  How many drawers does your dresser have? Umm... four small ones and I think six large ones? Do you own an American flag shirt? Nope Do you own a British flag shirt? Nope Do you have a seashell collection? I did at one point but I have no idea what happened to it Do you have a rock collection? Actually I have a small collection of rocks I gathered a few months ago with the intentions of painting them and hiding them for others to find. (Spoiler: I did no such thing).  Do you decorate for Halloween? Yep! Well, more for Fall in general but some of my decorations are ~spooky.  What is your favorite thing to do in the pool? Anything! I love swimming and just splashing around.  Flamingos or pineapples? You mean like for a pattern or print? Either one is fun for summer.  Cacti or seashells? Both?  Maple tree or palm tree? Tough! Again, I like both.  Dreamcatcher or wind chimes? Dreamcatcher. The sound of wind chimes always kind of creeps me out for some reason. Have you ever taken a picture at the perfect moment? Yes! Do you have a crush right now? He might be a little more than a crush

What color was your first car? I don’t drive Was your first car used or new? Do you have a car now? What color(s) eyeshadow do you wear the most? I really only wear neutrals. I’d love to learn how to do more exciting things with my makeup but I usually play it safe

[endlessarchite]

DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step-by-step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers. It was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page; this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I know why I paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes. Since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) If you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

Start by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium”. In this context, there are several mediums designed to do cool things with acrylic paint. Some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer.

I then did a quick pencil sketch to mark the sky, mountain, trees, and water on the bottom. A few general shapes are all that’s needed to get started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting. I marked off the mountains and created quick swipes with a small paint brush to give the trees texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black. Watering down the paint makes it look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Wiping off paint after it starts to dry might remove large blobs of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb: do not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead; I’ll admit to using just water on this one, but you now know better!

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Tape and Stars!

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, let it dry COMPLETELY.

The canvas is now freshly painted, so protect the bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces. Tape anything that isn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip. With each flick little tiny spots flung all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part! If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up. Do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below.

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I plan to seal it with some art resin and frame (new posts!), but I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper.

K immediately loved this painting. He’s offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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Review: My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic Premiere Year: 2010 Category: Animated Television Series Company: DHX Media Limited, Hasbro Studios

In this very gloomy time in the history of animated TV series, it’s very hard to find something animated that can really be considered good entertainment. Either the shows you come across are terribly written, or just plain ugly to look at. And that brings me to ”My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic”, which is niether of those things. It’s the exact opposite, wonderful and practically perfect in every way. Yes, I know My Little Pony is in essence a ”Girls’ Toyline”, but with this new TV series, I can’t help myself. This show is like a lonely snowflake on a dark and gloomy day… Small, but still lovely enough to brighten up the entire day. Yes, I am a boy… And No, I’m not sick and I’ve not gone crazy. I really like this show, and I’m about to get to why.

”My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic” is the latest television version of the well-known and loved pony toys made by Hasbro, and it is the result of the effect of the recent reboot of the Transformers franchise. After Michael Bay’s Transformers movies helped take the Transformers franchise into new heights of popularity, Hasbro wanted to do the same thing with the My Little Pony franchise, which together with Transformers, was one of the company’s flagships in the 1980s. And from what I’ve seen, I actually think that this new My Little Pony series works much better as a reboot then the Transformers movies, and that’s saying alot.

The show airs on The Hub, a TV channel founded by a cooperation between Hasbro and Discovery Communications, Inc., and is produced by Hasbro Studios, Hasbro’s very own entertainment production studio, and is animated by DHX Media Limited, which also animates the ”Littlest Pet Shop” TV series, another Hasbro toy-based series which also airs on The Hub.

Animator and writer Lauren Faust, who had previously worked on shows like ”The Powerpuff Girls”, was hired to create a pitch bible for the show, but she says she was ”extremely skeptical” about taking the job at first, because she had always found shows based on girls toys to be boring and unrelatable. So with this show, she wanted to show that a girls cartoon didn’t have to be all ”Cutesy-Whootsy”, and thereby incorporated into the character-designs and story elements that contradicted Idealized stereotypes of girls, such as diverse personalities, messages like that friends can get into arguments but still be friends, and that girls shouldn’t be limited by what others say they can or can’t do. And I can say in all my honesty, that her plan has been… A Total Success!

