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    <title>DTIYS &amp;mdash; Karin Wanderer Learns</title>
    <link>https://dotart.blog/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:DTIYS</link>
    <description>I use watercolor, ink, &amp; Krita to paint flora &amp; fauna &amp; fanart. Self-taught &amp; still learning; no AI/no ads.</description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 17:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
    <item>
      <title>Outside Is Frightful</title>
      <link>https://dotart.blog/karin-wanderer-learns/outside-is-frightful</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[As 2024 draws to a close, I am reviewing this past New Year&#39;s resolutions &amp; trying to figure out what my resolutions will be for 2025.&#xA;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 &amp; so I picked five. Here they are, listed in what I expected to be in order from least to most challenging.&#xA;What Were My 2024 Resolutions?&#xA;Goal 1: Start An Art Challenge&#xA;Goal 2: Feature More Artists in my Blog&#xA;Goal 3: Expand My Shop&#xA;Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are&#xA;Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration&#xA;&#xA;Watercolor of a hazy pine forest blanketed in snow. &#xA;&#xA;How Well Did I Do?&#xA;Goal 1: Start running an art challenge&#xA;Success! I&#39;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!&#xA;&#xA;Goal 2: Feature More Artists in my blog&#xA;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 &amp; at a certain point this year I had to set it aside. &#xA;&#xA;Goal 3: Improve My Shop&#xA;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.&#xA;&#xA;Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are&#xA;Success. I do this all the time! But really, fail. This goal was about getting my picture book to the &#34;dummy&#34; stage, with pictures and everything, &amp; I more or less abandoned that project when I got sick.&#xA;&#xA;Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration&#xA;Success? This was definitely the hardest goal for my agoraphobic ass- I wanted to leave the house &amp; 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!&#xA;&#xA;Overall: I did really well, until I got COVID in August. Ever since then I&#39;ve been focused on recovery, &amp; am only back to about 80% with serious bouts of exhaustion &amp; brain fog really getting in the way of everything else. I did not have enough spoons already &amp; 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 &#34;Tomte with a battle axe&#34; I&#39;m trying to write a whole article before bed. Thanks, brain fog! 2025&#39;s art goals will be simpler so I can focus on my health.&#xA;&#xA;Watercolor of a bright red house surrounded by pine trees, all covered in a thick blanket of snow. &#xA;&#xA;What Will My 2025 Resolutions Be&#xA;Goal 1: Keep running an art challenge&#xA;I have a brand new idea for an art challenge! It will be the same laid-back, 2 week long prompts, &amp; I have plotted out all 26 challenges of 2025! Check back next week to find out more&#xA;&#xA;Goal 2: Keep This blog simple&#xA;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&#39;m going to stick to the more direct, shorter blogs I&#39;ve been writing for the last few months.&#xA;&#xA;Goal 3: Go For More Art Walks&#xA;Wandering around my neighborhood taking pictures of cool plants is also health-focused, so it is like a 2 for 1 resolution!&#xA;&#xA;We Take Care Of Us&#xA;That&#39;s it! The next few years are going to be even harder than the last few. Wear your masks &amp; get your vaccines, friends! You do not want long COVID!&#xA;&#xA;What Do You Think?&#xA;What were your resolutions this past year? What do next year&#39;s resolutions look like?&#xA;Mastodon&#xA;Bluesky&#xA;&#xA;Walking In A Winter Wonderland&#xA;Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt&#xA;The #KWPrompts is #WinterTime for another week!&#xA;&#xA;Watercolor snowboarders &amp; skiers enjoy a perfectly clear day on a snow covered mountain. Far off near the top of the mountain, the Abominable Snowman from the classic game SkiFree has started chasing people! &#xA;For reading all the way to the end, you get a SkiFree reference&#xA;&#xA;Get my art on mugs &amp; vinyl stickers in my Shop!&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;Donate to support my works &amp; get cool perks on Ko-Fi &#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;#### Join us for #ArtABCs, the best art challenge on the internet!&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;Find me&#xD;&#xA; &#xD;&#xA;All pictures posted are my own work. &#xD;&#xA;All reviews are my own unpaid &amp; unsolicited opinions.]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As 2024 draws to a close, I am reviewing this past New Year&#39;s resolutions &amp; 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 &amp; so I picked five. Here they are, listed in what I expected to be in order from least to most challenging.</p>

<h3 id="what-were-my-2024-resolutions">What Were My 2024 Resolutions?</h3>

<p>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</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/113/703/071/973/760/543/original/5583149cd3f07416.png" alt="Watercolor of a hazy pine forest blanketed in snow."></p>

