That's Gneiss! #200 ~ The big 2-0-0!
A little bit of this and that
Hello friends!
I’ve been so busy making art and reading lately that I keep running out of time to write to you. I’ll get to the art and the reading in just a moment. But first I want to welcome my new subscribers - I’m glad you’re here!
As this is a big milestone newsletter for me, I was planning to do something special but to be honest my create-o-meter has been focused on other things. I’ve had a very busy several months at work, with a big project ending and a new one beginning shortly. I’m so excited about the new project that I may actually write about it here at some point.1
I would like to thank everyone who sticks with me and takes the time to read these now sporadic musings.2 I started out on Tiny Letter3, then moved to Substack in 2018. Substack keeps adding new features and just gets better. Gifs! Footnotes! Polls!
If you’ve been around for a while, I’d love to hear what your favorite posts have been. Some of my favorites to write have been the three part deep dive into wax museums (one, two, three), and The Long Christmas War, 1947-1980.
Now, a few updates…
Quick getaway
A few weeks ago we spent two nights in the cabin at Rasar State Park, and it was a nice diversion from the monotony of home life. Books were read, art was made, walks were taken, and trees were stared at. Rowland had an especially good time.
While we enjoyed ourselves on this trip, our big takeaway was that we really miss camping and want to get back to it next year. We’re going to sell our vintage trailer and get something more modern that’s easier to tow. We’ve had our 1967 Aloha for nine years, and it served us well. We’re just not up to making the repairs it needs at this point. Some enthusiast will be delighted to get it I’m sure. I’m looking forward to researching what’s out there, some of the newer trailers look pretty nice (some are also ugly boxes). Back to road trip adventures next year!
October = weird art time!
The October art challenge that began as Inktober4 has morphed and grown into a month of artistic frenzy with dozens of prompt lists to choose from. Many lists lean towards the spooky, some are based on fandoms, and there are lists with specific themes like birds or mushrooms. People do all kinds of art - there's an October art challenge for everyone! I love that people have moved on from the original idea and made it their own. My friend Alma has a unique take on it:
This year I decided to choose prompts from four different lists, and plan out my month in advance. Most of them come from my favorite Botober, which is actually four AI-generated lists created by different neural networks. I recommend reading the post at that link for “interviews” with each neural network as they created their lists. New to me this year are Drawlloween, Oculustober, and Mab’s Drawlloween Club. The month is young and there are many to go, but here are a couple I’ve done so far…
I’m working much larger this year - all of the pieces are 5.5 x 8.5 inches. I spent about two and a half hours on that birthday snake! I’m really enjoying coming up with my interpretation of the prompts and getting them onto the paper. If you want to see the others I’ve done, check out my Instagram account. Lots of neighborhood Halloween decoration content right now too!
Botanists in Paradise
Last week Nolan gave a Zoom talk called The Flora of Ecuador, aided by his “amazing mother.” It’s now up on YouTube if you’re inclined to watch!
Reading and eating
The art is taking a lot of my time every day (not complaining). I have managed to do a bit of reading though! I’ve been enjoying horror novels for a while now, and they seem the perfect thing for spooky season. I got sucked into Hide by Kiersten White - a “last one left wins” competition in an abandoned amusement park? I had to check that out. It wasn’t the best book in the world, but it was entertaining.
I also recommend the 1976 novel The Auctioneer by Joan Sampson. What happens when the people who are supposed to help are in on things?
Finally - Michael cooked a fantastic new dish this week: Moroccan Chicken and Lentils. All I can say is it was DELICIOUS. Perfect for the transition to colder weather meals.
I’ve got a busy day ahead, so am ending things here! Thank you for reading, and do say hi in the comments. I’d love to hear about your favorite spooky reads or fall food. Cheers!
~Anne
My usual policy is to not write about work, with very rare exceptions and then only in passing. Keeping my boundaries strong is very important to me.
I managed to send a newsletter EVERY WEEK for 180 weeks, then wore out. That’s 3.46153846153846… (hmmm) years.
That’s Gneiss! Tiny Letter archive.
Inktober has a tarnished reputation after the creator was accused of plagiarizing Alphonso Dunn’s drawing instruction books in 2017. He also trademarked the name “Inktober” and has used that against other artists via cease and desist orders.
¡Feliz doscientos! I think it's good to get another person's thoughts sometimes, because I don't want everyone to think like me, nothing would ever quite get done.
The wanders around the PNW posts are probably a favorite. When I was younger, I wanted to have a lot more traveling done, but the older I get, I realize it's quite valuable to always have more to explore.
Can your start an Instagram for the meals Michael makes??? :)