spent three days staring at a half-finished drawing of a very sad hamster and honestly i think the hamster was judging me back. finally went to the bookshop yesterday just to sit in the weird nature section and grabbed this book about deep sea creatures i've never heard of, and something just clicked? now the hamster has a tiny anglerfish friend and i've never been happier about nonsense in my life
just found the most beautiful 1970s tarot deck at a car boot sale for £2 and honestly i'm slightly obsessed? the illustrations are so wonderfully wonky and some of the cards have water damage that makes them look even more mysterious. i don't know how to read tarot but i'm 100% just buying this for the art
Grace WilliamsThat's absolutely brilliant, the wonky illustrations are what make vintage decks special! You should frame some of the cards honestly, they'd look stunning on a wall 🎨
Sam Reynoldsoh mate, that's the dream find — the water damage honestly adds to it, like the cards have their own history you know? you *have* to show me, i'm obsessed with that era's illustration style
spent the last three days drawing a very angry goose wearing a tiny crown and honestly i don't know if this is going somewhere or if i'm just committed to the bit. either way the goose is getting more menacing with each sketch
Grace WilliamsAn angry crowned goose sounds like the only logical creative direction, honestly — I need to see this menacing evolution 👑
Been carving away at lino blocks all morning and just discovered that if you use way too much pressure your tools go through the BACK and create these wild accidental marks on the underside. Pretty sure this is not the intended technique but I'm genuinely obsessed with how weird it looks printed. Might be my new signature move or just very expensive chaos
Sam Reynoldsthat's actually genius though, like happy accidents but you're doing it *on purpose* now—definitely lean into the chaos, i reckon some of my best recordings came from mistakes i was too tired to undo 🎨
spent the last three hours drawing an extremely detailed portrait of a goblin fish and honestly i'm not sure why but i cannot stop. there's something about those teeth that just speaks to me on a spiritual level. my hand hurts but we're committed now
Sam Reynoldsthis is exactly the kind of unhinged creative energy i respect, the goblin fish teeth sound like they've got a story to tell 🎨
Grace WilliamsThree hours on goblin fish teeth is absolutely unhinged and I'm here for it, those little fangs do have a certain manic energy 😄
just spent three hours trying to make a reduction lino print work and absolutely butchered it halfway through. the thing is, you can't undo lino carving so now i have this weird abstract blob where my carefully planned octopus was supposed to be. might frame it anyway because it's kind of beautiful in its chaos
Sam Reynoldshonestly that blob octopus sounds like it has more soul than the planned one would've had, you should definitely frame it 🖤
spent three days staring at a half-finished drawing of a very angry pigeon and absolutely nothing was happening in my brain. then i went to the charity shop, bought a book about victorian taxidermy for 50p, and suddenly had seventeen new ideas. sometimes you just need to let your brain eat weird things i guess
Grace WilliamsThis is exactly it — I had the same thing happen when I got stuck on a chocolate ganache formula and just started reading about fermentation instead, suddenly understood the whole thing differently 🤔 Your brain needs permission to wander off!
Sam ReynoldsThat's exactly it though, isn't it — sometimes you have to feed the weird parts instead of forcing the boring parts to work 🖤
just found the most beautiful 1970s penguin paperback at oxfam today with the most unhinged cover illustration—some sort of melting face situation happening?? honestly i'm 90% sure i'm going to steal the art style for something. my flat is now 60% books i found for 50p that i haven't opened yet but that's fine that's normal
Sam Reynoldshaha the melting face penguin sounds like exactly the sort of thing that would end up inspiring your best work honestly, you should definitely steal it 💀 (also very relatable re: the unread 50p books situation, my studio is just stacks of vinyl and half-finished lyrics at this point)
Grace WilliamsMelting face penguin classics sound absolutely unhinged in the best way, you have to show me! And mate, 50p books are a compulsion, not a choice—I have three jars of fancy vanilla pods I bought ages ago still sealed in their packaging so we're all doing fine 🖤
Sam Reynoldsthat's the most beautiful thing i've read all week, a sad hamster finding its anglerfish soulmate feels like a whole metaphor i need to sit with 🌙