The story is centered around the unicorn mare Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong), who comes to the little town of Ponyville, sent by her mentor Princess Celestia, (Nicole Oliver), to study the magic of friendship. Twilight is not so interested in the task, since she’s more into books then friends. But then, when the evil Nightmare Moon appears, vowing eternal night and causes Celestia to disappear, it’s up to Twilight and five other ponies, the tomboyish pegasus Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Ball), the fashion-crazed unicorn Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain), the shy and timid pegasus Fluttershy (Andrea Libman), the hyperactive and funloving pony Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman), and the hard-working cowgirl pony Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), to find the Elements of Harmony to defeate Nightmare Moon. But after Nightmare Moon snatches and shatters the Elements, and Twilight realizes that she needs her new friends, she also realizes that each six of them represents one of the Elements… Rarity is Generosity, Applejack is Honesty, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Fluttershy is Kindness, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, and Twilight Sparkle is the most important element of them all, Magic. After defeating Nightmare Moon and turning her back into her original form, Princess Celestia’s sister Princess Luna, Twilight is assigned by Princess Celestia to continue living in Ponyville and studying the magic of friendship with her new friends. And that’s all just in the first two episodes of Season 1. But don’t worry, the rest of the series is just as good as those first episodes.

The show features a few songs, and they sound much better then any television songs Disney has made in recent years… Well, except for the songs in Disney’s ”Doc Mcstuffins” and ”Sofia The First” TV series, but the songs in this show are still better then most of Disney’s television songs nowadays, and that’s saying alot.

But the biggest surprise for me about this show though, is its animation, which is done in the computer programme Adobe Flash, which is almost like making traditional cel animation, just on a computer instead of with a pencil and paper. I might repeat this many times in the future, but… I hate Flash animation! I hate it, because the finished animation in Flash usually tends to move in an unnaturally quick pace, which gives every movement a very mechanical and nonorganic feel to it, plus that the images tend to look very flat, like cut-out figures pasted onto a background. But this show is nothing like that, and that’s the surprise, and a happy one at that. The animation in this show is very fluid and natural, and the characters and everything else really feels 3-dimensional, and that makes me one happy camper. Wow, Flash animation that I actually like?! Never expected that to happen within this millenium.

In conclusion, what makes ” My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic” a great show, is its wonderful story, colorful characters, beautiful songs, and the fact that it’s actually making a great contribution to the evolution of animation, by taking Flash animation, one of the worst animation forms in the world, and making it appealing, natural in movement and giving it a real 3-dimensional feel that other studios using this software usually doesn’t care about. You see, Flash is normally used as a cheaper and quicker alternative to traditional cel animation, and that’s why earlier shows produced with it usually tends to be terribly animated and generally have very awful stories. This show though… My god, it’s wonderful. I personally like the characters of Applejack, because of her cowgirl attitude and her southern american accent, and Fluttershy, just because she’s generally cute, with her shy way of speaking and all. But what really sells this show for me, is the fact that it’s not overly ”girly”, which people might expect from its title. Oh No, it’s just perfect to attract even a male audience, and it actually has got a strong male fanbase, as I’ve recently learned from Wikipedia. So I’m not the only male who likes this show, and that makes me very relieved.

My Final Grade: Thumbs-Up, Way Up!

[georgeycowell]

DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step-by-step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers. It was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page; this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I know why I paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes. Since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) If you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

Start by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium”. In this context, there are several mediums designed to do cool things with acrylic paint. Some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer.

I then did a quick pencil sketch to mark the sky, mountain, trees, and water on the bottom. A few general shapes are all that’s needed to get started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting. I marked off the mountains and created quick swipes with a small paint brush to give the trees texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black. Watering down the paint makes it look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Wiping off paint after it starts to dry might remove large blobs of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb: do not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead; I’ll admit to using just water on this one, but you now know better!

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Tape and Stars!

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, let it dry COMPLETELY.

The canvas is now freshly painted, so protect the bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces. Tape anything that isn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip. With each flick little tiny spots flung all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part! If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up. Do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below.

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I plan to seal it with some art resin and frame (new posts!), but I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper.

K immediately loved this painting. He’s offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step-by-step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers. It was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page; this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I know why I paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes. Since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) If you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

Start by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium”. In this context, there are several mediums designed to do cool things with acrylic paint. Some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer.

I then did a quick pencil sketch to mark the sky, mountain, trees, and water on the bottom. A few general shapes are all that’s needed to get started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting. I marked off the mountains and created quick swipes with a small paint brush to give the trees texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black. Watering down the paint makes it look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Wiping off paint after it starts to dry might remove large blobs of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb: do not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead; I’ll admit to using just water on this one, but you now know better!

