I have – against all odds, IMHO – reached HOUR TWENTY on this project. One fifth of the way done! Perhaps I have a chance of seeing it through! Or not. 80 hours is still a Very Long Way To Go. I’ve been working my way through more basic shapes and shading, moving slowly into one-point perspective. Because I’m determined to do it the hard way, or…honestly, it’s more that I’m trying to LEARN things that I’ve only half-assedly learned in the past, but anyway. Point is, I’m kind of…
Those of you who follow me on Bluesky may have seen that I recently discovered Russian (which is to say, Crimean but it was a Russian territory at the time) painter Ivan Aivazovsky. I may never recover. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water done like he does it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt an artist loved water as much as I feel he must have. It’s so incredible I could vomit. This particular piece is held privately, which is a shame, but there’s a museum in Feodosiya, Ukraine…
Recent Reads: A HONEYMOON OF GRAVE CONSEQUENCE by Stephanie Burgis – this is absolutely charming. I read an advance copy of this second in a series of novellas about Lord Riven, Vampire, and Lady Riven, Scholar, whose situationship we’re introduced to in A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD CONVENIENCE and continues on now (and hopefully for quite some time after this!). I liked MARRIAGE very much, and HONEYMOON is better: it’s nearly twice as long, and the length helps the story to feel more complete within itself (my only problem with MARRIAGE…
I know this will come as a surprise to many of you, but I am somewhat competitive by nature. To wit: I’ve been moaning for years about needing to get back to swimming. Parenting made it hard, and as that’s eased up some, I suffered a shoulder injury which has now been largely dealt with, but have still been faced with the fundamental difficulty of getting to the pool. We don’t own a car, which means walking or biking to the gym and it’s an hour+ walk from home which…
WELL. In my absence 2 weeks ago, the crew went out to the Evil Overlord’s plantation, where things were going well until they very suddenly weren’t (apparently there was a massive Disguise failure, among other things), and they ended the session with the Evil Overlord ritually killing himself so he could rise again at a time of his own convienence, while also cursing Caliope (whose name, it turns out, is spelled that way, and not how I’ve been spelling it all along) to die within a month if we leave…