should/could be painting right now

[A bunch of disparate thoughts/paragraphs, not particularly cohesive here]

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O is at nursery for a few hours and I'm off work, so I could be getting better acquainted with my watercolour paints that I bought myself in January. Yet instead I'm doing a little bit of knitting, organising my room a bit better and thinking about walking to the shop to buy something different for O to eat for lunch...

To be fair, I have managed to get a bit more sketching done in the evenings, although it's digital art. Nothing wrong with that of course, and it's much more convenient when the lighting's rubbish indoors at night. But I need to make more of a concerted effort to get on with watercolour and traditional artwork. Just because I like it, too, not because it's better in any way!

A recent sketch, playing with the symmetry tool in Procreate (software for ipad)

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I've done a bit of cleaning up in this room. Recently my parents have been organising their own belongings, and whenever they visit they bring a bunch of my old stuff with them which I had left with them over the years, between houses and towns and so on. A lot of sketchbooks, art supplies, some wool fleece, metal etching plates which have been drawn on... So bit by bit when I have the time I process this stuff and see what to keep, give away, recycle, or (last resort) bin. I don't think I've thrown much if anything in the bin yet. Lucky for me, sheep fleece is compostable and arty paper and such is recyclable.

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I couldn't sleep last night and spent some time thinking about wanting to write a mundane fantasy story about how a nation deals with immigration in a way that is kind to people. We'll see if anything materialises.

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At work we're working on setting goals for the year and mine is to do a bit more work in-engine.

[Game engine - for non game development people - the software used to make games!]

This might mean some coding which is both exciting and intimidating! I want to make a very simple prototype of a doll making game (I used to play on these websites in the early 2000s and also did my own pixel art dolls too) and also I'd love to make some sort of recipe storing thing that I could use for making meal plans or picking recipes. I know all these exist already but I want to make my version 😆

I have been making small inroads towards the doll maker project, trying to explore what kind of style 'base body' I want to use (the body onto which we would put clothes, hair, etc). And again I come across the feeling that art directing yourself is a skill in itself that needs practice! By this I mean choosing a style that feels right (in terms of mood) and is appropriate for the type of thing I'm making, and within scope (what level of quality/complexity should I aim for). The experiments continue, and perhaps I'll share the sketches I've done so far in a separate post!

a monday

Hi all,

I come to you from one of the first Mondays where I have a few hours free time, as O has a few hours of nursery in the morning. It still manages to be a stressful time (at least the beginning) as O still hasn't gotten used to the new nursery so gets upset when we leave her there... But I'm gradually becoming more able to get things done from my to do list. Annoyingly there are still lots of mundane, bureaucratic type things that need doing but we're getting there. I did spend some time doing some drawing and pixel art too!

Now it's post nursery, post lunch and I just walked her to sleep so thought I'd write a little update.

I've been making good on my small goal to play more video games this year and had a good amount of time going through Hades 1 pre Christmas and then have put in a bunch of hours into Hades 2 since then. A modest amount compared to most gamers but pretty good for me!

I've been sketching and pixel arting as I mentioned and honestly have been disillusioned with my own abilities, having looked back on my work from the pandemic and earlier, it's so bad! And luckily there's been improvement since but with clearer eyes I can still see areas that could do with improvement. Yet then I wonder, what for? Is it so I can use my art in ceramics? Do better at my job? Or do something in drawing outside of work? I haven't worked it out yet. Of course it would be good for my work, but I don't think that's a strong enough motivator for a long term art practice. 

I'll continue to mull it over... At some point I'll post about my ceramic progress, which also happens to be underwhelming; maybe it's just the season I'm in! Anyway, a sketch below... I had to concentrate a lot on it and it took a bunch of brain power. A lot of resistance while working on it!

Image reference: Maisie Delaney

back at it 🛞🎡

It's the new year 🎊 and it's been an absolute mess already geopolitically, hasn't it?

Aside from that I just wanted to pop by and show that I got back on the pottery wheel yesterday! Questionable pots but I'm happy to have gotten to it and had better luck with centering this time. My centering is still not great and to be honest I'm sure my work wasn't fully centered most of the time, but it's better than it was. 

