Drawing Weird

Hi! Welcome to my little newsletter, it’s got a boatload of things I want to share with you.

Learning: Look at these weirdos. I recently took Ukranian artist Anastacia Sholik’s Skillshare class Not Boring Characters and it was so much fun. My favorite exercise was folding a piece of paper in half, drawing an exaggerated figure and being surprised by what I ended up with after I cut it out. It will break you out of your comfort zone and give you a result that is definitely not boring. I am very excited to apply the new skills from this class to a project that I’ve been fussing with.

Eating: I am really into low effort/high reward recipes and this Smitten Kitchen Confetti Cookie recipe definitely fits that criteria. They are super soft delicious sugar cookies rolled in sprinkles. I used my cookie scoop to make them the perfect size. Then I busted out a bunch of Christmas sprinkles and E poured them on a paper plate to roll the dough around in. It was the most fun we’ve had decorating cookies. The whole process was made and cleaned up in about an hour, and the cookies somehow got better the second day. It would be a great recipe to do with little kids.

Reading: I finished My Friends by Fredrik Blackman and it’s one of my favorite things I read this year. It’s about a painting, friendship (obviously), and growing up. I love a rag tag group of underdogs making their way in the world. It is one of my favorite types of stories. If you’re on the fence please watch this interview with the author on Jimmy Fallon, he is such a self deprecating delight. (thanks for the recommendation Tate!)

Artist: These customizable paintings from Kayla Plosz Antiel are very sweet.

As is this beautiful embroidery by Maira Kalman. (via A Few Things)

Newsletter: Helen C Stark has great advice on Wintering.

Parasocial Relationship: I am really in love with this Korean American family. The dad’s Saturday morning routine really won me over. He takes himself to McDonalds where he watches hours of Math lectures on his phone. The way the Mom takes care of herself and her family is incredible. And this video from their daughter about not being fluent in Korean and the communication barriers she has with her parents was really eye opening. They have a cookbook published by America’s Test Kitchen that is on my wishlist.

Podcasts: I’m deep in AI podcast land. The Last Invention is a really interesting broad survey of how folks within the tech industry are looking at AI. It talks about the good, the bad and the scary. And Suspicious Minds tells the story of folks who have fallen into AI induced psychosis which sounds so sad.

Buying: I bought myself some zines from artist Mogu Takahashi a few months ago. They came from Japan, so it took a long time. They are bringing me lots of joy and inspiration.

Thanks for being here! Check out some shirts! And prints!

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I’m so thankful for the folks who have chosen to support this little venture!