Month: November 2025

Birthday Musings, Art vs Artist 2025, & Help Save My Studio Closet!

The hubby is recovering well after surgery, while I’m happy to report I’ve finally been able to return to a normal human sleep schedule! The past few weeks have been a flurry of post-con recovery, at-home nurse duty, Halloween, birthday celebration, and adjusting back to the normal grind again. It was a quiet bday this year enjoying a viewing of Del Toro’s Frankenstein with a small group of friends and some cake. It’s the simple things!

Frankenstein is hands down my favorite gothic novel/figure so I’m always happy to see when adaptations get closer to the source material. This version wasn’t a one to one, definitely being more skewed towards the Creature being inherently good when he was far more ambigious in nature in the original novel.

However, Del Toro’s adaptation gave us his usual sumptuous set design, as well as a moment of tenderness between the Creature and the Blind Man that made me cry at its simple heartfelt human connection.

All in all, worth a watch! Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak are still my Del Toro faves, but I still appreciate any take on the Creature that portrays his elegance and intelligence, in spite of his monstrous origin.

Art VS Artist

I always take a selfie around my birthday to document the years gone by, so I thought I’d turn this year’s selfie into my latest Art VS Artist collage! Alas, only one of the pieces in this collage are from this year, but that just goes to show you the kind of year it’s been…

Reflecting on what I want to do with my next year of life, I’ve found some comfort in the acceptance that it’s ok to slow down on the plans I’ve had to stall because of all of our medical and financial drama. Survival comes first, even if that means I have to temporarily slow down my serious efforts to continue my art career and personal writing/art projects.

So many things, AI, the economy, the quiet mass layoffs in the tech industry, medical bills, etc. are making life harder than ever and I can continue to rage at it, or just buckle up till the ride’s over. I’m afraid sometimes I’m too old and tired too succeed, that AI has especially made artists obsolete, but now, more than ever, we must find our own voices, keep ourselves healthy, and find balance to weather the storm of change.

Save My Studio Closet! 40% Off My Coloring Books

In other news, I’m hoping that when tariffs, shipping costs, etc. all die down that I might be able to rev up future crowdfunding projects I had in store (more coloring books, Art Nouveau amulets, etc.) that I had to put off because of this hostile economy for small businesses. While things stabilize, this is a good time for me to create some space for future projects!

By space, I mean physical space! My studio closet is still half full of book boxes from the last Kickstarter.

Angela in front of the full closet of books.Buried in books. Send help!

Snag a Book

And so it’s time for a book clearout. Help me get this closet empty! I’ve marked the Birthstone Goddesses Coloring Books 40% off till Dec 13th. This includes the pencil case bundle as well, which would make for great gifting for the season (but hurry I only have 7 pencil bags in stock as of this writing). No code required. Snag a book here!

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Here’s to keeping it moving even when life gets us down, here’s to filmmakers like Del Toro keeping the flag of hand-crafted media flying, and here’s to remembering that our creative sparks won’t die, no matter how old we get, as long as we remember to carry and protect it.

♥ Ang

The Changeling Artist Collective has Returned! My Original Art On Auction

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who shared this! It really meant a lot to me. The auction is over and these paintings are now available at their post-auction prices over on my Etsy:

http://angelicshades.etsy.com/

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I’m so excited to see that my fellows at the Changeling Artist Collective have returned for their monthly auctions! It’s always nice to be involved with the magic that is collaborating with other kindred spirits and seeing what we all create around the monthly themes.

I wanted to give my inner circle here a head’s up about it because these auctions are a great way to collect my originals, as I often set the starting bid at about half off the original price.

Find the auction here, where you can bid on any pieces you like by commenting your bid on the image within this album:

Visit the Auction Album

About Each Piece

“Angel of January”, 16×20 in., Digital painting in a hand-embellished mat.

This piece was created as an exploration of what would eventually become the Birthstone Goddesses. I eventually moved away from angels and digital in favor of a traditional approach, but I still appreciate what this series would have been like with elegant wings in the mix.

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“Lady of January”, 10×20 in., watercolor, ink, and silver leaf. Framed under UV resistant non-glare glass in a beautiful ornate metallic silver frame.

Created for my Birthstone Goddesses, January represents the Garnet birthstone for January and the pink carnations birth flower of the month. She channels the pale wintry presence of Persephone with her regal flower crown and veil.

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“Guide My Blade”, 6×8 in., watercolor.

Created for my Angelic Visions howto book*, she represents a quiet, protective angelic spirit. (*Using this book link earns me a little kickback!)

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“Temperance of the Woven Path”, 11×14 in., watercolor, ink, & mica paints. Framed under UV resistant non-glare glass in a lovely wood frame with subtle gold metallic patina.

Created for the collaborative project where the Changeling Artist Collective combined their artistic talents to create a beautiful gilded tarot deck called The Woven Path Tarot. I had the honor of creating this card for the Major Arcana.

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To be quite honest, being able to give even one of these originals a new home would help my husband and myself out immensely as our combined medical bills have been a lot to handle this year. It’d make a real difference in our lives!

Even if you cannot collect a piece, just helping me boost the auction helps a small artist like me out, as so much of the Algorithm on social media these days actively works to bury the work of artists.

Here are some ways to help me out by sharing:

Thanks to anyone who helps give a boost! It means a lot to me.

<3 Ang

Visit the Auction Album

Personal Update: Surgery Hiatus (Actually Good News?)

I’ve not shared a lot of art around here, nor been able to get back to any regular streaming and Monthly Hangout activities in a long while, so I wanted to give you guys an update to let you know what’s up.

No sooner did my husband and myself return from Multiverse did we get a fateful phone call from the doc office. A surgery he has desperately needed since May, that we had been fighting insurance for, a surgery that had been postponed till the end of December had a cancellation. The catch? THE SURGERY WAS HAPPENING NEXT DAY!

This was actually amazing news, as every day Kev didn’t have this surgery was a day we could end up in the ER if his body decided to stop working correctly as it did during our May medical drama.

I’ve been taking time off to take care of the hubby. Beyond that, life has been A LOT and I’ve been slowed down by the mental overwhelm of it all (IE. job rejections, fighting health insurance, doc office phone calls, doc appointments for the both of us, and the constant unending stress of uncertainty).

We’re both just trying to focus on survival right now, which may lead to some changes to this Patreon in the future, as I may have less time for the investment it takes to read novels for creating book-related illustrations while I try to find more non-art related side work to help us get by.

I have no cons for the rest of the year, so I’ll be focusing on Kev’s recovery and wrapping up my planned art for Cassiel’s Servant, then brainstorming for how I can do something more swift, engaging, and fun with this Patreon that’s easier for me to manage!

For now, I must re-iterate how grateful I am to everyone who’s stuck with me thus far despite my slug pace of art releases. The bit of support I recieve here goes a long way and has provided succor during a hard time for my husband and myself.

Take care in these trying times, friends!

<3 Ang