#ill probably be making more ibis art now

[goblinbugthing]

oh yeah btw i made an ibis brush :)

i was just fucking around with brush settings and accidentally made something really pretty

here’s the gk from the top left corner, and also the qr code by itself

also, fun fact: every single thing on this page was created using this one brush. even the colouring.

[the-writer-and-the-artist]

WE’RE ALIIIIVE

Mary (The Writer): Hey all, it’s been a minute! The Writer and the Artist are both here today to get you caught up on our individual stories. Things have been in flux lately and we had to take a bit of a break. But we’re back! This is probably going to be a bit silly but bear with us.

Sally (The Artist): Hey peoples, basically ^ what she said. We've been absent on our social media for awhile now and as we make our way back to posting more frequently and everything we wanted to share what's been going on. Just in the unlikely case that anyone had missed us or wanted to know what was happening…(Anyone? Anyone at all??)

Mary (TW): My life went through a lot of changes the past few months. I went out west to California for a job, which turned out not to suit my perpetually questionable health, got a kidney infection and a big ol’ painful ovarian cyst, so I headed back east. Have you ever flown when you’re sick enough to need a wheelchair? It’s awkward. People look at you suspiciously, like you’ve fooled the airline somehow when you get up and walk a few steps. It occurred to me they might prefer it if I fell over a few times but was unwilling to hurt myself for their sake. I’ve talked long enough for this wee paragraph! More adventures in ill-health to come.

Sally (TA): Since Mary was out in California we decided that her blog posts, every other Wednesday, would be postponed for a little while. I did my best to keep up with my end of the blog post on the off Wednesdays but after awhile I started faltering in that area also. I didn’t have a legit reason like Mary did, she was in a new state with a new job and having health problems….while I just ...didn’t do what I was supposed to be doing. There’s a seasonal thing going on here that means during the winter I’m not as productive as usual even though I set the same amount of goals/schedule ...I’m calling it hibernation.

Mary (TW): I had a difficult time getting healthy physically but mentally as well. I was despondent. I felt like my health defined me and that it was never going to get better. I began to care less about everything and let that self-pity go on too long. I got a spinal tap (the last leg of testing before treatment) and not too long after that I was traveling for the holidays. Even though I had a bad cold, that trip reinvigorated me. I realized that I'm not at the end of any line. Maybe the pain will get worse, all evidence suggests it will, but I have access to a treatment that may help. And I can write. I can always write. It might be trash sometimes, haha, but at least I have that.

Sally (TA): Now that we’ve talked it out and acknowledged that we haven’t been keeping on track with things for the last couple of months we can get ourselves back on track. Mary is continuing to write and I will continue to do the art for her writing (maybe even remember to get video of it too). I’ve realized that now that I know I have lower productivity during winter months I can compensate for my schedule to fit that so that I don’t feel bad about not doing everything I set for myself. That only leads to feeling worse and doing worse.

Mary (TW): It’s time for some updates! We will still be publishing weekly blog posts but on Saturday instead of Wednesday. Having it in the middle of the week can put a lot of pressure on us, but especially Sally since she’s the one currently working a full-time job. I’ve been getting more progress made with the Ibis story and I’m taking pictures throughout the process to share with you.

Sally (TA): I’m also going to be doing more to post the art I’m making for the poetry book on Instagram. When we started out we tried doing a post every day religiously and if we didn’t have anything planned out for the post it got to be stressful. So we’re going to hold ourselves accountable and post more regularly but not necessarily every single day.

And that's that! We're so grateful that you've chosen to come on this journey with us. We're always learning and we appreciate your patience. It's been fun and there's loads more to look forward to.