You're just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird

But at least the lilacs and violets are happy!

There was also a double rainbow a while ago. :3

I've also been preparing to start a garden for the first time, pretty excited about it! I've got some fence container-things set up in my backyard, filled with fresh potting soil and some seeds ready. I've been talking to a coworker about it; apparently, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans are good starter plants that basically grow themselves. I also have a pack of red strawberry popcorn that I bought on a whim a year or so ago that I'm hoping will still be viable. 

(crossposted to common_nature)

Howdy! Happy Three Weeks For Dreamwidth! I've been meaning to participate in this the last couple of years, but kept forgetting, oops. I do have a bit of a stockpile of ideas for future posts, though -- mostly journaling, questionnaires, and / or casual crafty-stuff. So, let's jump into it....

Earlier today, I met up with a friend who I haven't seen in a long time! We went to a cafe with outdoor sitting right by the river and just sat there for like six hours catching up, coloring, and talking about art supplies. She brought a full backpack of various things that she let me try out, including some Derwent Inktense pencils I've been eyeing for a while! I think I will end up getting them, after all; they were really nice to use and I've just really been wanting to get a set of watercolor pencils for a while now. I also just really appreciated being able to nerd out over art with someone IRL; no one else I know really understands: "Paper is paper and a crayon is a crayon. What's the difference?" Oh! and I ended up talking to her about Dreamwidth, also; she apparently was really big into LiveJournal back in the day, but had never heard of DW, so maybe now she'll check it out! Overall, just a very relaxing, fun day! ^^

Speaking of art, the piece I was coloring was very meditative to make but not necessarily the most interesting to show, I don't think... I did finish a little painting yesterday, though, that I wanted to share!

I constantly think about the "Sailor Moon color palette" and the way background elements kinda melt into the fog and I've done several paintings "in this style," but I've never actually done a proper study of it. This painting is based off a random screenshot I found online. I would also really like to keep practicing how to achieve that dreamy / foggy look and how to simplify colors and shadows and whatnot, so I might do a couple more of these soon!

This isn't necessarily a straight forward study, though. I bought some neon acrylic inks recently, so I wanted to take them out for a spin... I think I definitely should water them down in the future rather than using them straight out of the bottle; it's a bit much, rip. I am still kinda fond of the neon purple tree, though, but yeah, more practice & experimenting needed! Also, I bought some masking fluid a long time ago and only just now tried it out here... very messily, but it does work nicely!

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Letssee, what else?... I also signed up for a couple of events here on Dreamwidth / Ao3 a while ago:

• the Worldbuilding Exchange
• and Everything is Femslash Exchange

but both of those have quite a while to go before they're revealed (May 29th & June 20th, respectively). I already submitted my story for the first one but can't talk about it, obviously. ^^

I think I'll stop there for now; see you tomorrow (hopefully)!! ^^