Hobbies and varied interests of sorts.
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Hobbies and varied interests of sorts.

I have TOO MANY INTERESTS. Everything is interesting. I can be surprised by the things that suddenly intrigue me. Currently I’m debating attempting to turn my poinsettia into a bonsai after the holidays. I learned that poinsettia originate from Mexico, and that climate enables them to grow into trees. Poinsettia trees are BEAUTIFUL. But I live in a cold climate. And I don't have a greenhouse. I thought about stunting the plant into a bush. Some say it's hard to do, some say it's easy. I’m debating if I need another project right now.

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Gallery wrapped canvas is not too expensive to ship after all.
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Gallery wrapped canvas is not too expensive to ship after all.

Moved the seeker trine to their final position on the canvas. My heart was singing at this point, this was finallllyyyyy the way it was supposed to look. My gut feelings and my head ideas were aligned and in sync.

Photo heavy blog post showing the latest commission.

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Postal strike, goodbye Etsy, hello Ko-fi
Etsy, shop update, ness the artist, 2024, Kofi vanessa netzel Etsy, shop update, ness the artist, 2024, Kofi vanessa netzel

Postal strike, goodbye Etsy, hello Ko-fi

There has been so many surprises over the last year, I’m weary of them now. Another surprise is just how much Etsy makes off each sale.

Before the move, I was selling things so rapidly it wasn't easy to keep track of the hidden fees. I’d had my shop for years. I ignored the fees, figured they balanced out in the end. I was selling and paying bills after all, and that was the goal.

I moved locations, eventually reopened my Etsy shop, and had my first sale. One sale meant it was very easy to see how much Etsy took in fees. Every deduction from Etsy was just on that one solitary sale.

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Drawing at the new place/image heavy**
ness the artist, art journey, art advice, art process, moving vanessa netzel ness the artist, art journey, art advice, art process, moving vanessa netzel

Drawing at the new place/image heavy**

I hummed and hawwed for days over what to start drawing. The stacks of boxes and work to be done made it hard to focus to do anything else.

This was going to be Optimus playing piano, with some care bears doing a carebear stare to cheer me up. When in doubt for what to draw during art block, comfort characters always help.

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Art school memories & a pleasant surprise.
art journey, art advice, ness the artist, moving vanessa netzel art journey, art advice, ness the artist, moving vanessa netzel

Art school memories & a pleasant surprise.

In a boomer voice “when I was your age I had to take two city busses to get from one side of Oakville to the other side to get to Sheridan. I would be carrying a backpack full of paint on my shoulders, this giant heavy portfolio in one hand, AND a toolbox in my other hand. My toolbox kept all my artist tools in it, rulers, markers, paintbrushes. This is what traditional artists had to do. And living in Canada meant I was dragging the portfolio through blizzards, sometimes the rain and snow we experienced during our commuting fucked our art up. I’d have to walk a mile in the sleet snow to the school doorsteps.-”

So it’s goodbye old friend. You bring me more “ehhhhhh” memories than good memories

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Fighting homelessness! 2 weeks to go.
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Fighting homelessness! 2 weeks to go.

When I fill out the rental applications, I always state I’m a freelance illustrator first. I try to leave the disability part off because I know how much it deterrs prospective landlords.

But then they always want more info because Freelance Illustration isn't a steady job. So I have to explain the ODSP part after. And that's when they close my file and say thank you but no thanks.

No questions asked, no empathy, just immediate judgement.

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Oh no my plant is too big. -grief work.
grief, moving, Garden, grandmother of rabbits vanessa netzel grief, moving, Garden, grandmother of rabbits vanessa netzel

Oh no my plant is too big. -grief work.

I stick the word “grief” in the titles so that readers who want nothing to do with those posts can avoid them. This post isn't overly sad, but it's still talking on death & loss.

Knowing the costs of renting a moving truck and the gas cost + moving to another city 30 minutes away = more mileage + more fees- I'm really trying to plan the minimum amount of trips and bring minimum stuff.

Easier said than done when some of your grief is wrapped up in attachment to things that the dead left behind.

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There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

Sometimes I have a vision in my head that I haven’t actually practised much on paper. I'm nostalgic for the 1970’s psychedelic album art/landscape art. The whimsy of the stars and the way the lines flow, intrigues me. As I was bringing it to life here in a Cosmos x Soundwave illustration, I found it needed more forethought than I was used to giving my art.

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Drawing: Soundwave at the Aquarium
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Drawing: Soundwave at the Aquarium

REALLY EXCITED TO CREATE POOLS OF LIGHT /SHADOW LINES IN THE WATER. Something about illustrating this/working on the mental math for creating pools of light really lit a fire in me.

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Let's fold a 16 page zine (how to)
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Let's fold a 16 page zine (how to)

Always vital to know how to make handy little books of information or art to share with others!

For this tutorial, I’m using a tabloid size 11” x 17” paper for my 16 page zine.

This is my Perseverance zine, based on a Connecticut hardcore band’s song lyrics and my thoughts about it all.

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A visual timeline: how I explored color from 2017-2019.

A visual timeline: how I explored color from 2017-2019.

For the new people around here that don't know of my early tumblr days and how much my art has visually changed since 2017. You can actually see the points in time when I started having fun with art and color again.

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