As 2024 draws to a close, I am reviewing this past New Year's resolutions & trying to figure out what my resolutions will be for 2025. Have you made any resolutions for 2025? Every year since 2015 I have made the same New Years’ resolution: to make better choices than last year. It’s pretty easy to stick to while allowing for slow, incremental change that I can sustain over time. In 2024 I want to add more concrete, specific goals when it comes to art & so I picked five. Here they are, listed in what I expected to be in order from least to most challenging.

What Were My 2024 Resolutions?

Goal 1: Start An Art Challenge Goal 2: Feature More Artists in my Blog Goal 3: Expand My Shop Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration

How Well Did I Do?

Goal 1: Start running an art challenge Success! I've been running #KWPrompts all year, and many of you lovely people have joined me! I get so happy when I see the art you all post. The theme as of this posting is #WinterTime so please join us!

Goal 2: Feature More Artists in my blog Fail. Featuring artists involves me doing a lot research into each individual artist, as well as of #DTIYS versions of their art. It is the most labor-intensive type of article I write & at a certain point this year I had to set it aside.

Goal 3: Improve My Shop Meh? I did get in the habit of updating the shop a little more frequently than I had been, but by no means as often as I should.

Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are Success. I do this all the time! But really, fail. This goal was about getting my picture book to the “dummy” stage, with pictures and everything, & I more or less abandoned that project when I got sick.

Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration Success? This was definitely the hardest goal for my agoraphobic ass- I wanted to leave the house & go to more movies, art exhibits, etc. While I ultimately could not afford to do this very much, I did manage to get myself out of the house to walk around outside taking pictures of flowers about once a month. Progress!

Overall: I did really well, until I got COVID in August. Ever since then I've been focused on recovery, & am only back to about 80% with serious bouts of exhaustion & brain fog really getting in the way of everything else. I did not have enough spoons already & COVID just made that worse. For example: I cooked a feast for Solstice on Saturday, which exhausted me so much I sat around in a fog all weekend. It was only on Monday night that I remembered I had to write this for Tuesday. Now instead of watercoloring my Simpsons drawing or inking my “Tomte with a battle axe” I'm trying to write a whole article before bed. Thanks, brain fog! 2025's art goals will be simpler so I can focus on my health.

What Will My 2025 Resolutions Be

Goal 1: Keep running an art challenge I have a brand new idea for an art challenge! It will be the same laid-back, 2 week long prompts, & I have plotted out all 26 challenges of 2025! Check back next week to find out more

Goal 2: Keep This blog simple I enjoy writing about all the arty things I learn. I am definitely going to keep posting here every Tuesday! But in the interest of good spoon allocation I'm going to stick to the more direct, shorter blogs I've been writing for the last few months.

Goal 3: Go For More Art Walks Wandering around my neighborhood taking pictures of cool plants is also health-focused, so it is like a 2 for 1 resolution!

We Take Care Of Us

That's it! The next few years are going to be even harder than the last few. Wear your masks & get your vaccines, friends! You do not want long COVID!

What Do You Think?

What were your resolutions this past year? What do next year's resolutions look like? Mastodon Bluesky

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt The #KWPrompts is #WinterTime for another week!

For reading all the way to the end, you get a SkiFree reference

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is WinterTime

Winter is Magic

It's the last #KWPrompts of 2024! I just had to pick Winter. Why? Because it's been a loooooong year, I'm out of spoons, & I'm interested in finding out just how much mileage I can get from using the white, unpainted paper as snow.

3 ghosts eating marshmallows during a blizzard

Share your winter art with us! Let's spend the next 2 weeks making terrific art Each challenge lasts 2 weeks from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #WinterTime & tag me @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It's finally cold enough to use my oven again! Do you know what this means? That's right; more bread art! I love making art, baking, & feeding people. I think bread art is almost too much fun, & my friends/family love to enjoy the results!

Which Bread Recipe Should I Use?

Whatever you want! I used Wolfe3D's pizza dough recipe (Bake 30ish minutes @ 400 F (205 c))! I have used the focaccia recipe from Joy of Cooking. I believe that a thick quickbread batter (like cornbread) would work, but I have not had time to test that idea. Don’t want to make any kind of bread dough? You don’t have to. Pick up a pre=made pizza dough at the supermarket & go wild!

It’s so easy!

Lots of different herbs & vegetables can be used for bread art. Experiment with whatever you’ve got! Just keep a few things in mind…

Think Thin, But Not Too Thin

Slice those veggies extremely thin. Anything too thin, like fennel fronds, needs to be packed tightly together because it will shrink quite a lot Ask me how I know

Stay Cool

Soak your cut veggies in ice water with a squeeze of lemon, drying thoroughly before you arrange them on your dough.

Use the Right Tools

A sharp knife makes your job much easier. You could also use a mandolin or vegetable peeler for those very thin slices. Cookie or biscuit cutters are great for punching out shapes!

Preparation is Key

Take your time & get all your veggies prepped, soaked, & drying on a clean dish towel before you start decorating.