<h3 id="how-well-did-i-do">How Well Did I Do?</h3>

<p>Goal 1: Start running an art challenge
Success! I&#39;ve been running <a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:KWPrompts" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">KWPrompts</span></a> 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 <a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:WinterTime" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">WinterTime</span></a> so <a href="https://dotart.blog/karin-wanderer-learns/a-hazy-shade-of-winter" rel="nofollow">please join us!</a></p>

<p>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 <a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:DTIYS" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">DTIYS</span></a> versions of their art. It is the most labor-intensive type of article I write &amp; at a certain point this year I had to set it aside.</p>

<p>Goal 3: Improve My Shop
Meh? I did get in the habit of updating <a href="https://karinwandererart.creator-spring.com/" rel="nofollow">the shop</a> a little more frequently than I had been, but by no means as often as I should.</p>

<p>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, &amp; I more or less abandoned that project when I got sick.</p>

<p>Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration
Success? This was definitely the hardest goal for my agoraphobic ass- I wanted to leave the house &amp; 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!</p>

<p>Overall: I did really well, until I got COVID in August. Ever since then I&#39;ve been focused on recovery, &amp; am only back to about 80% with serious bouts of exhaustion &amp; brain fog really getting in the way of everything else. I did not have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory" rel="nofollow">enough spoons</a> already &amp; 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&#39;m trying to write a whole article before bed. Thanks, brain fog! 2025&#39;s art goals will be simpler so I can focus on my health.</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/113/691/719/697/571/960/original/313154b59293975d.png" alt="Watercolor of a bright red house surrounded by pine trees, all covered in a thick blanket of snow."></p>

<h4 id="what-will-my-2025-resolutions-be">What Will My 2025 Resolutions Be</h4>

<p>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, &amp; I have plotted out all 26 challenges of 2025! Check back next week to find out more</p>

<p>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&#39;m going to stick to the more direct, shorter blogs I&#39;ve been writing for the last few months.</p>

<p>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!</p>

<h4 id="we-take-care-of-us">We Take Care Of Us</h4>

<p>That&#39;s it! The next few years are going to be even harder than the last few. Wear your masks &amp; get your vaccines, friends! You do not want long COVID!</p>

<h3 id="what-do-you-think">What Do You Think?</h3>

<p>What were your resolutions this past year? What do next year&#39;s resolutions look like?
<a href="https://mastodon.art/@KarinWanderer" rel="nofollow">Mastodon</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/karinwanderer.bsky.social/" rel="nofollow">Bluesky</a></p>

<h1 id="walking-in-a-winter-wonderland">Walking In A Winter Wonderland</h1>

<p>Every 2 weeks I post a new art challenge prompt
The <a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:KWPrompts" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">KWPrompts</span></a> is <strong><a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:WinterTime" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">WinterTime</span></a></strong> for another week!</p>

<p><img src="https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/113/680/453/131/905/568/original/a99ff20c8b497672.png" alt="Watercolor snowboarders &amp; skiers enjoy a perfectly clear day on a snow covered mountain. Far off near the top of the mountain, the Abominable Snowman from the classic game SkiFree has started chasing people!">
<em>For reading all the way to the end, you get a SkiFree reference</em></p>

<h4 id="get-my-art-on-mugs-vinyl-stickers-in-my-shop-https-karinwandererart-creator-spring-com">Get my art on mugs &amp; vinyl stickers in my <a href="https://karinwandererart.creator-spring.com/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Shop</strong></a>!</h4>

<h4 id="donate-to-support-my-works-get-cool-perks-on-ko-fi-https-ko-fi-com-karinwanderer">Donate to support my works &amp; get cool perks on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/karinwanderer" rel="nofollow"><strong>Ko-Fi</strong></a></h4>

<h4 id="join-us-for-artabcs-the-best-art-challenge-on-the-internet">Join us for <a href="/karin-wanderer-learns/tag:ArtABCs" class="hashtag" rel="nofollow"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">ArtABCs</span></a>, the best art challenge on the internet!</h4>

<h4 id="find-me-https-linktr-ee-karinwanderer"><a href="https://linktr.ee/karinwanderer" rel="nofollow">Find me</a></h4>
<ul><li>All pictures posted are my own work.</li>
<li>All reviews are my own unpaid &amp; unsolicited opinions.</li></ul>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://dotart.blog/karin-wanderer-learns/outside-is-frightful</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:43:46 +0000</pubDate>
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