#NOTHING IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school. #like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it. #was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes. #but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create'' #when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent. #speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice. #''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession. #''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt? #u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky'' #we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

[lunar-years]

Every single week the stills get released and it’s just another picture of these 3 that looks exactly like this lmao

#go girl give us nothing! #literally this week is particularly bad they are giving us NOTHING #(and each week I act shocked when it happens yet again lmao) #Roy Kent #coach beard #ch: ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso

[minart-was-taken]

LU fans are welcome on my blog and I have nothing against them, but could u guys please stop doing this... Its been years... My bones are getting squishy...

Its really hard to explain why it bothers me and so many other artists so much, but to give it a try: Imagine you baked a delicious cake to a potluck and everyone kept complimenting your neighbor Janice for the cake and you're too nervous to correct it cause Janice is the host. Please.... Please I can bake too... Pwease pweasep papa let me ba ke

#Comic #Again!! Nothing against y'all!! #This just happens to me like every week and I'm slowly losing the will to post any loz stuff

[heliocharis]

Affirmations

#have written nothing in the last two weeks lads. posted the latest chapter of Guns and Knives and Forks and was sick several days thence #and then work was. as the kids say. Like That #anyway TLT exchange fic is going to happen and then more crime.

[buglaur]

floating head in cas mod!

i made a piece of cc that hides the body in cas for ease of making transparent head icons and other such edits. it doesn’t delete the body permanently, it just acts as an invisible bodysuit that can be removed when you’re done

found in the outfits category

teen to elder / both frames

doesn’t remove the feet so you can still access the body menu

⚠️ when you’re finished with it, click on the sims shoes/feet, you can then access the outfit category from there to remove it!

gif preview under cut

download at simfileshare (free no ads)

GOD i hope it works, i didn’t ask for any testers. it should though!! just please lmk if you find issues ❤️❤️❤️

#ts4cc #ts4 #sims 4 #this might be very niche... #but i find it super useful!! #LOOK AT MY GORGEOUS BABIES #idk when i'll get back to legacy posting #i've played all the way up to gen 3 #but i made the mistake of doing it after a few drinks so the few screenshots i took #are all so shit #and i am not about to replay 2 in game weeks #oh well i'll figure something out #nothing much happened anyways so we might have a bit of a time skip #you won't hear much from me again this week sorry #my birthday is on thursday though 🥳🥳 #doin an escape room with my friends and going to the pub with my dad #should be fun!! #anyways BYE #dl

[thronealigned]

no it's fine this mind flayer is totally my friend and 100% honest with me all the time it's ok it likes me everything's so normal

#bg3 spoilers #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #i love how raphael directly calls you out on this. 'if id have known you were so gullible i wouldve tricked you into selling your soul for #a bowl of beans when we first met' #and then just keeps insulting you more if you keep insisting emp's really your ally #oc: impulse #sure this'll go in their tag #everything about impulse's Thing with the emperor is so funny to me. and then deeply fucked up if you think about it long enough. and then #really funny again if you think about it even longer #one day i'll do their 2.0 playthrough so i can fully form all my thoughts. and get better screenshots and the ceremorphosis ending #i mean there's nothing stopping me from loading an impulse 1.0 save and going ceremorphosis from there but idk it'd feel wrong #impulse has more tadpoles in their brain than synapses by act 3 and it does really fundamentally change them as a person #tfw your chaotic neutral act-first-ask-questions-never no-impulse-control 17 CHA bestie becomes one of the most detached calculating people #you've ever met. all their old casual wit and humor is still there but they think before they speak now and that really shouldnt feel as #sinister as it does. they have this look in their eye and it feels like they view everyone around them as lesser beings #not because they view other people as subhuman or worse than they are but because they view themself as something *more* #if they have any raw unfiltered emotion left you haven't seen it in weeks. there's one person(?) who gets Unrestrained Feelings privileges #and it's the fucking illithid that lives in their mind and not any of their actual non-monster normal-ish-person friends. that human #connection is fading so fast now. when did they change so much? it happened so slowly in the moment but suddenly now they seem like they #were never the person you became friends with at all #and like impulse is a pretty selfish person from the start but they *did* genuinely like and care about the rest of the party. they were #friends. and by the end of act 3 that friendship should be the deepest and most meaningful it's ever been. but. it just isn't. #so on and so forth etc etc like that. All That Bullshit makes their relationship with lae'zel so interesting (and upsetting) too #they encourage her to side against vlaakith and then they never even try to free orpheus for her and her people's sake. they never even #think about it. they never consider it as an option. they just don't care. and then they EAT HIS BRAIN. #very possibly RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. #and she's just left adrift. a rebel with no rebellion to lead and very little hope #i'm unwell. #ok i'm done this is a silly meme post. but god i have so many thoughts i have barely been keeping contained

[nordsea-horizons]

pictures i want to save from my unfinished grandmacore/fairytale island! this is the second time ive started this theme and then given it up so i guess it really wasnt meant to be🥲 but maybe these can inspire me or someone else and lead to other ideas😌💛

#cries in acnh burnout🥲 #but i saved an unfinished da so i guess it wasnt all for nothing… #for a few weeks i was so in love with this theme #but i left it for a long time and couldnt get back into it! #it happens i guess🙃 #acnh #animal crossing #animal crossing new horizons #new horizons #acnh island #acnh exterior #acnh grandmacore #acnh fairytale island #acnh cozy #acnh soft #acnh forest #acnh landscaping #acnh unfinished island #yarn island

[gay-little-axolotl]

new art style jumpscare

bonus infected emma under the cut

#starkid #team starkid #tgwdlm #the guy who didn't like musicals #hatchetfield #emma perkins #emma tgwdlm #my art hehe #this is what happens when I listen to nothing but will wood for a week straight

[newtsnaturethings]

Vashmeryl smut comic below the cut.

