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.

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