Thesathei’s Melange

She/her. Recently got back into drawing, wanted a spot to post and encourage myself to keep at it. Mostly my doodles but also other creative interests, music, food etc. Enjoy 😊

[thesathei]

Welcome

She/her. After years of not drawing, not even doodling really, I decided to get back into art. To keep things neat I opted for digital art since I already had an iPad 😊. I created this blog as an incentive to keep up my “art journey”, while I don’t draw every day, the blog gives me a goal of not giving up.

Why melange? Because I want to post a variety of artistic interests, from visual art to music, and even food, since cooking can be an art.

I try to tag everything as appropriately as I can. Everything I draw is tagged Thesasei’s art, anything not a tutorial I also tag my art. My cooking is under Thesathei cooks and music/theatre is mostly under music. My dabbles in fan art are tagged fanart.

I started with Procreate on an iPad with the Apple Pencil, but since 2026 I am also learning to use Rebelle Pro 8 (all pieces tagged by program used.)

I’m doing this for fun and my own enjoyment, I post mostly in chronological order with a few exceptions (Inktober.) I hope others can also enjoy my art adventures.

[thesathei]

Grass on the Beach

Some tufts of grass growing in the sand.

Used the Manero brushes and one of my many photos.

[thesathei]

Budini di Riso

It’s been quite a lot of years since the last trip to Italy, but a while back I had a craving for some pastries we’d eaten there. I dug around the internet and found a few recipes that looked authentic and decided to try my hand at making them.

I made some budini di riso. Not too bad, but if/when I try again I need to adjust or find a different version to make the rice filling less dry. It wasn’t bad, but it should have been creamier. The pastry on the other hand, it wasn’t what I remember eating at the Italian pastry shops. The recipe called for pasta frolla, but it just didn’t match my memories. Will definitely have to find a different version.

Even if not a 100% match, it was fun making them and the taste itself was fine. 😊

[thesathei]

Young Eye, Older Eye

A bit of basic eye practice, did a couple of quick sketches to brush up on some basic anatomy. Drawing eyes on their own isn’t too bad, I seem to have problems combining them into the face as a whole 😁

Used the Manero pencils.

[thesathei]

Lily on a Pond

A lily flower and lily pad in oils.

Used the Manero brushes and one of my photos.

[thesathei]

New Program and New Brush Tests

I got a new art program for Christmas, a bit more “complicated” than Procreate so I’ve been a little intimidated and taking it slow. Finally opened it up with a video tutorial on the side and just tried out some brush strokes.

Rebelle 8 oils, impasto, watercolour and metallic brushes. Turns out it comes with just a few basic canvases, but I think I’ll try to learn the program and work with what I have before considering buying more. For now I’m going to concentrate on getting a handle on where everything is and how it generally works, not going to worry about coming up with perfect paintings 🖼️ 😁

[thesathei]

Pink Magnolia

A pink magnolia bloom in pastels. Managed a few pictures before the nearby tree’s flowers wilted. 🌺

Used the Manero pastels.

[thesathei]

A Dramatic Sky

A walk in the park on a cloudy day, practicing a dramatic sky and clouds in oils.

Used the Manero brushes. And my photo as a quick reference. Decently close, I think 😊

[thesathei]

Cosi Fan Tutte 🎶

The second opera of the season was Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. I don’t think I had been this one before, so it was nice to see something new.

[thesathei]

More Stippling Tests

Going through the various brushes I’ve accumulated and realized I actually had one stippling brush. It was in the Art with Flo batch I downloaded ages ago. Gave this one a try with another vase, just to keep things similar 😊

[thesathei]

Brush and Style Tests - Stippling

I’ve been curious about pointillism and had a look at what brushes might be good to try. One thing about digital, you don’t necessarily have to draw each point separately, not sure I have the patience for that! 😁

According to google, pointillism is mostly coloured dots, while stippling is black and white. Started with stippling since I’m only at the testing/experimental stage. Was looking through the new 5.4 update brushes in Procreate and came across the ragged lane brush in the comics section. It looked like it had some potential, so I drew a quick vase to try it out.

[thesathei]

Pretty Spring Flowers

A bit more watercolour practice, a common snowdrop. Used the Manero brushes and one of my many flower pictures.

[thesathei]

Quick Doodles

Well, I’ll be the first to admit, it doesn’t look anything like him, but I tried 😊. A not very good attempt at Cheng Yi as Wangquan Fu Gui from Sword and Beloved. Still, better to try than not to try 😁

Used the Manero pencils.

[thesathei]

Soup 🥣

Sticking to the theme of food, a bowl of soup. A carrot soup, I think, maybe squash 😊

I like to take pictures of my food, not all the time, but a bunch. I don’t really do much with the photos, but occasionally they are useful as references. 😊 Used the Manero pastels.

[thesathei]

Onion, a Red Onion 🧅

A bit more watercolour practice. This time I tried an onion.

[thesathei]

Pink Pansy

After the cherry tutorial I tried a quick watercolour painting on my own. Thought flowers are always a good option. Didn’t do all the fancy alpha locks and clip masks, still, I think it came out okay 😊

Used the Manero watercolour brushes and one of my many flower pictures 🌺

[thesathei]

Happy Easter

We kept it simple, just had a nice, family lunch. I also kept it relatively simple in the cooking department, I was a bit tired for fancy, multi step recipes 😊. On the menu, a small charcuterie platter and slow cooked lamb in red wine with a side of mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. We did serve a traditional egg and then I bought the colomba for dessert. Finished off with an espresso ☕️

Had a nice walk around the neighbourhood and so ends Easter 2026.