Pixie (rightfully) doesn't like being in her tiny cage, and she came with clipped wings, so I made her a ladder to go from her cage to the floor. Now when she flies down she can go back inside when she wants, making it easier for her to explore while I sketch. She gets a larger cage Fri, when the boys get their larger cage delivered. Then she will get the one they are in all to herself, while I build an aviary. Also attached is a pic of her starting to realize I will spoil her as best I can.

Some ants thought Tyche looked like a lovely pot to move into for a prosperous home. So, last night I put her out in the storm, hoping the rain would chase the colony away. Luckily, that worked for most of them, and the soil was loose enough to gently shake from the roots. I was fortunate enough to not get bitten.

I had a bit of serendipity and she already had multiple root systems, so I now have a couple of babies in water :).

Pixie's rooftop playground. I can hang treats on the twigs as well. She has already voluntarily come out of the cage and explored close to me (but not too close). She is far less afraid, she came up and tapped the glass when we touched it at the store. As I type, she has come out of the cage and is exploring the top. She'll teach the others to be brave :).

Looks like they're going to be Wisp, as in will-o'-the-wisp. I think the color is violet dilute? Not seeing a lot of blue on that nose, so possibly a hen, but it's still too early to tell for sure. They're so beautiful :). Poor Joe looked annoyed when I asked for a bird within 30 seconds of entering the store, but he had already promised me a larger cage for the probably boys, leaving a whole cage open for might be hens. That leaves a few months before a larger aviary needs to be built!

I was planning a pic of kiddo's two birds Sunny and Sky, when we swung by a pet store and suddenly I need to replan my sketches.

They may end up Cloud, Bloom, or Bubbles.If male, my flock is complete. If female, I breed. I promised Joe no more bird purchases and it's up to fate now.

I have drawings and samples of color palettes and wheels pinned to my wall, I have a drawing of mine printed on my purse (fly on a flytrap), I've had entire conversations with the kid about how I've been drawing since I was her age, and my desk is full of art supplies, but it was THIS page in my sketchbook that prompted my daughter to say, "Oh. I didn't realize you were an artist."

Fuzzy cute spiders. Show more

P.S. Giant Hogsweed will remove your ability to handle being outside in the sun without becoming instantly covered in blisters from UV lighting for four years, in case you ever thought plants weren't trying to get revenge.

dryadintheelm.wordpress.com/wi

*snort* I love the internet. Not only is my old "cooking video" still up, the whole blog is still there. I only bought Bob the replica skull a couple of years ago, forgot there was once a Bob who was a lower quality Halloween decoration lost in a move several years before. Here are two drawings titled "Bob" about a decade apart. (Yes, all skulls are Bob.)

Oh. If you want to tell what's poison ivy and oak a little better, here's the page Bob the elder is from.
dryadintheelm.wordpress.com/wi

In today's episode of "I grow weeds. No, not weed, weeds", last year I found all purple and all white violets from areas further away (our neighborhood has half and half on the petals) and brought them into the yard. Then Romeo The Handful destroyed that garden bed while delighting in shredding my peas to find nummies. Thankfully though, the violet's exploding seed pods did their thing, just dug these out of the cracks on my driveway. I'll trim off the leaves and plant the rhizomes indoors :).

Browsing old photos today, decided to show you why Judith Hindle is such a popular pitcher plant cultivar. As hardy as she is beautiful, she's survived many gardening mishaps and setbacks.

Don't know if doing my own screen printing is feasible, but I have an idea. Next time spending cash comes my way, I'm getting a few Redbubble accessories and learning to braid a scarf into my hair.That's flytrap digestive glands under a microscope. Found a blue paisley tunic to wear with black yoga pants and any of my black flowing vest things. Then I'll go around to local shops and ask if I ordered small batch printing if they'd let me sell things on consignment. Even if not, I'll feel pretty.

Still not sure if I want to get into silk screening, but I sure have had fun playing with the possibilities.

Lucky clover patch is in bloom. Also taking off, it only had few leaves a couple of weeks ago. Now it has about a dozen four leaf clovers and half a dozen five leaf clovers. Also, check out my fancy exotic plant collection. This shelf has one sundew and a selection of weeds. Okay, the dandelion is a pink flowering subspecies from Asia, but it still tickles me.

I've been sketching loosely and then putting ink over it so that I could lift out kind of clunky linework, given that I don't have equipment and could only print on Redbubble stuff. I just lightened this to redo in another pencil though, with soft shadows. I think I might be able to get detail on a pillow-case like cloth, put this on a messenger bag maybe. Anyway, off to go draw the exact same thing I just drew.

Whelp, Joe is coming into town next weekend, the table is buried in gardening and bird toy making stuff, the floors are a wreck, and I totally intend to spend the next few days trapped in my room, ignoring the world while I spend quality time with Bob the skull. This one keeps making me giggle when I pull back for an overall look. Already setting up the basic shapes on the real drawing. This will totally be part of my wall pattern.

Thinking seriously about the wall design I've wanted to do since forever (that's why my art is scattered with repeating tiles). I'm realizing I can also take the same designs and learn screen printing. I admit, my Redbubble store is because I want my own art on my own stuff 'cause Carly Simon sings to me, but their stuff not what I'm looking for. That said, I'm going to buy this on a sticker, because they do seem good for that. Then I might look into if it's worth the investment to screen print.

Show more

Gemma Sarracenia

CounterSocial is the first Social Network Platform to take a zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts and trolls who are weaponizing OUR social media platforms and freedoms to engage in influence operations against us. And we're here to counter it.