🎨 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).
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 :)
Just finished my 47th Agatha Christie book and I’m so tired of her formula, I really need a break from this project. Decided to pivot to 20th century dystopias, starting with “We”, followed by “Brave New World”, finishing with “1984”. 📚
Didn’t get ANY sleep last night. A massive storm hit us, power went off, dogs in panic. I locked myself in my office with them, petting and calming music until early morning. Now the storm is gone, they are snoring and I’m here, disheveled, zombified, with a full day ahead. 🐶⛈️
Best Sunday ever, laughing and sweating and taking turns playing RAGNAROK VR2 with my husband, my mom and my mother-in-law!!! 🎸🎮🤘
Today I took my driving theory test and I PASSED! 🚗 I got my license 20+ years ago, but because of fear, never really drove. Now I’m 41 and finally ready to get over this. I want to take my dogs to nice places, to take turns driving on road trips, to visit the plant store on a whim!
I noticed my street’s library box was a bit sad, so this morning I left six books in it! 📚 Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers… Hope someone enjoys reading them as much as I did.
Thursday, September 11, 2025 →
I’ve been waiting months for this moment! Harvested carrots from my garden, grown from seeds! 🌱🥕
Thursday, September 11, 2025 →
Just watched Nosferatu (2024) and it’s one of the bottom 10 movies of my life. A solid 0,5/10 (generous half point for the effort). 🍿🤮
Today I signed up for Posteo and Addy! 🚀 Moving away after years using a single Gmail account for everything is overwhelming, but I’m excited to use my own domain + aliases (and support EU business)!
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 →
Migrated my mastodon account to my micro.blog fediverse account. It’s the perfect solution for me. I can still follow people and comment on things, without the social media/feed/like/repost aspects! 😍
DxO Photolab 9 came out today! 📷 I bought it within minutes of the release! I fell in love with v8 during the trial, it is miles ahead of LR. I’m so happy to be free from Adobe and supporting an European business!
I haven’t read a single book page in two months 😱