#trigun #vashmeryl #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe #newtsdoodles #trigun maximum #trigun stampede #tw suggestive #tw nudity #but like. barely #finals week activated the smut brain cell like a damn sleeper agent #I just needed to draw some tender cuddles and suddenly it was seven pages #also nothing crazy happens the dude just grows a ton of wings cause what do you expect from me at this point

[simkoos]

the calientes 🦉😉

#the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #i love how my game was s wording itself for 2 weeks #and this was the first thing i decided to do skdlfj #don happens to own this restaurant btw #im sure they had nothing to do with him firing 2 other girls......

[crimsonrainseekingflower]

#i think this song could fix me #let's see what happens after i listen to nothing else but this for a week #the crane wives #my post

[bolithesenate]

Dooku and his youngest daughter padawan

she saw a tooka or smt

#wavy jellyfish haircut komari is something that is so important to me actually #she had dooku braid another strand every week #dooku ofc indulges his little emo daughter with her weird hair choices #even if he doesnt understand #random boli thoughts #my art #star wars #star wars fanart #count dooku #komari vosa #disaster lineage #nothing bad ever happens to them #thats my silent mantra for everything regarding dookus padawans #⛏️⛏️⛏️

[unexpectedbrickattack]

babpy.

#pizza tower #peppino #arts #mine #happy pride; heres a little otter for u #hes like very early 20s here #happy and unbothered before the Horrors happened #it is NOT his 30s bc he needs to exude raw dilf energy by that point #but for now he is anxious and sweet and awkward #not that i dont draw him like that already but its like 10x here #its PALPABLE #okay mwah i will hopefully come back w more than just sketches that mean nothing skjfsdjkfdhfhsk #i have LITERALLY been on this commission for WEEKS i need someone to take me out back and put me out of my misery i swear #im going to finish the lines TODAY like i cant be this person i cant keep coming back to this fucking comm w no progress ill simply Die #its like singlehandedly preventing me from doing anything else; its making a mental block waaaaaaaau #but i feel like i am breaking through it today. at least i HOPE i am sdkjfsdjkfjsdkf #um if u are still here ilu. send me some anons; i want to be chatty but the messages i have feel like i need to respond w essays #and i literally. cannot. #at least until i get my head screwed on properly again

[ministarfruit]

two types of dogs

#FOR CONTEXT THIS IS BASED OFF A DOG VIDEO WITH THE SAME CONCEPT #vtuber #holostars #holotempus #regis altare #axel syrios #dogs. they're doggies #sorry if I go absolutely nuts for this duo this week #you don't understand how long we've been waiting for this #AFTER EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED? #like seriously. I just hope they have the best time ever #I wish for nothing else

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

At the risk of getting canceled for NATOposting: yes I do think there's some terminally online communists who are - for lack of any better word - campist and utterly delusional about what the nature of the modern Russian state is. Frankly part of the reason I stopped talking about the war in Ukraine with most anglo communists is how casually psychopathic a lot of them are about fratricidal warfare between two reactionary despoilers of the Soviet legacy cause one side is "based" and the other isn't. Touch some fucking grass tbh.

#before anyone pulls out that 'happy ukraine invasion day' post: as i've explained before i posted that more than a week before the invasion #on one of the days the US was gleefully predicting it would happen #which it ultimately didn't #i've felt nothing but horrified and reviled since the invasion started #which is how anyone with a soul should feel about it

[azaracyy]

a lesson on good karma digimon survive week 2024 day 4: supporting characters

#digimon #gomamon #digimon survive #survive week #survive week 2024 #rambling ahead. you don't have to read the tags beyond bc there's nothing that important tbh... you can just look at the art... #exhausted from being out and doing housework yesterday. then got a last-minute job with very urgent deadline today #finished everything but yeah basically i did anything but art so #irl do be like that aint it #anyway it's been a long time since i played survive and my memory isn't that good #but i always remember the part where we had to protect the gomamon #and later they showed us a path via the dam allowing the team to continue exploring #it reminded me of just how important it is to be nice and do good things whenever and wherever possible #and be mindful with the not-so-good things you do and say #be it good or bad. karma is real even if you don't know when it will get back at you #and you know in visual novel settings. whatever choice you make really determines what happens later on #yeah believe it or not i end up thinking stuff like that by helping a bunch of adorable seal mons... #mmm i'm officially behind now so i might as well take my time while also rest a bit haha ;; #this week has been fun with survive week tho fr. even though i came in unprepared (when will i change) #gotta keep surviving #png