BETTA-FISH @betta-fish-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Finally movin in w/ baes

rubber-skeletons-blog

Garnet

hailey-heaton

far rockaway

#it me

howilearnedtocope

3 types of self soothing thoughts

Validation - it’s ok that I hurt and want to feel better

Reassurance - I can handle this pain, even though it hurts and I don’t like it

Perspective taking: I’ve had bad days like this before, and my record of making it through them is 100%. I can also remember my better days, and know I’m not always hurting this much

Concept from Depressed and Anxious, which is hands down the best and most useful book on DBT skills I’ve ever seen. I highly recommend it!

#gouache #painting #art #beach

watersport5-deactivated20180924

“What’s wrong?”

bird-bum

MY HEART

2dshepard

*chu*

Frands

sunbadgerplants

Plant shopping? Consider some bird-friendly additions! Here’s a handy list:

(N =North American native!)

Plants with berries and nuts birds like (all are natives):

-American Dogwoods. -Elderberries -Serviceberry -Mulberries -Crabapples -Oaks -Eastern Red Cedar -Northern Bayberry -Nannyberry/Arrowood (viburnums) -Winterberry Hollies -Chokeberry

Dense shrubs and evergreens are great shelter plants for birds to hide from predators in.

Plants with seeds birds like:

-Sunflower -Echinacea (Coneflower). N -Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan) N -Liatris (Gayfeather) N -Solidago (Goldenrod) N -Zinnia -Eupatorium (Joe-Pye Weed) N -Marigold

Plants good for hummingbirds:

-Salvia -Fuchsia -Lobelia (Cardinal Flower) N -Penstemon (Beardtongue) -Agastache (Hummingbird Mint) -Aquilegia (Columbine) N -Heuchera (Coral Bells) N -Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) -Ajuga -Petunias -Cleome -Impatiens -Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker) -Lonicera sempervirens (Honeysuckle) N -Campsis Radicans (Trumpet Creeper) N -Monarda (Bee Balm) N

Don’t forget to provide a water source! Bird baths and fountains can be both a stylish and functional addition to the yard. Just remember not to make the water deeper than 2″. Birds also appreciate it if you put a rock in the bath that they can hop on.

Bird baths are just as important in the winter time, when birds need to drink, but water sources are often frozen over. Retail nature stores like Wild Birds Unlimited sell heaters that you can put in bird baths, or baths with built-in heaters. No, it will not create a birdy hot tub, but it will keep the water temperature above freezing, so animals can drink from it.

Want to feed birds but don’t have the yard to do it? Try hanging some feeders off of a deck, window or railing, or growing some flowers in pots or hanging baskets. Food doesn’t have to be limited to seed, either! Offering a dish with mealworms will bring bluebirds and wrens. Orange halves will attract tanagers and orioles. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice and chickadees love peanuts and suet.

Don’t have the space for trees? Bird houses can be attached to fence posts, poles, or can be mounted to the side of your house. Cavity nesters like wrens and bluebirds will appreciate the accommodations. Robins will often nest in flowering hanging baskets or other sheltered nooks.

A note about nectar feeders: stay away from food with red dyes! They are pointless and may even be harmful to the birds. Hummers will be equally attracted to feeders that are made from red, pink or purple materials. Also, once the temps get over 80 degrees, be sure to change the water every day so the sugar doesn’t ferment. If you don’t get a lot of hummers to your yard, save yourself some trouble and only fill your feeder up 1/3 or ½ of the way. You can also make a bunch of nectar ahead of time and store it in your fridge in a pitcher.

Bonus! Plants for bees and butterflies:

-Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) -Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium) N -Sedum (especially taller varieties like ‘Autumn Joy’ and ‘Autumn Fire’) -Scabiosa (Pincushion flower) -Yarrow -Salvia -Gaillardia -Alyssum -Buddleia (Butterfly bush) -Lavander -Liatris (gayfeather) N -Nasturtium -Solidago (Goldenrod) N

Host plants for butterflies (most, if not all, are native):

-Milkweed and Swamp milkweed -Dill, parsley and fennel -Willow -Sycamore -Chokeberry -Paw Paw -Alfalfa, clover, vetch -Aster -Baptisia (false Indigo) -Borage

Bee houses , butterfly houses, ladybug houses and bat houses are also a thing!

Feel free to add to this list! Anyone from outside the US want to share some good native plants for your birds and pollinators?

dearartdirector

How can I get the energy I need to work on my personal projects after a long and exhausting day at work? I mean, I get exhausted both physically and mentally with my current job and it's pretty much when I get home from work that I have the time to paint. What should I do?

Whew. This is a tough question, and a frequent one. The answer is very easy, but the implementation is one of the toughest things you’ll do.

First, let me give you a big hug. No, really, I swear, I’m sending you a hug right now, because I have been there. I fight this battle over and over and over again. And it’s a privileged problem, right? You have a job, where a lot of the people asking questions here are desperate for a job, any job, and if you have an art-related job, that’s even more precious! But those of us who have full time jobs know the burnout they can cause. When you’re working all day, it’s really hard to scrape the bottom of the well again when you get home. This can be draining at a job that isn’t fulfilling you with exactly what you want to do—but let me let you in on a little secret—it’s even MORE draining when you have your dream job, because you’re giving all your creativity to it, scraping the bottom of your barrel every day. And you feel even more guilty about complaining about it because everyone knows you have the coolest job ever and how dare you complain?

So technically the solution is easy. You just fucking make art. Any way you can. If you have to set an alarm every day to get up earlier, if you have to use your lunch break, if you keep a sketchbook in the toilet (I’ve seen this, I swear) you just do it. You give up the dream that you’ll squirrel away 4-5 hours at a time to paint. Instead you steal 30min of whatever kind of art you can whenever you can. You get good at taking sips of art instead of gulps. You force yourself to do it, just like any good habit you’re trying to form.

But you know this. Your question is how to get over the exhaustion. And in my experience the mental inertia is a lot more difficult than the physical exhaustion in being creative. Ready?

Stop making your personal art just another job. I know, it’s going to help you switch careers or get ahead in your art career. I know personal projects are more often what gets you noticed for commissions. I know you may have dreams of your side project becoming your main moneymaker one day. HOWEVER if that’s the only reason you’re doing it, then you’ve lost the point. You need to rewind back to the love that made you think of the project or the painting in the first place. The only thing that cuts through exhaustion is joy. The joy of a little kid begging to stay up later so they can keep playing. You need to find that place within you that’s free from pressure, free from expectations, free from future plans. You need to remind yourself that making art is way more fun and rewarding—and makes you feel better—than collapsing on the couch and watching TV.

You’re not making art because you should, or because you have to to achieve a future goal. You’re making art because you’re a goddamn artist and making art is what makes us feel fucking good. If you can’t find that place, and learn to summon it when you need to, then you need a different side project. Or maybe you need to let go of the dream of being an artist in exactly the way you think you want to be. Go back to that sense of play, and see what comes out of it. Forgive yourself for putting aside the future goals for a little while. A few months maybe. Maybe forever. Don’t worry about that now. Right now, you need to play, and find joy in the process again.

Staying in the moment, enjoying the process over the product, is the hardest lesson to learn in art, if not in life.

Good luck.

—Agent KillFee

P.S. You might think I was answering your question, but really I’m putting it here as a reminder to myself. Thank you for asking the question.