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Tape and Stars!

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, let it dry COMPLETELY.

The canvas is now freshly painted, so protect the bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces. Tape anything that isn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip. With each flick little tiny spots flung all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part! If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up. Do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below.

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I plan to seal it with some art resin and frame (new posts!), but I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper.

K immediately loved this painting. He’s offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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Wood Inlay Ornament with German Glass Glitter

The Saddest Little Guest Bedroom, Probably Ever (a...

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); }); from Ugly Duckling House https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/diy-night-sky-mountain-painting-easy-custom-art/

[darensmurray]

DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step-by-step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers. It was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page; this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I know why I paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes. Since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) If you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

Start by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium”. In this context, there are several mediums designed to do cool things with acrylic paint. Some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer.

I then did a quick pencil sketch to mark the sky, mountain, trees, and water on the bottom. A few general shapes are all that’s needed to get started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting. I marked off the mountains and created quick swipes with a small paint brush to give the trees texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black. Watering down the paint makes it look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Wiping off paint after it starts to dry might remove large blobs of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb: do not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead; I’ll admit to using just water on this one, but you now know better!

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Tape and Stars!

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, let it dry COMPLETELY.

The canvas is now freshly painted, so protect the bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces. Tape anything that isn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip. With each flick little tiny spots flung all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part! If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up. Do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below.

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I plan to seal it with some art resin and frame (new posts!), but I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper.

K immediately loved this painting. He’s offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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[petraself]

DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step-by-step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers. It was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page; this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I know why I paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes. Since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) If you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

Start by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium”. In this context, there are several mediums designed to do cool things with acrylic paint. Some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer.

I then did a quick pencil sketch to mark the sky, mountain, trees, and water on the bottom. A few general shapes are all that’s needed to get started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting. I marked off the mountains and created quick swipes with a small paint brush to give the trees texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black. Watering down the paint makes it look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Wiping off paint after it starts to dry might remove large blobs of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb: do not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead; I’ll admit to using just water on this one, but you now know better!

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Tape and Stars!

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, let it dry COMPLETELY.

The canvas is now freshly painted, so protect the bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces. Tape anything that isn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip. With each flick little tiny spots flung all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part! If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up. Do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below.

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I plan to seal it with some art resin and frame (new posts!), but I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper.

K immediately loved this painting. He’s offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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[lowmaticnews]

DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art)

This night sky painting was so easy and fun to make! Catch the full step by step tutorial or take a look at the speed video to see it come to life.

Hey, friends! Hope your weekend went well. Mine was SO ridiculously busy: K and I built a new bed for the master bedroom (plans coming soon). Then, we made significant progress on the Murphy bed in the guest room (Charlotte, I’m comin’ for ya). Finally, Stella got into the garden bed so bad she needed an immediate bath (painted. the tub. with mud.). Oh, and I finished another DIY video, which means I can finally publish this night sky mountain painting today!

Before and After

As you can probably tell, this painting wasn’t originally any of those words. My original was a terribly painted flower vase at one of those “paint and sip”-style events. It was actually a promotional thing a brand put on with a bunch of Atlanta bloggers, but it was honestly no different than what you would expect in one of those classes: show up, drink, paint (other than they put it all on their Facebook page — and this isn’t a plug and they’re not my sponsor or anything; I just went because free booze and free canvas to take home and I got to see some of my blog friends like Erin Spain).

I don’t know what it is about me that makes me paint so poorly in those someone-teaches-you-how-to-paint-a-specific-thing classes, but since this is now the second time I’ve decided to paint my own thing instead, I think I’m just not into it. (It could be the wine. It’s a mystery.) But if you’ve ever been fiercely put off by your horrible technique in one of those things, then my argument is this: it’s because you’re being forced to paint something you don’t love. So, go rogue! It’s your canvas and to hell with the ugly flowers.

Finding Inspiration

I was inspired — random-est of things — by one of the screensavers displayed by the Amazon Fire TV device connected to the TV. If you aren’t familiar, it’s series of 182 different photos that would give just about anyone some serious wanderlust. And with my vacation to St. Lucia in my rear view and K and I talking about this whole vintage camper renovation project, this photo of The Milky Way over Mt. Hood (Oregon) just struck me. The other screen savers would come and go, and every time this one appeared, I would pause and stare.