Be Firm!

Poke your toppings into the dough firmly; I like to use a chopstick. If they are just sitting on top of the bread the design will explode & your thinner greens may burn, no matter how well you soaked them in ice water.

What Do You Think?

Will you make your own bread art? I hope so! I want to see what delicious art you make Mastodon Bluesky For more, click on #recipe

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #Turtle

Turtles Are Magic

1. Turtles bury their eggs in nests on beaches. As soon as the eggs hatch (roughly 2 months later), the hatchlings dig out of their nest. This process generally takes a few days. Then all the tiny turtles rush down to the water & out into the open ocean.
2. The temperature in the nest has a huge effect on sea turtles. Cooler incubation temperatures produce male hatchlings and warmer incubation temperatures produce female hatchlings. Temperatures that fluctuate between the two extremes will produce a mix of male and female hatchlings.
3. Turtles were around more than 200 million years ago – they lived alongside dinosaurs.
4. These days, scientists recognize seven species of marine turtle: Hawksbill, Green Turtle, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Olive Ridley, Green Flatback, & Kemp's Ridley. Six of these are officially threatened with extinction. It is assumed the Green Flatback is also threatened, but they are incredibly reclusive. There's simply not enough information on the flatback to know how at risk they are.
5. Marine turtle species vary greatly in size. The smallest, Kemp’s ridley, measures around 27 inches (70cm) long and weighs up to 88 lbs (40kg). The largest, the leatherback, can reach up to 70 inches (180cm) long and weigh 1100 lbs (500kg).
6. Leatherback turtles are soft-shelled turtles. All other sea turtles have hard shells.
7. The Green Sea Turtle is the largest of all the hard-shelled sea turtles. Many different turtles have green shells or skin, but Green Turtles are called that because their diet of sea grass & algae actually turns their body fat green.
8. When sea turtles are actively swimming, they have to surface for air every few minutes. When they are floating calmly, they can stay underwater for hours! This is how they often sleep, among the rocks on the ocean floor.

You can make any type of turtle for this challenge. I will probably stick to sea turtles, since I am just a tiny bit completely obsessed with marine animals! Do you have a favorite turtle? Share it with us! Let's spend the next 2 weeks making terrific art

Each challenge lasts 2 weeks from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #Turtle & tag me @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, post something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

The current #KWPrompts is #Seabird. (Find more info about the KWPrompts art challenge here.) My drawings of penguins inspired someone to talk a bit of trash about puffins, saying “Nothing that looks that much like a penguin should be flying. It is morally wrong.” Well, I'm not here to judge morality. I'm here to infodump about puffins & recommend bird art books. Lucky you!

Puffins Are Magic

1. Puffins, like the penguins they resemble, are amazing swimmers
2. Puffins, unlike the penguins they resemble, are decent fliers. In spite of looking like roly-poly stuffed animals, they can reach up to 55 mph in the air.
3. Baby puffins are called pufflings & they are every bit as fluffy & cute as their name implies.
4. Puffin bills are serrated, allowing them to hold onto fish they have already caught while grabbing even more. This is why you so often see pictures of puffins with beaks full of fish
5. Puffin beaks literally grow a more colorful outer shell during mating season. Afterwards they shed their brightly decorative layers & spend the winter with plain orange beaks.

Good Books for Birds

1. Painting Birds: Expressive Watercolour Techniques by Sarah Stokes
2. The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws (I linked directly to the bird books, but the whole John Muir Laws website is worth checking out. It has lots of free drawing guides & tutorials.)
3. I have heard good things about Drawing Birds by Raymond Sheppard but the wait list at the library is so long I have not managed to read it yet.

#NotSponsored

Join the art challenge!

Use #KWPrompts #Seabird & tag @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Pick your social & post your art Mastodon Bluesky Cara

This art challenge lasts until next Tuesday. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture the whole time, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled Tuesday post next week, see you then!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #Seabird “Seabirds” are technically only one subset of marine birds, but all marine birds are welcome for this art challenge! Bring on your best penguins, albatross, petrels, gulls, pelicans, terns, puffins... Ever notice how many ocean birds begin with the letter P?

Did you know that water birds can go from swimming to flying without having to dry out first? Their feathers are coated in special oils and very dense, so they stay dry! (Pre-K book recommendation: Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin.)

If you had asked me this morning if I had a favorite seabird, I would have said “No”, & I would have been a damned liar. Looking through my old work shows that that the only kind I've ever painted is penguins. I guess they win by default! Do you have a favorite seabird? Share it with us! Let's spend the next 2 weeks making terrific art

Each challenge lasts 2 weeks from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #Seabird & tag me @KarinWanderer!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

The current #KWPrompts is #MarineMammals. (Find more info about the KWPrompts art challenge here.) I want to share some tricks & tips I've picked up after a week of drawing & painting these lovely animals.

