Skhoot Studio

Merry scribbler. Monsters rescued; knights slain.

Category: images

I’m calling it.

2023/08/29 /
A lone orange leaf on charcoal colored pavement. Is it the first harbinger of the autumnal season.
I believe in you, first leaf of autumn.
You’re totally not just a sign of drought stressing the trees.

I say this is the first leaf of fall ?. Nevermind that we’ve had a month of drought and that it’s going to be in the 90s over the weekend. I’m in a certain state of mind.

Halloween!

Halloween!

Now if it were only cool enough to pick my owl button sweater WIP back up and finish it.

2021/02/15 /
A beautiful winter sunset in a suburban neighborhood.
Was a beautiful sunset

I woke up this morning with a migraine. I am going to bed with medication, but at least I got to see this beautiful sunset.

A little winter sunshine

2021/02/12 /
Pictured: two clementines. One whole, the other peeled and split in half.
I know it’s oranges, not clementines that were promoted as “Florida Sunshine”

We’re in the part of the season where sunshine is hard to come by. Now I like an overcast and foggy day as much as the next monster loving lass, but even I have my limits. At least I have some sunny citrus fruit for a dose of palate cleansing sunshine.

Adjust as you go

2021/02/03 /
A black and white tuxedo cat looks up from a blue and white checked rug.
Bunny cat demands love. Now. Or snacks. Snacks are good, too.

I finished The Witch’s Book of Self-Care. It wasn’t my sort of thing. I found it heavy on the metaphysical, and I was hoping for less self visualization and candle burning with intention, and more practical ideas for self-care. Others may find it more to their preferences.

Because I didn’t find what I was looking for, I started The Self-Care Prescription by Robyn L Gobin, Ph.D. I am already happier with my choice. Chapter one was about the importance of social groups to self-care with ideas I will adapt to Covid times. Chapter two is about building in time for exercise as self-care. The structure is more what I expected and wanted.

Sometimes you just have to adapt as you go.

2021/01/13 /
A stylized picture of an owl's face.

I started playing with Adobe Illustrator and working through the tutorials this evening. I’m filing this learning under “broadening my horizons” and “I like owls.” I know it’s not much of a thing, but I learned some new skills doing it, so I think it’s a win.

2021/01/06 /
Pictured: Cerulean sky over suburban neighborhood back yards on the horizon with a smaller spruce in shadows to the left of the foreground and a stand of deciduous trees painted in hoarfrost to the right.
Another view of yesterday’s hoarfrost and intense cerulean sky.

One of the things suggested in the creativity and productivity articles I’ve been reading is to create a word for the year and then monthly themes that are guided by the overarching word of the year.

The idea behind this is to provide parameters instead of leaving the horizon wide open. Sometimes too many choices can lead to analysis paralysis and inaction, but constraints can free the mind from the choice of where to begin and let it work on novel solutions within the field defined.

I think I’ve mentioned that my word for the year is “creativity.” With that in the back of my mind, I picked the following themes for each month of the year.

  1. January – Word of the year (Creativity)
  2. February – Self-Care
  3. March – Roam
  4. April – Money
  5. May – Plant
  6. June – Adventure
  7. July – Freedom
  8. August – Love
  9. September – Learn
  10. October – Remembrance
  11. November – Gratitude
  12. December – Plan

I had these themes in mind when I picked my books out yesterday, in addition to the other constraints I put on myself (Books I already own, either on Kindle or in hard copy, or books I can get through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.)

2021/01/05 /
Pictured: an azure sky with thin wisps of clouds and broken trees painted thickly with hoarfrost.
The azure sky and the hoarfrost take my breath away.

While I looked at this, I put together my book list for this year. These aren’t the only books I’ll be reading this year, but they are books that I’ve put on my “make sure to read this year” list. Some books fit monthly themes throughout the year, some are from my “I bought this. I should read this” list, and some are “I have Kindle Unlimited, therefore I should use it” books.

  1. The Accidental Creative, Todd Henry
  2. A Year of Creative Writing Prompts, Love in Ink
  3. The Witch’s Book of Self-Care, Arin Murphy-Hiscock
  4. An African American and Latinx History of the United States, Paul Ortiz
  5. Balancing on Blue, Keith Foskett
  6. H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald
  7. How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck (2nd Ed), Avery Breyer
  8. The Miniaturist: A Novel, Jessie Burton
  9. Greenhouse Gardening: How to build and sustain a greenhouse garden, Emma Brooks,
  10. Becoming, Michelle Obama
  11. If I Live Until Morning: A True Story of Adventure, Tragedy, and Transformation, Jean Muenchrath
  12. Tomboyland: Essays, Melissa Faliveno
  13. The Power of Zero Expectations, Francis Ku
  14. A Promised Land, Barack Obama
  15. Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely, Lysa TerKeurst
  16. Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
  17. The Story Works Guide to Writing Character: How to create memorable characters your readers can’t help but love–or love to hate, Alida Winternheimer
  18. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Gran
  19. Love, Lucy, Lucille Ball
  20. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, R. A. Dick
  21. Flip the Gratitude Switch, Kevin Clayson
  22. A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir, Jason Diakité
  23. 10 Day Outline: A Writer’s Guide to Planning, Lewis Jorstad
  24. The Practice, Seth Godin

I do plan to read other books this year: Bookclub books, Spontaneous reading, TBR backlog, etc. These just represent books that I want to make sure to read.

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