Today we had to say goodbye to Astro. I don’t know how to live without him. I’m devastated. I want him back. I want more time together. I love you, Astro. 🐶💔
notes
I got carried away by rediscovering my long-forgotten Lamy Safari. I ended up buying two more cheap fountain pens, a Pilot Kakuno and a Platinum Preppy. All with fine nibs. Now I don’t know what to do with all those pens. I guess I have to get back to journaling, then. 🖋️
Inked my Lamy Safari with Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black and it is so much better than the Lamy’s Amazonite I was using before. I thought I was too messy, smudging everything, fountain pens were not for me. Turns out it was the lamy ink! Now I’m finding excuses during the day to write by hand, lol. 🖋️
I’m really pleased with my book reading this past year. I had a goal of 10-12 books in 2025, no pressure… I have too many hobbies to commit deeply to anything. I managed to read 19!! 🤓📚
The more time I spend with my sketchbook, the less I want to be online. It’s all so boring, blogging, reddit, youtube, all of it. I want to be all the time in the real analog world, with paper and pen, my cameras, my piano, gardening, baking. I’m so tired of the internet, it’s not fun anymore.
And to think a week ago I could only draw stick figures! Of course, I’m using reference photos and following step by step instructions, but still! 🎨🖌️🤩
Worked on lesson 6 of SketchLoose free beginner’s course last night. And used a blow dryer for the 1st time to accelerate the process! 🎨🖌️
I am super loving this artistic side of me! 🎨🖌️ This is day five in Toby’s free beginner course, “A House in Japan”.
My Escoda Versátil watercolor brushes have arrived!! I got the round brushes in sizes 10, 6 and 2 to get started :) Looking forward to painting EVERYTHING I see!!! 🎨🖌️
Today on Draw With Me, Charles Dickens' Ghosts of Christmas! Happy Holidays! 🎄🎉🎨🖌️
🎨 My first watercolor! I love how my sketch turned out, but the paint part was hard. That sky looks terrible, LOL! I kept practicing with other reference photos and eventually figured out what I was doing wrong (a mix of bad brushes and too little water).
Today I joined a live Draw with Me with Danny Gregory on youtube, for the first time. The hour went by really fast, I had so much fun! Did my artwork with ink and crayola markers 😀🎨🖌️ #SBSDrawWithMe
Moving on from this. Colored pencils are beautiful, but slow! I think my next one will be a base of water markers with the pencils on top. 🎨🖌️
First day doing the free course over at Sketch Loose and my first urban sketch ever! Learned to simplify shapes and draw from a reference image 🎨🖌️😍 Can’t wait to learn about watercolors!
I have just discovered the concept of loose lines sketch and look at this! I have filled a page with vegetables, pens, a water bottle and two plant pots! I CAN DRAW! Stick figures, no more! 🖌️
Finished reading: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin 📚
One of the first dystopias, came out in 1924 and inspired many down the line. A totalitarian regime, literal glass walls, state-assigned lovers, where mathematical logic rules over individual behaviour. If you could only choose one, Freedom or Hapiness?
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 →
Finished this page with water markers! Next up: colored pencils! 🎨
I’ve been living for the past 15 years with a massive question mark: to blog in English or Portuguese? EN is my main language for everything, web, books, movies, work and even marriage! PT-BR is the language of my IRL family and friends, probably the only folks who want to read my stuff.
Did an allergy prick test yesterday. Tested positive to a ton of stuff – some known: birch pollen, dust mites; some suspected: almonds, cypress pollen; and some surprises: all other kinds of pollen, nuts, cats and DOGS!
Watched Alien: Earth 📺 Full of plot holes and nonsensical things, moderately entertaining. The best actor was definitely the octopus-eye, such a character! 👽🐙👁️
Already gave myself my own early xmas present: a Disney colour by number book and a box of crayola markers! 🎨🖍
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 →
No desire to blog this week, but just wanted to write for posterity: started driving lessons last week! Drove all over town and on the highway too! Anxious and insomniac AF over this, but also having fun.
My sourdough starter died! 🥖 With the travel to Italy and our mothers here trying to take over my kitchen, I ended up not baking for 3 weeks, and now Ryan is gone. Completely moldy, smelly and beyond salvation. RIP. 🪦
“Drawing… it is the best thing that I ever do. First of all because it gets me to be so silent. To not be blurting out what I think about this or feel about that. Second, I become an open observer, jotting down visual notes about something I see. And third, it puts me in the world of praise. To be looking upon an object and taking the time to sketch it is an innocent, unaggressive, and grounding act. It is where bliss resides. It is pure being…” — D. Price, The Moonlight Chronicles.
Watched yet another inspiring video on illustrated journals by Danny Gregory and signed up for his course! 🎨 Between this and the 2 books I read this past week, my drawings have improved a lot already. I went from stick figure to cute colored doodles in a week!
Watched: Murder Mindfully Season 1 📺
Loved it! I’m fully convinced about the power of mindfulness and will get back to my daily practice, as I have many great things to accomplish! 😂 Looking forward to season 2.
Finished reading: How to Make a Journal of Your Life by Dan Price 📚
Inspiring. He can definitely draw, though his style looks deceptively simple. Loved the mix of text, sketches, photos, plants… I feel like being even more fun and free in my own journal, and less worried about how it looks.
Finished reading: Draw Your Day by Samantha Dion Baker 📚
I saw this video by Danny Gregory on illustrated journals and now I’m on a quest to learn to draw and sketch so I can have an illustrated journal. This book was inspiring (even though I’m at stick figure level atm).
“There is a time to go long, a time to go short, and a time to go fishing.” — Jesse Livermore
Back from Rome with my mom and mother-in-law! Their first time in Italy, rightfully enjoyed with a little sightseeing, a good amount of pasta, some aperol, a ton of pizza, and a lot of wine. Didn’t write any weeknotes this week, will get back on track next Monday :)