Gray whales have no dorsal fin

1. Use a lot of reference photos! Marine animals are so different from terrestrial ones. This sounds obvious- a whale is different from a horse, of course! – but compare a polar bear to a black bear or a grizzly. The polar bear is more streamlined, since it is adapted to spending so much of its life in the water. If you try to draw a polar bear with a grizzly shape, it will look wrong.
2. Watch a lot of nature documentaries! Animals in the water are always moving. Even when they sleep in the water, they drift about

Narwhals change color as they age, from greyish to blackish to white.

This is as far as I had gotten a week ago. I've been a bit distracted since. On a lighter note-

Here are some of my favorite facts about marine mammals

1. Gray whales hold the migration record at nearly 14,000 miles, round trip. Other whales, like the narwhal, do not migrate at all.
2. Narwhals & beluga whales can breed. The hybrids are called “narlugas.”
3. Blue whales are so big, their tongues weigh as much as an elephant!
4. Dolphins have individual whistles that their friends & family recognize.

Porpoises always look like half-made dolphins.

The art challenge lasts 1 more week from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for whole time, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #MarineMammals & tag @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #MarineMammals Marine Mammals live in saltwater ecosystems but can't breathe underwater. They are a diverse group! There are aquatic animals, such as whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees & dugongs. There are also semi-aquatic animals, such as sea otters, walruses, seals & sea lions. Polar bears are technically pagophilic but they are also counted as marine mammals because they rely so heavily on oceans to survive.

There are dozens of species of dolphins: 38 kinds of oceanic dolphin & 4 kinds of river dolphin! You may not realize it, because lots of dolphin have misleading names like “pilot whale” or “killer whale.” The average Dolphin can stay underwater for 10 minutes. Pilot Whales live in pods of between a few dozen to a few thousand. People used to believe the entire pod followed one ‘pilot’, hence the name pilot whale.

Humpback Whales are enormous. Their tails can be as much as 18 feet wide! Each tail has a unique shape, size, & pattern of black/white markings. Humpback whales from the Southern hemisphere tend to have more white markings than Northern hemisphere ones.

I don't think I have a favorite marine mammal. Do you? Share it with us! Let's spend the next 2 weeks making terrific art

Each challenge lasts 2 weeks from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #MarineMammals & tag me @KarinWanderer

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

The current #KWPrompts is #Trees. (Find more info about the KWPrompts art challenge here.) Trees are a great art subject to have fun with, no matter how experienced you are or what your preferred art style is. I'm here to share some tricks & tips I've picked up after a week of drawing & painting these lovely plants.

1. Look at trees that have shed their leaves! Understanding how the branches grow will help you draw better trees, much like how studying bone/muscle structures helps you draw better animals.

2. Less can be more – don't draw every individual leaf on a a tree unless you are one of those artists whose style involves putting in an absurd level of detail & maybe not even then.

3. Even a fairly straight branch isn't really straight- they're all lumps & bumps & twists & turns. Don't just look at the branch, look at the space between branches (aka the negative space.)

4. Does your tree look a little too... deliberate? Hold your pencil, brush (etc) as far from the tip as you comfortably can. This loosens up the marks you make.

5. Avoid symmetry at all costs. The two sides of a tree are siblings, not twins. The only time they sides should be very similar is when the tree in question has been purposely shaped– & even then, the symmetry is rarely perfect.

6. Use the back end of your paintbrush, or anything pointy but not really sharp, to lightly indent the watercolor paper after painting it. The pigment settles into the dent, making it darker. This is one of my favorite ways to paint bark right now.

One Tip I Didn't Try

Old brushes are valuable! Mushing, crushing, even — yes — cutting an old brush can make it a great tool for painting foliage. I have only been painting for 2 years, so all my brushes are still my sweet little well-maintained tools & hurting them hurts me. As such I do not have it in me to mangle my brushes. I did not try this tip, but I saw it repeated so many times it is worth mentioning. I have very cheap dollar store brushes somewhere but could not find/mutilate them in time to write this. When I try this tip in the future, be sure I will come back here to write about it!

Got Any Trees?

Pass them this way! The art challenge lasts 1 more week from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for whole time, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want.

Use #KWPrompts #Trees & tag me @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt! The new #KWPrompts is #Trees Read about how to draw & paint trees in my article “In The Pines”

Did you know that most tree species are only endemic to a single country, so you have to look really hard to find new ones? Did you know there are at least 70,000 species of tree on Earth, but I can't give you a more specific number because we keep discovering more & more new trees? Every time I turn around it feels like I'm hearing about a new tree being discovered. Trees are some of my favorite plants, but I don't think I have a favorite tree. Do you? Share it with us! Let's spend the next 2 weeks making terrific art

Each challenge lasts 2 weeks from the day this post was made. You can submit a new picture every day, work on one picture for 2 weeks, or post pics randomly. This is the most laid-back art challenge on the internet, & that means you have plenty of time to make your art however you want. Just make sure you tag me @KarinWanderer so I see it!

Use #KWPrompts #Trees & tag me so I can see how you think!

Pick your social & post your art! Mastodon Bluesky Cara

All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.