• Today’s ballpoint pen sketch from observation. It’s still hard to get into the mood of drawing, especially if there’s so much noise around to distract me ๐ŸŽจ

    ballpoint sketch of pot with flowering plant
  • Observational sketch with ballpoint pen in a notebook ๐ŸŽจ

  • More experimenting. I made a frame of 120 x 108 mm on paper in my notebook and sketched a fox from a photo reference with ballpoint pen. Next I scanned it and tried to create a pixel art outline, which I filled with flat colors. ๐ŸŽจ It’s too many steps to feel “easy to do."
    ๐Ÿ‘พ

    ballpoint pen sketch of a foxpixel art sketch of a fox

  • So perhaps I should do some urban sketching with a notebook and a pen. Here’s two sketches of my two Bengal cats in low-low resolution (16x16) ๐ŸŽจ๐ŸฑPerhaps the resolution should be more like 64x64 pixels for better recognizability, or even higher, 160x144. So more experimentsโ€ฆ
    ๐Ÿ‘พ

    Notebook page with initial pixel art sketchesdigital pixel art of two cats in a 16x16 pixel grid

  • So swordtember turned out to be a big failure. It seems I’m really bad at routine and habit forming. Nevertheless, I turned to Reddit gets Drawn, and drew this woman ๐ŸŽจ No idea if I can keep this up. I haven’t posted it on Reddit, because I don’t like it myself, so why would she?
    ๐Ÿ‘พ

    pixel art of woman with goggles on her hair
  • So phone cameras are basically a way to deal with whatโ€™s in front of you, examine its intricacies and details, later, much later. It would be the opposite of being in the moment, of living life to its fullest. If this is true, of course. It may devalue life experiences to pixels.

  • This month I’m doing swordtember. Number 1 is the longsword, done as pixel art
    ๐Ÿ‘พ๐ŸŽจ

    Swordtember number 1, longsword pixel art

  • I like the design esthetics of this pixel art drawing I made in August. After being burnt out from self-challenges earlier this year, maybe I should pick up my Apple Pencil again, and join one of the many online suggestions for artistic self-challenges, only more selective this time. If a criterium (draw every day) becomes a target, it loses its usefulness
    ๐Ÿ‘พ๐ŸŽจ

    bengal cat pixel art

  • Wonders what would remain of texts authored by private individuals if it’s not a call to arms, nor a self-promotional write-up. No wonder personal blogs have been decimated since 2006, then mainly used for spit takes and self-aggrandizing, as was aptly noticed by social media ๐Ÿ“

  • This morning I fell during a forest ๐Ÿƒ Something I “luck” ๐Ÿ˜ฃ into more often than I’d like. So what does one do? Well, it’s silly to try and resist gravity, unless you’re able to jump over the moon. No, you give in, rolling over the ground, making a mess of yourself. No blood, yay!

  • The project I started yesterday was finished today with some annual plants, replanted from the planters that stood in front of my house before. Of course, Iโ€™ve watered and fertilized them ๐ŸŒบ ๐ŸŒฑ ๐Ÿ 

    Micro garden filled with flowering plants.
  • I donโ€™t have a front garden, so I made one. I call it a micro garden. My cat Maahir seems to enjoy it ๐ŸŒธ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿ 

    cat behind window checks the new micro garden with plants temporarily on the sidewalk
  • This morning I had a resting heart rate of 42 beats per minute, the lowest measured in my life so far. I know running buddies who (claim to) have a HRrest as low as 34 bpm. Yay for supercompensation, the superior form of adaptation in sports physiology ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿฉบ

  • Preparing for a 10 km race this afternoon, 15.00 hours local time (CEST). With faster shoes and 3 kg weight loss I should be able to beat the 50:02 I ran six weeks ago, though itโ€™s 5โ„ƒ warmer today ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธ

    Wish me luck, please, TIA!

    Pile of sports apparel and such.
  • Tried the new HOKA ONE ONE Carbon X 3 running shoe๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธ ‘Twas an instabuy.

    Aaand, I got a discount on an already low price. It’s not the Nike Alphafly super shoe, but more affordable and still awesome for a slowpoke like me.

    single black running shoe

  • Sand from the last ice age exposed by human activities and excessive grazing.

    panoramic view of sand plane surrounded by forest
  • Now MyFitnessPal has become a festering pool of ads, I’ve switched to Lose It! It hasn’t the nice integration with Garmin Connect, but do I really need that? I need to get to a healthier weight than my current overweight.

  • On my long run this morning I saw the heather in bloom ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐ŸŒธ

    heather in bloom
  • One of my cats had to be vaccinated. He never leaves the house, so this is a big deal to him. The vet was nice to him and he got a clean bill of health, including his teeth. Now, back home, he seems himself again, busy grooming๐Ÿฑ

    cat in a carrier
  • It seems that for certain personalities, the 30-day challenge is counterproductive. Giving out virtual badges is demotivating for people who donโ€™t feel enthused by daily schedules @jean @manton