Bottled, for your consumption

Has keyboard. Will write for attention.

[creature-adjacent]

Carnivorous plants doin this is so funny to me

They don't wanna eat their pollinators :(

[questionablepastries]

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[nattousan]

*does a little jig*

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹

[nattousan]

aaaand another one bites the duck,

we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos

the 16th is looming in the distance so i'm trying to get thru these as quickly as i can so i can have as much time for the GBH as possible. i still need to do the names next to all of them so i've got about a week and a half to finish everything which is GREAT because i have adhd and nothing gets my ass in gear like a fuckin deadline, let me tell you

[nattousan]

power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,

the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis

and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.

Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp

[nattousan]

thanks for the reminder, kid

[nattousan]

at long last, we've reached the end...

Bird number 14 out of 14,

The Great blue heron, Ardea herodius

thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.

i'll see y'all soon :')

[doodlemancy]

hello fellow artists. google has fallen. pinterest/duckduckgo AI filters don't work. do not despair; here is a list i made of places to find reference images without having to sift through piles of worthless garbage. (for future editing convenience i am just linking my blog post on dreamwidth.)

✨ good places to find art reference that are not full of AI trash 🌈

[zanthiakhalaplace]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have been despairing as it is so hard now to find references and photos of succulents and other things for my designs!! T_T

[nn-ee-zz]

The passage of the seasons - Summer defeating Spring

Summer as blinding light, heatwaves, and fire

[joodlesofdoodles]

Happy Mother's Day to these two

[keydekyie]

"It would have been easier if you'd just said yes."

original

[rovermcfly]

rocky's crew dying from radiation exposure, something humans go to great lengths to prevent and are very scared of and ryland's crew dying in their "sleep" with nobody watching, something eridians go to great lengths to prevent and are very scared of. cool book that is easy to read through your tears.

[petitcroc]

love them so muchhh

[laxibbeb]

what if the first time elucien kiss lucien gets a nosebleed

[playcaroplay]

The all or nothing mentality of the ACOTAR fandom is wild to me. Is it controversial to say that Elains gonna have entanglements with both Azriel and Lucien? It’s absolutely going to be both. Does the endgame really matter when you know you’re going to get a love triangle regardless?

SJM has set up a fraught, regency style relationship with elriel. Loaded glances, passing touches, soft intakes of breath. Chained by court rules and decorum.The bonus chapter levels it up to a forbidden relationship. That shit is gonna be hot. I hate love triangles but let’s admit that as a baseline, the two of them finally shlorping will be satisfying.

Azriel is a tough character to work with because he’s… (to quote Haunting of Hill House) a clenched fist with hair. He probably has a rich inner life but he’s not outwardly emotive which makes him a flat character if you’re not in his head. I think SJM has kind of painted herself into a corner by making him so stoic.

The other side is that Lucien has been set up as a tragic hero and an underdog. He also is a good foil to Elains personality because he embodies all the behaviour that she has been brought up to believe to be improper. He’s intense and tricky and he’s at the centre of the political intrigue of the main plot line. He’s dealing with Spring, he’s the son of a high lord who is colluding with the next big bad. His bestie Vassa is a victim of big bad too. He is set up to step into his power and carve out a place that’s all his own. Outside of romance potential, it seems to me he is framed up to be a main character more than Azriel.

SJM is always using choice as a central thread to all her books. Female characters come into their power by taking control of their bodies, their sexuality, and their freedom to choose. I really hope that this idea is explored with Elain because she seems to cling to her humanity the most out of the three sisters, she seems to be stuck doing what everyone wants and is trying to find herself. It’s compelling for her to choose to stay with someone she’s stuck with and surrender herself to being Fae and all the weird magic bonds that come with it. Saying yes to Lucien feels like saying goodbye to her former self. On the other hand, throwing her fingers up at fae convention and shaboinking Azriel which causes wars is also badass. I am personally determined to enjoy whatever the fuck SJM gives us because I don’t want my enjoyment of the fandom to hinge on a pairing.

More than any endgame relationship I so badly want that pairing to be well earned in the book. I want ACOMF level of yearning. I want a minimum of fifty chapters of Elain taking baby steps towards the person she chooses. Because that journey is more satisfying to me than the end scene. That build up is what has me hooked to the books. EDGE ME, BABY.

[illyrianbuck]

well, go on and finish me (pt.2)

[illyrianbuck]

ok

[illyrianbuck]

@yourlazykitkat left this insane comment in one of my posts a couple of days ago…..

[illyrianbuck]

Az gets a promotion. Some take it better than others.

[snowkissedmonsters]

Willing sacrifice~

Part Two

[witchlingsandwyverns]

[bluegiragi]

posting this take on my tumblr too bc i stand by it

[natoraptor]

Dust Dancing on a Sunbeam

(2025)