Paintings That Feel Minty Fresh 🍃

The February bird of the month is the Canada Jay! ✨🩶

~If you would like to receive Feb mail, join my Bird of the Month mail club before 1/31! 💌 I will send them out on 2/3~

more pen & marker bird doodles

casual al haitham glove enjoyer 👍

| death among flowers |

I had the honour to get commissioned by @/kathrynthehuman to draw an illustration for their short fiction zine! 🌸 A horror themed story of course :)

Art summary 2023

why so silent?

DREADNAUT!!!

THERE'S GENUINELY SO MUCH LORE BUT I. suuuuper abridged version:

the sea terror, a carrier snail, is getting a bit too heavy. it's collected too many shells, but it's eyes are too sucky to decide which ones it wants to remove :') it's like ok god i'll just make a human shell and goes to the shore to do so, but wht's this? it finds a perfectly good body that just drowned in a tide pool a couple yards away! convenient!

it leaves its shell and takes over the body, stands up and gets ready to go find its shell again, but. WHAT! this body is blind. just its luck. well ok guess i'll get another one

BUT WHAT'S THIS? the kid's parents appear outta nowhere (they saw their child's body in the tide pool and ran down from their cottage overlooking the sea as fast as they could), and they see the dreadnaut traits and know that their kid has died and they cry and cry and cry it's really sad and all the while the really bad eyesight snail (who is looking through the ear mimics) is like bruh what's going on

though dreadnauts are usually reported, the parents come to the kid's dreadnaut (who can talk and probably sounds like a very mean and sarcastic robin williams) and they agree to keep the dreadnaut's secret, as it means that in some sad way their child can live just a little longer. they gift it a satchel with which it can carry all its beloved shells; they'd been saving it for the kid's 6th birthday bc they loved to collect seashells too, and they find it kinda sweet that the sea terror that chose their kid is a carrier snail bc they have smth in common

so yea the dreadnaut hangs out at the tide pools n finds super cool shells n has a good time, n the kid's parents keep it safe n out of sight and occasionally come visit. the dreadnaut wants a body that yknow, has working eyes, but it begins to feel sorry for this family that didn't even have a chance to grieve bc it like instantly took over their five year old's body. it can control the body's vocal cords and mouth but it decides to just speak out of their ears so the kid's voice won't cause the parents any more grief :'(

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atsume was a 5 yr old child who was born blind, to the seascape painter umi and the fisherman aoi. they reaaaally loved atsume they were umi and aoi's world :') umi was sad they'd never get to see her paintings or the sea at all, but they still found joy in everything n made joy everywhere they went. aoi isn't the most vocally affectionate he's a bit awkward in that aspect so he expresses everything in actions, so he is often found holding atsume's hand and doing stuff with them. umi is vocally very affectionate and she likes to admire things from a distance (hence her love for the sea) so she sings to atsume while she works.

atsume's parents (usually aoi) always take em down to the tide pools to collect seashells. atsume can't see them but they love them bc they can hear the sea in them :') however, one day, atsume goes down to the tide pools alone, and the tide sweeps in much stronger than usual and atsume falls into a pool. they never learned how to swim given their parents were too nervous to even let em swim in the ocean so they unfortunately drowned. :(

umi and aoi are devastated, they cry together for probably weeks. they avoid the tide pools as much as they can (aside from making sure the dreadnaut that looks like their precious child isn't wandering too far) until aoi has to go down to fish so they can eat. he goes down and doesn't talk to the dreadnaut, but the sea terror can sense that this dad was a really affectionate one and it still kinda feels bad abt yknow the whole possessing their kid thing, so it walks atsume over to aoi and they stand next to him, and aoi takes their hand and they stand there in silence together :'( eventually aoi catches a couple fish and says till next time, and then he goes

in other instances, umi comes down (with aoi's encouragement) with some of her favorite paintings and she sits with the dreadnaut and talks with it about the sea and atsume. it's easier for her to talk, though it's still really hard obviously speaking to her child's yknow. body with a snail in it..but it gets easier for her as she befriends the sea terror, who truly does appreciate atsume despite their blindness.

eventually umi and aoi get closer to the dreadnaut, bringing gifts n offering to keep safe shells that the dreadnaut is getting tired of carrying but can't let go. soon their house is filled with amazing seashells (and some that, aren't that amazing but they're not gonna tell the snail that), and they even convince it to come visit. it only comes once but the house is like nothing it's ever seen (understandable given it's lived in the ocean for 600 yrs), and it really appreciates umi, aoi, and atsume for all its new experiences.

one day, atsume's body begins to decay. it's very slow due to idk sea terror properties, but the snail doesn't want umi and aoi to have to see this. it does go to the house doorstep one more time to be like i don't want u guys to have to see ur child die again, and it might be time for me to return to the sea. i've racked up all these baller shells and i've seen so much; perhaps i'll return with a body of my own one day. umi and aoi understand and thank it, thank it for both respecting their child's body and also giving them another year or so of life. they've accepted atsume's death and want to give them a proper burial, maybe start anew.. the sea terror leaves atsume in a patch of spongy seagrass and, having chosen an all new set of exquisite shells from the tide pools (it's definitely keeping the conch ears though), it returns to the ocean depths once more :) umi and aoi say goodbye, and they bury atsume by the sea and continue w their lives, waiting for the day a conch-eared dreadnaut returns to their doorstep with good tidings and new tales from the sea.

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ok now some misc notes to cheer everyone up!! atsume is a carrier snail mimicking a caracal, with four of the snail's eye stalks acting as the caracal ear tufts. the snail has three sets of eyes but one brain that sorta travels around the body to be with whichever set of eyes needs it, so when one becomes smart n talks, the others are like durr

atsume liked to listen to conches, but now the sea terror will lift conches to atsume's "ears" so it can examine it with its horrible horrible vision. to umi and aoi, it looks like atsume is listening to the sea again (screaming crying)

atsume's name means "diligent/sincere," which suited the living atsume's earnest personality. however, the word atsume can also mean "collector" (i.e. neko atsume, crazy). in a way, it was kind of meant to be...

get freaking aiba’d lol

Magnolia, my dnd character ☺️

Barracuda

One of 3 new bookmarks I've made to celebrate the release of my new artbook! Ordering starts on January 4th. :D You can get the bookmark itself here or wait till it's available with the book. 💚