I'm hoping to do more this year but we'll see if sickness at home allows! Last November and December were dicey. 

quick art, knit and pot update

Edited to add: I think I accidentally published this really late after having written this!

I've done some drawings!

... I can't find all the photos on my phone but here are some...

... And my knitting, I've almost finished an autumnal jumper - just in time for it to no longer be autumn! I'm working on the bottom hem ribbing and then just have the neckline and weaving in ends to do.

Lastly, a quick pottery update. My little guy survived two trips to the kiln!

Secondly, I managed to sculpt on another bust and made a face I was happy with:

And promptly knocked the bust over and smashed in the nose and mouth! So I'll have to go back and redo the face 😭

That's my speedy update. For folks who celebrate during December and new year, have a lovely time (same to those who don't).

actual goals for 2026? 🤔

I had dreams of writing this blog post about my 2026 goals while O fell asleep but eczema itching has scuppered that plan. Perhaps a reminder to not place too much expectation around goals!

A little while later:

Ok, I do still want to make a sort of loose goal system for 2026 which centres around me figuring out what I want from life and my job...

My primary goal:

Improve in drawing/painting

A simple goal, probably a little broad, but to elaborate, I want to get more comfortable with drawing and painting again; I plan to do so through continuing with a regular art practice (somewhat of a fail lately because of illness in the family and big deadlines at work). I want to draw more from reference, the usual thing. No pressure to define any conceptual (like own IPs/universes/stories) or stylistic things, just focus on getting back into the swing of things and importantly having fun. 

Secondary goal:

General learning in game development

This is even less pressure. Just maybe do some designing of little games to exercise that muscle again, maybe even try to make some tiny tiny projects in game engines (very simple ones). Maybe watch some more game dev documentaries (no clip documentaries), read a game dev book, keep up with industry news. Just rounding out my skills if I can.

Casual goals:

No pressure at all to do these, but they're fun ones so I think they'll be easy to find momentum for. 

Play more games

This helps to inform my game dev and general industry knowledge. We refer to a lot of different games in our research when making our own stuff at work so having good background knowledge certainly helps. I'm also including board games/physical games/TTRPGs here!

Make more pots

- and hopefully get better just from continuing. Not much to say here, I just want to keep going and make gradual improvements without any sort of time pressure. 

Stuff that I want to keep ticking away but without any pressure or expectation

1. Japanese lessons

2. Using up my yarn and fibre stash in textile projects

littler update

Just stopping by again for a quick update, since I'm trapped under a sick toddler and don't know what else to do. 

November has been a brutal month with the little one getting hand foot and mouth (different from foot and mouth that livestock get!) along with other ailments. Last week we thought we'd turned the corner but she's now picked up a viral infection and given it to me, her dad and both my parents! On top of this, I have a big deadline at work coming up which I have been stressing about since the end of October too... Having to take time off for my or little one's sickness is squeezing it even more. 

But anyway, this is also an art and craft blog so here's some pictures. This is a recent sketch I started of Ariana Grande. I don't listen to her music at all but I like the character designs in Wicked (which I have also not seen haha) so I figured might as well sketch from that. Doesn't necessarily look like her but I like the result and enjoyed working on it. Done a bit more on it since but nothing notable to show. May do more on it later. 

Here's a couple photos of the 'kintsugi' project which we did in a workshop at the local clay studio. It's in quotation marks as it was discussed in class that we were using epoxy glue and mica whereas traditionally many layers of lacquer would be used. 

Anyway, that's my little update. I'll see if I can nap too with little one now.

little update

Hello friends 👋 

Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately, work has been busier than usual and I have been continuing pots but a bit less frequently - as we have also been hit with illness at home for the past couple of weeks.

I'm doing ok with my end of year goals, I finished the baby hats and my friend's mittens, plus finished off my shawl. I have started another pair of mittens, this time toddler sized, for little one this winter. Hopefully she will wear my knitted items this time!

Here's the first iteration, I started over though with bigger needles to make it a bit fatter width wise so there's more finger space.

Pots wise, I'm still finding centering the hardest aspect of pottery. The left one is very wonky haha but I'm happy with the right hand bowl that I made. 

I have a few more pots getting fired soon hopefully, looking forward to testing out more glazing. I have made enough pots for close family to get some festive gifts and am trying to get a few more sorted out.