THERE, WREN!

Hello! I'm Theren, an amiable art goblin (they/he). ❧ This is a personal blog, though I've posted art here in the past. Soon I will post art here again, (or start a sub-blog and reblog to this one, you all know the drill). No NFTs, no genAI. ❧ LazauskiArt.carrd.co | New INPRNT link for art prints! Nav Tags #My Art ❧

[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 :')

[bob-artist]

The honking technique on this Canada goose couple is absolutely unparalleled. I've never seen anyone else do it like that. Amazing.

(Their walking technique could use a little work, though.)

[morggo]

A Space Too Small

ink and watercolor sketch on hahnemühle cold press

approx. 3.5" x 3.5" on 6" x 6" paper

original for sale: ko-fi.com/s/e68a22b16c

prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/mxmo...

[changelingartistcollective]

Banner art by Heather R. Hitchman. (@heatherhitchmanart / linktree)

The Changelings' May 2026 Auction "Sea Change" is LIVE! This month's auction is all about the magic of the sea! Mermaids, Pirates, and Treasure galore. This is an artist-run endeavor! If you'd like to buy an original painting or drawing or know someone who might, please visit the auction and consider sharing the link.

See the auction album on our Page for all the details on how to bid.

[anasabdin]

Ephemeral [ 7 colors ]

[great-and-small]

Spotted an interesting behavior from this juvenile black-crowned night heron the other day. This appears to be a fish-luring technique called bill vibration that is more common in these low visibility waters where it’s hard to spot prey. The small movements at the surface of the water are thought to attract curious fish, which can then be snatched up by feel! No luck for the little guy on this occasion but probably good practice to get the move down at least.

[jayrockin]

Thank you everyone for helping make the first day of the Runaway to the Stars Kickstarter campaign a smashing success! Let's see how far we can take it this month! But please don't tell Talita what the book is about.

Runaway to the Stars

Alien, trans-species foster Talita has enough to deal with on the scrapworld of Dirtball. And the sly, crimey A.I. Bip isn't helping!

[kiwi]

anybody else feel that being human is like being a long-time syndicated cartoon character watching the world get more complex while your own design stays the same until youre incongruous with the reality around you??

[same-pic-rick-roll]

Do you ever see a complicated meme that expresses a very specific feeling, and while you wouldn’t have said it that way, it instantly resonates with you?

[victusinveritas]

[ciarasheart]

[image id: A poem titled “To my friends from LiveJournal” by Hayley DeRoche that reads,

“I still think about you

Wonder if you finally quit,

Do you still speak to your mom?

I remember when you went to Japan

How you swore you'd never forgive him.

I can't remember to take my meds but

I remember you wanted to live on a houseboat.

It's a strange intimacy,

all of us unspooling across decades of internet space

Like balls of yarn

leaving a trail behind us of everywhere

and everyone we've ever been

I hope you got your houseboat.

I hope you got everything.”

end id]

[riverwindphotography]

Calming Waters

(c) gif by riverwindphotography, March 2026

[serozvero]

[zuzartii]

I hope every single person who puts nice comments in tags under reblogged art knows that you you guys are the backbone of society. Being an artist online sucks these days, but here on tumblr I still get compliments under artworks that I made years ago. I hope you know every WOW and heart emoji and heartfelt compliment and funny comment you left in the tags is part of the reason I kept drawing all these years, in spite of everything that was going on.

I've been screenshotting the nice tags I get for years, and at this point it would be literal thousands of lines if I still had my old files. I love u tumblr users <333333333

[changelingartistcollective]

Banner art by Natee Himmapaan (linktree).

The March auction has launched. Check out our facebook page to place bids.

[drachenmagier]

This is for all the artists who plan to work on THAT personal art project today, that has long since lost its appeal and now just feels like nothing more than a tiresome obligation, but you feel compelled to finish it anyway:

It's ok trash it. Or put it on top of the wardrobe and forget about it till you move out.

You got my ok for it.

Do what brings you joy. Happy weekend!

[jetix]

Beetle bread, 2023-08-13

[arliedraws]

Dude, I almost cried yesterday because of AI. I can’t grade anymore without getting upset because of how much kids are using generative AI. How can I assess their ability to think critically when they aren't thinking critically? One kid admitted he used ChatGPT on an assignment, and he was like, "So? Is my answer right?" And I was like, first of all, whether or not it's "correct" is not the problem, and ALSO, it was INCORRECT. Like...majorly so!

They can’t fucking think for themselves (or rather, they’re losing the ability). This is not “ooooh technology scary” -- this is a fundamental, they can't fucking answer questions when I ask them to their faces. I fucking HATE when my colleagues roll their eyes and say, "Well, this is how we felt about phones! Just accept it!" First of all, it's different. And TWO! We're FUCKING FIGHTING PHONES every day! We've literally banned all cell phone use during class in my district because letting kids use their phones and not fighting their use in class FUCKED US OVER, and now we have to FIX IT.

Okay, but also, kudos to Tumblr, the weirdo website, and our anti-AI stance here because my weirdo queer kids are the ONLY ONES who are STAUNCHLY against gen AI; they're the only ones reliably not using AI. Dear children of Tumblr, thank you for being little weirdos who give a shit.

[grungekitty-77]

It was a slightly different situation, but it's translatable. This became a stable for me.

I asked my students if it's nice/helpful/good/acceptable/normal to help someone else lift something really heavy they were struggling with. Of course they agree! Then I asked them if it would still be (or explain to them that it isn't) nice/helpful/good/acceptable/normal to help someone lift heavy weights if they are working out at the gym. The answer is no! Because the POINT is that it's hard to do alone! That's why it makes you stronger! (Plus it gives the kids a very funny and therefore memorable visual for the concept. You can play into it and have a laugh with the kids at how weird someone would be if they did that!)

I often used "Don't lift their weights!" as a shorthand when a student was trying to give another kid the right answer.

Anyways, AI is lifting your weights for you. If you go to gym everyday and have a robot lift the weights for you, are you going to get any stronger? Even if you are going to the gym and "lifting weights" everyday? Even if the robot was really good at it? School is the gym for your mind. It's hard for the same reason gym weights are heavy.

[jayrockin]

This week on Runaway to the Stars: Finally, at long last, Talita gets a hug. End of chapter 8. Catch up with pages on runawaytothestars.com! Read ahead on Patreon!