We got our first snowfall the other day. Not a lot, maybe around an inch or so. Most of it had already melted by the time I took my partner to work at nine the next morning, and it had completely disappeared by the time I left for work at two. Fortunately, though, the roads weren’t iced over.
As much as I dislike winter, I do like when it snows. The austere beauty that overtakes the landscape never ceases to amaze me, and something about the silence it brings is so comforting, like being wrapped in a blanket. That sort of feeling has been very much needed the past week or so.
Nevertheless, we persist. I’ve been toeing the extremely fine line between staying aware/informed and staying sane, because rationally I know panicking about every single thing will ultimately amount to nothing good but I want to, very irrationally, curl up into a little ball and sleep for the next few years.
I’ve been limiting my time on social media. I’ve already kind of dropped off quite a bit regarding activity, but the constant stream of madness seems like as good an incentive as any to reduce screen time. Lately I’ve just been giving a few minutes here and there, amounting to around an hour or so (give or take) per day.
You’d think this would provide ample time to dive into all my little projects, but instead I’ve been indulging in video games. I got Oregon Trail for my Switch and have been really enjoying it, and I picked up Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete and have been having a lot of fun with that as well. I’ve also resumed crochet and have started a few little projects. Being able to work with my hands helps a lot, and having to count (and recount) my stitches helps calm my mind.
That said, the year marches on regardless and I’ve been feeling the itch to work on my art projects again. This year we’ll finally get to a really juicy chapter of Saffron Wave!! I’ve been dying waiting to work on this one and I can’t wait to share it with you all in a few months!
I’ve also been working on another short comic for ComicFury Zine, they changed their application process this year and require completed submissions before applications open, so I’m trying to give myself a good head start so I can balance that and Swave as we head into spring.
Which leads us to the website! I really want to get this thing finished, lol. Now that I’m on a consistent work schedule again and am getting back in the creative groove, I want to set some time aside for finishing the website. Aside from taking care of the half-complete pages, I want to add a bunch of art to the rest of the site. I’m an artist, for cryin’ out loud, I don’t wanna limit the art to just the gallery page. The downside to that, however, is that I still need to make most of that art.
I do have some art I need to prioritize asap from a raffle I hosted on bluesky, but once I get those taken care of I can work the website art into my free time a lot easier.
I also have a lot of work I want to do on the Saffron Wave website, I’m still so grateful for the Spiderforest team’s help getting everything up and running for me, but a lot of the site still feels really empty because I haven’t made time to add in all the extra stuff yet. At the very least I want to get the about page sorted, which will include a blurb about me and a (hopefully) brief overview of the Minoans so readers can have more context about the culture & setting of the comic. I’m also working on finishing up the script for chapter 5 so I can start roughing out pages, so it’ll be a while before there’s anything art-wise to share.
If I had a point in making this post, I think it’s basically just to sum up that I’m still here despite my lack of activity on social media, and I’m still working on stuff (just behind the scenes for right now).
Thanks for sticking around! I’ll see you soon~