February 1 2026

My friend I bring you the most lovely news. I’ve remembered how to draw. I have no idea how long before I forget again and get swept up in some new unfamiliar mediums, but for right now I’ve come home to the good old pen and paper, and let me tell you, it feels great.

I started the new year with some photos from my Ireland trip, painting little depictions of my favorites. Between the 6 I published last month and these new ones here, I’ve just about gotten through one day of photos. I hope to hit the rest eventually, but day 2 was far more architectural and thus far more difficult to just slap down willy nilly. I’m so pleased with these landscapes. I’m thinking of printing them out to put up in my new cubicle.

I have a new cubicle because I moved offices as part of a promotion! I’m working much closer to home now and enjoying the new office much much more than my old one. I’m also back in training for the new position, which gives me lots of time for doodling. If I don’t give my hands something to do during those classes then I won’t end up retaining a word of what was said.

Starting with some simple poses that I pulled from fashion photos on pinterest. I always want to find a better source for pose references, but the further I move from monetizing my work the less I really care about that.

Then my partner started a campaign of Lancer (a ttrpg about piloting mechs) and I decided to teach myself how to draw robots so that I could make them some custom art. Mostly this means recreating the fun robot reference art I find. Starting with the basics.

Then mushing those shapes together in a more freeform way, trying to understand how to make a robot.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten there. Actually putting everything together is a neat challenge.

I also did a portrait of my partner’s actual character, the girl piloting the mech,

which was really exciting and satisfying. This really is going back to my roots, playing with markers, illustrating my friends' OCs floating on blank backgrounds.

And then this girly just for me, because breaking out the markers was so much fun.

There’s also been a bunch of hand sewing, but that’s all mending, nothing worth showing here. I spent about a week sick in bed with the flu. I read some very cool scifi. I spent a lot of time fretting about the state of the world. If I’m being honest I’ve mostly been fretting. But there’s been time for art in between the worry, and I’m grateful for that.

I hope we can all find time for joy between the worry.

Happy February, everyone.