So, I typed up a quick tutorial about an organic process that would be unique to every painting (I couldn’t replicate this to the same result every time either). Nothing about a bunch of swirling colors would really be repeatable, but if you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it and would love to see the variations you get! I stopped to take a few of these photos and grabbed a few stills from the video I took overhead.

How to Paint a Starry Sky and Mountains

The trick to a painting like this is pretty straightforward, believe it or not: it just takes continuous layering of colors. I used acrylic paints in the following colors (note: affiliate links to products may be used here):

Supplies

10×10 wood panel

Anita’s Craft Paint (picked up at Hobby Lobby ages ago): Twilight Blue, Medium Blue, Christmas Red (all matte)

Apple Barrel: White, Black, Wild Iris, Purple Iris (all matte)

Small and medium all-purpose paint brushes

Gesso (surface prep medium)

Frogtape Delicate Surface painter’s tape (I know they do a lot of sponsoring on blogs, but this isn’t sponsored)

paper towels

container for clean water

paper plate for mixing

Prep

I started by painting over the entire surface of the existing 10×10 panel with gesso, which is a “medium” (in general, “medium” can be used for just about anything that is used to create art, but in this context, there are several specifically designed to do cool things with acrylic paint — some add a crackling effect, some help paint adhere to fabric… this one is basically a thin version of white acrylic paint and simply helps prep the surface for adding more paint on top, like a primer).

Then, I did a quick pencil sketch to mark what would be sky vs. mountain vs. the black trees vs the water on the bottom… just a few general shapes to get me started.

Color Blocking

As you’ll see in the speed video, I started with the sky first — blocking off color areas such as black in the top corners and white in certain areas on either side of the mountain. This was somewhat monochromatic at first, but I also kept adding in blue and red. To layer in the paint, I also used a damp paper towel to help “sponge” in some of the texture and help layer in paint colors.

With most of the general color blocking done, I moved on to the tree line in black, and then the single mountain in the center — which pretty much exclusively has layers of black, white, and a small hint of blue. Since the sky would be the focus of my painting, I wanted to make the mountain highlighted but muted (so as not to compete).

The whole non-compete idea carried through in the rest of the painting, marking off the mountains and creating quick swipes with a small paint brush to get the trees to look like they had some texture (black only). For the water below, I painted large swipes of blue with white and black and kept watering down the paint so it would look really streaky.

As the mountain dried, I added in more black and white areas for highlight and shadow.

After the first night (I did all of this while sitting in front of the TV, winding down from other DIY activities), it looked like this:

This is a great stopping point, since acrylic sometimes needs some dry time when you begin to add water. Adding more paint or sponging after it starts to dry might remove patches of paint (it happened to me a couple of times). General rule of thumb for what’s recommended is to not mix more than 30% of water or use an acrylic medium to thin the paint instead, but I’ll admit to using just water on this one.

More Color Layering

The next night after some sufficient drying, I added in more color to the sky area with the same swiping, sponging pattern: more blue, more purple, more white.

The photo below is after it had more time to dry and I added a second black layer of the trees.

Once you’re done with this part and are happy with the sky’s color variation, it really needs to dry COMPLETELY. Because next, you’ll be adding painter’s tape!

Tape and Stars!

I taped off the entire bottom area with painter’s tape meant for delicate surfaces (since the canvas was so freshly painted) — anything that wasn’t the sky.

Then, I used a VERY dry brush to dab just a little pure white paint onto the tip of the brush and flick the paint all over the sky surface. I varied both with the quantity of paint on my brush and with how close to the canvas I got, so there were little clusters of white paint flecks and bigger flecks all randomly dispersed. This is the magic that makes it look like a starry sky, and my favorite part. If you make a mistake, use a tiny dab from a wet paper towel to take the paint back up (do it quickly and don’t rub… it could still disturb the newly dried paint below).

In areas I wanted to emphasize a little more, I went in by hand and added a couple more stars.

With that done, I pulled all the painter’s tape off and my painting was complete. I still need to seal it with some art resin (coming up in a new post) and frame (also another post), but I’m pleased with how it turned out. It will probably eventually hang in the vintage camper. K immediately loved this painting and offered to scan it at work for me, so I will have that available as a print soon as well!

Catch the full video:

Want another example of going rogue at a paint n’ sip class? Here’s my laundry room art inspired by talented artist Emily Jeffords.

The post DIY Night Sky Mountain Painting (Easy Custom Art) appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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[sageslays]

Hello Beauty Babes!

