Art is cheaper than therapy

(though therapy's pretty good too)

[dewythicket]

Inktober days 19 & 20: PONYTAIL and BLUFF

In the ancient Chinese text, Classic of Mountains and Seas (山海经), it’s written that on one remote northeastern mountain, there lives a beast that has the face of a human, with a body resembling a large yellow swine, swinging a long reddish tail…and this beasts’ human face can cry like a human baby, luring into its slavering jaws unwitting victims concerned about some lost child.

And this creeped the living daylights outta me when I first read it, so of course I had to draw something about it 😂 go slay the beast, bluffing ponytailed monster-slayer!

[dewythicket]

Inktober days 17 & 18: SALTY and SCRAPE

[dewythicket]

Inktober days 15 & 16: ARMADILLO and FOWL

I actually forgot about posting my late inktober art for a while due to a busy school schedule 🙈 but better late than never, I guess

[dewythicket]

Inktober days 13 & 14: KIND and EMPTY

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Inktober days 11 & 12: EAGLE and FORGET

I actually forgot about posting my late inktober art for a while due to a busy school schedule 🙈 but better late than never, I guess

[dewythicket]

Inktober 2022 days 9 & 10: NEST and CRABBY

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Inktober days 7 & 8: TRIP & MATCH

Going on a trip in matching dresses plus a random fluffball tree x)

[dewythicket]

Inktober 2022 days 5 & 6: FLAME and BOUQUET

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Inktober 2022 days 3 & 4: BAT and SCALLOP

I swear there’s both a bat and a scallop in the picture x)

[dewythicket]

It’s been a while since I’ve been drawing due to either art block or school-related stress block, but I’ve decided to do inktober drawings again this october :D

First & second prompt: Gargoyle and Scurry

The gargoyle cat is too well fed to be tempted by the scurrying mouse x)

[dewythicket]

I think many of us go through that phase in adolescence when we spend a significant amount of time pretending to be the lost chosen one from a phantasmal otherworld, destined for a distinctive manifest destiny, probably involving dragons and magical swords and cursed jewelry...

It’s that phase when you’re too young to have really achieved anything significant in life to define yourself with, but old enough to be yearning to set yourself apart and consolidate your individuality.

Yet in reality being “special” and “different” from everyone else around you usually just results in ostracism…it’s a strange and complicated dance between struggling to stand out and compromising to fit in...both inside looking out and outside looking in.

I guess we’ll gradually find the middle-ground, the place where a line of balance can be drawn, but meanwhile...It’s so easy to lose yourself on the way...

[dewythicket]

[dewythicket]

People hurt each other, but I guess most people hurt others because they’ve been hurt themselves…sometimes so long ago they don’t even remember how. But the wounds are still there, open and festering…and even with the memories muddied the pain remains.

It’s difficult to learn self-soothing as an adult if it was never taught as a child…if nobody ever showed you that everything would still be okay when something went wrong, that failure was not unforgivable, that even when you mess things up you’re still deserving of love and kindness…

But luckily, learning to self-soothe as an adult isn’t impossible…it takes time and effort, but gradually the part in pain can be healed…that child who was hurt at a vulnerable age can be soothed…and, hopefully, the world won’t seem so unsafe and unforgiving anymore 🌱

[dewythicket]

It’s great to be able to stay connected through social media...but when the whole world is available for comparison, I guess it creates distortions in the view of our own, much smaller worlds. Both in our apprehension and expectations of it...

And boy do I enjoy the irony of complaining about social media on social media x)

I recently watched The Social Dilemma, and it really gave another viewpoint to the issue...namely that being connected to the whole world as it is now is still an illusion on many levels...we are much more connected than before, yes, but ultimately still within our own bubbles...because even when all that information is so readily available, we don’t look at what we don’t want to see...and even when we do look...we don’t necessarily see things as they are, we see things as WE are.

[dewythicket]

My mom used to keep telling me that I should wear high heels ...👠 I don’t have anything against high heels in themselves...they’re pretty, they can make your legs look longer, and they can give you a few extra inches if you happen to be craving for some thinner air...sure, wearing them can hurt AF, but sometimes beauty just has to be suffered for, no?🤷‍♀️

What bothers me is the reason I was told to wear high heels: “because proper women are supposed to,”

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wearing high heels...but I do think there’s all kinds of wrong in telling anyone that it’s the only “right” thing to wear...that if you don’t wear the “right” thing, there’s something fundamentally wrong with you.

[dewythicket]

The world moves so fast these days...it feels painful to try and take any time out and “cultivate our own gardens”...🌱

But I need to ignore the world for a little while. I need to piece myself back together and continue growing if I ever wish to reach my full potential. We’ll never become who we want to be by remaining who we are...we must grow until our choices no more reflect our fears.

But putting the pieces back together will take time. Untangling all the threads will require patience, something of a dying virtue in a world where we’re so used to every answer being a quick google-search away.

I love the conveniences provided by the internet and modern technology, but sometimes it feels like it’s moving too fast for us to catch up...our own evolution is limited by our biology after all...

Still, I hope we can all have some time to take out of the world and cultivate our own gardens...🎋🌱💐because it won’t be too late to return when said gardens are blooming.

[dewythicket]