This is my seventh monthly update! I’d rather blog to keep in touch with you than use most social media platforms. If you like, you may have this infrequent missive delivered via email (which also enters you into a monthly giveaway!) or the ancient art of RSS.
I apologize for this one being a little dark; i hope the art and pet pics help. ❥
Art
I painted the first thing i’ve actually liked at the tail end of 2025:
I’m still not sure if it’s finished or not. Here’s a couple more than i’m working on which aren’t finished, but i’m getting close:
News
- My site is up! As you can see, lol
- I streamed again on December 18, and this time i actually had my mic on and described what i was doing while i painted
- I paused my subscriptions for January and February because i knew i wouldn’t have time for designing/acquiring new merch
- The amount of world trash fire that has happened since my last update is unreal. I wish the best to everyone who is struggling, and i hope as many people can stay safe as possible. I’m going to share my favorite protest sign so far, even though i’ve seen some really good ones that were more wholesome. I think showing teeth is warranted:
Pet Tax
Now for something completely wholesome!
Left to right, top to bottom: Cedar, about to catch a tossed treat. Watson, majestically contemplating the snowy forest. Juniper, carrying around one of her favorite toys (which used to be Briar’s!). And Cedar wondering why i am crouching and playing with the rectangle instead of running down a snowy hill with him.
Anecdote
This one is more somber than the others, which seems fitting for this plague of a month.
When i was 10, i was at Enchanted Village with my family. (It’s a local theme park with all the regular carnival-type stuff.) I saw a crow flapping on the ground behind the smaller ferris wheel. I always followed the rules back then, so i was afraid i would get in trouble. But i cared more about animals than trouble, so i still immediately hopped over the fence, ran over, and picked it up. I cradled it in my arms and was amazed that it didn’t peck me. I brought it back to my family, who said i should bring it to an employee.
The ferris wheel operator didn’t know what to do with it, and told me to bring it to the petting zoo. The petting zoo attendant was completely shocked and seemed afraid to even touch it. She said she knew more about goats and sheep, but she would call someone who knew about wildlife.
I was really sad to hand it over to her, because all the adults seemed to think it would die, and it felt like they would make that happen by believing it. I was sure that if i could just take it home with me, i could have nursed it to health. I was worried no one cared about it as much as i did, and looking back, i’m quite sure they didn’t.
The adults, those whose hearts had been callused by life, saw merely “a bird,” not an irreplaceable creature that would never exist again once it passed on. I have never forgotten that bird.
Get Goods
Newsletter Giveaway
Chelsea M. Campbell, author of The Rise of Renegade X and several other cool books, you have won the art this month! Send me your mailing address. 🙂
Angry Fucking Merch
THIS MONTH OF ALL MONTHS, when i must not be the only person who would like to do something more subversive active than record with my phone camera and hold a sign, i invite you to join the other Boat Flipping Orcas! Make your community feel more welcoming to the vulnerable when they are forced to skitter nervously through public spaces.
Of course i’m not suggesting you put these stickers on surfaces that don’t belong to you. You should absolutely never place them on drinking fountains, electrical panels, exposed pipes, mirrors, toilet paper dispensers, bus stops, park benches, street lamps, fire hydrants, handrails, trash can lids, windows, desks, playground equipment, or the backs of every street sign.
Here are a few Boat Flipping Orcas sticker examples:
The Boat Flipping Orca subscription is available at Comradery, Patreon, Ko-fi, and Buy Me A Coffee, if you have a favorite among those. You can also buy them individually here on my site, in my shop.
I don’t even break even on these (yet! I’d like to, because i’m too poor to fund it entirely out of pocket, and breaking even would assure i’ll be able to keep doing it). So please understand this isn’t like, me attempting to make money on violence and tragedy.
This is me desperately trying to find ways to show the neo-Nazis that they’re not as popular as they think they are, that the community they walk through isn’t friendly to them, and maybe some of us just have stickers but maybe some of us have blackbelts. These stickers are to assure their innocent targets that the powerful are still a minority, and there are more of us than there are of them.
If you need something heartening to read, i found this to be lovely. Usually i won’t link to Substack posts since the platform welcomes white supremacists and their money, but i’m making an exception because this is such a great article.