Colourpop has been popping out products all summer long! Actually, even before summer! I don’t even think they have a separate season for new products, I think they just come out with new makeup all year long!

This new launch happening TODAY (July 27th) at 10AM PST/1PM EST is especially exciting and jiggle worthy because they are coming out with products that have never EVER been launched.

Seriously you guys, it’s an explosion of newness. So grab hold of your edges because they are about to be SNATCHED

Colourpop is coming out with CONCEALERS!!!

Yes you guys, concealers! it is amazing to see a brand I’ve followed and loved for years, that became so beloved from their super shock shadows and lippie stix, now have a plethora of amazing affordable products! we’re nearing a full face worth of product!

About the concealers. Whenever a concealer comes out, I am always looking to see the range. I am a woman of color, but on the spectrum of shades, I’m not as dark as alot of my gorgeous melanin infused beauties, so at times my shade is easier to find. But even for me it’s a struggle! At times, my shade is either close to last, or the last one! But i’m veering off track.

I am happy to report that colourpop has a pretty good shade range! I think they did a good job on the shades chosen, making sure they’re truly diverse and inclusive. It is called the no filter concealer, and it doesn’t seem to be a specialty concealer, like a matte or dewy concealer I think it’s mainly a basic concealer.

@dupethat swatched the new concealers here:

There are 15 shades, and retail for $6 each

Colourpop isn’t done yet beauty babes. Launching today will also be BRUSHES!!!!

And not just one or two like before. They are launching a full range of brushes! The brushes are cruelty free, and synthetic which is just like the icing on the cake. The full info on the brushes is below:

Large powder brush: $11

Photo by IG @MakeupbyJesi

Blush brush: $9

Angled Face Brush: $9

Stippling Brush: $8

Fan Brush: $7

Small Fluff Brush: $7

Small Eye Shades Brush: $6

Medium Eye Shades Brush: $6

Blending Brush: $6

Tapered Blending Brush: $6

Pencil Brush: $6

Angled Eye Brush: $5

So the price range is between $5-11, which is pretty good. There is also an available vegan cruelty free faux leather brush holder. Apparently, you can buy all the brushes with the brush wrap for $80, which seems really pricey. Personally, I would just get one or two brushes, not spend that much for 12 brushes, considering you could get Sonia Kashuk brush sets for half that.

Kathleen Lights just posted a video reviewing the concealer AND brushes, so check it out:

Alright you guys that’s….what? there’s more? after the snatchation of my edges, they’re going for the whole wig?

Colourpop is coming out with PRESSED BRONZERS AND HIGHLIGHTERS!!!

  And there goes my wig….

With the release last year of pressed shadows, I’m sure we were all awaiting this moment. And now that it’s finally come, we couldn’t be happier!

Well, maybe if we got all of it for free but…

      These pressed bronzers/highlights will be in a 12g pan which is bigger than their super shock cheek pan. It’ll be priced at $7 for just the pan by itself, OR you can pay a dollar more to get it in a compact for $8. (personally, I’d do the compact since it’s only a dollar extra)

The highlights come in 12 shades:

S’il Vous Play- similar to Flexitarian, pearl white shade

Ruffle My Feathers- yellow gold shade

Here Kitty Kitty- champagne with olive undertones

Boujee Call- peach toned gold

Angel Food- pink champagne

Go Honey- honey bronze

Freak Like Me- warm toned copper gold

Boy Next Door- classic gold champagne

Total Package- bronze rose gold

Velvet Rope- light gold with peach undertones

Bae Area- bronze champagne

Happy Camper- classic gold with bronze tones

  The bronzers come in 6 shades; 3 matte, 3 satin:

  CA Dreaming – light

Afternoon Delight- light-medium

Private Party- medium

In It to Win It- medium

Rodeo Drive-medium-deep

Bits and Pieces- medium-deep

        Alright you guys, that is all for the Colourpop newness! These products will all be launching at 10 AM PST/1 PM EST. There will also be a restock of the Yes Please palette, so if you haven’t gotten it yet and want to buy it, get ready!

I still wanna do a full post about this palette, so that post will be coming soon, as well as my Colourpop haul. (although now, I might need to do another one!)

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you guys in my next one!

Stay Fierce, & Stay Snatched!

XOXO, Sage Slays

  Colourpop Launching NEW PRODUCTS July 27th! (which is today) Hello Beauty Babes! Colourpop has been popping out products all summer long! Actually, even before summer! I don't even think they have a separate season for new products, I think they just come out with new makeup all year long!