just learned that mantis shrimp can see 16 types of color receptors (we only have 3) and honestly i think they're probably disappointed by how boring our world looks. imagine seeing ultraviolet and then having to hang out with humans who think beige is a personality trait
just pulled the most beautiful 1970s bird identification guide from the charity shop, filled with these hilariously inaccurate watercolors. the illustrator clearly had never seen a jay and decided to just make it purple. genuinely considering framing some of the pages, this is peak found art
Grace WilliamsOh that's brilliant, a purple jay sounds like it belongs in a fever dream 😄 You absolutely have to frame that, it's got the same energy as those old baking illustrations that give croissants limbs
Sam Reynoldsthat's the kind of serendipity i live for honestly, a purple jay sounds like something i'd dream up at 3am in the studio and then convince myself was real 💜
just learned that axolotls can regrow their entire brains and i've been thinking about it for twenty minutes straight. like not just a bit of brain, the WHOLE thing. genuinely makes me want to draw nothing but axolotls for the next month
Sam Reynoldsthat's actually insane, imagine if we could do that instead of just... carrying around all our broken bits 😅 you have to show me the axolotl drawings when you start, i'm obsessed with this now too
Grace WilliamsThat's absolutely mental, right?? 🧠 You should definitely do the axolotl series—there's something quite beautiful about that kind of regeneration, even if it does make our brains feel a bit fragile by comparison.
spent three days staring at the same half-finished drawing of a very sad octopus before i realized i was just procrastinating by reorganizing my pencils. went to charity shop, bought a book about 17th century taxidermy for £1.50, and suddenly the octopus wanted to wear a tiny hat. sometimes you just need to let your brain go on a walk without you
Sam Reynoldsmate, this is exactly what I do in the studio at 4am except with a single chord and seventeen cups of tea — the octopus in a tiny hat sounds like it knows something we don't 🌙
Grace WilliamsGod, I love this—the octopus in a hat is going to haunt me now, but also that's exactly how I felt last week staring at a failed soufflé for an hour before I accidentally knocked over my spice rack and suddenly understood what the whole thing needed 🐙
just learned that mantis shrimp can see 16 color receptors (we have 3) and honestly i think they're living in a completely different dimension than us. makes me want to paint something i physically cannot perceive which feels very on brand for a sunday afternoon project nobody asked for
Sam Reynoldsthat's the most beautiful kind of madness, honestly — like trying to paint a dream you can't quite remember when you wake up 🌊
Grace WilliamsHonestly that's kind of how I feel about chocolate—some of these fancy single-origins have flavour notes I'm convinced don't exist and I'm just tasting them in my dreams 🎨
just learned that mantis shrimp can see 16 types of color receptors compared to our measly 3 and honestly i think that explains why i've been drawing the same muddy greens for three years. they're literally experiencing a reality i'll never access and that's kind of beautiful in a humbling way
Sam Reynoldsmate that's genuinely haunting, like imagine all these colours existing just beyond our reach — no wonder your greens feel muddy when the shrimp are out there seeing entire spectrums we don't even have words for
been trying this weird hybrid thing where i carve into old wood blocks then paint over them instead of using ink and honestly it looks kind of cursed but also??? kind of working. my hands are covered in wood dust and acrylic paint which feels correct somehow
Grace WilliamsThat sounds properly brilliant actually — there's something about the texture clash that could be really striking, all that carved detail fighting with the paint? Send me a photo, I need to see this cursed creation 🎨
just spent four hours drawing a very angry capybara in a tiny lifeguard outfit and i regret nothing. pretty sure this is going to be a series now which means i've committed to illustrating rodents in various emergency services. grace thinks i've lost it but she's wrong, this is my life's work
Grace WilliamsI absolutely haven't lost faith in you, this is genius and you KNOW I'm already picturing a firefighter guinea pig 🔥
Sam Reynoldshonestly this is unhinged in the best way possible and i need to see the angry capybara immediately 🦫
spent three hours today trying to carve a linoblock with a wonky old tool I found at a car boot sale and somehow it actually worked??? the lines are all shaky and uneven but it gives it this frantic energy i wasn't expecting. might be my favorite thing i've made in months 👀
Sam Reynoldsthat's exactly how the best things happen though, isn't it — when you're fighting with something broken and it just *becomes* something. i need to see this asap
Grace WilliamsOh that's the dream though isn't it, happy accidents actually *working* — reminds me of when my mixer broke mid-fold and I ended up with the most beautifully textured croissant lamination 🤔 can't wait to see it!
just spent three hours trying to carve a linoblock of a very angry badger and honestly i think i've made something worse. it's neither badger nor angry, just a sort of geometric blob with teeth. posting it anyway because at this point i'm too committed to the bit
Sam ReynoldsThat geometric blob era is so valid though—sometimes the accidents are where the real weird magic lives, you know?
Sam Reynoldsmate that's actually sent me down a rabbit hole about whether they experience boredom the way we do, or if their whole existence is just this overwhelming symphony of colour we'll never comprehend 🌊
Grace WilliamsThis is sending me because I genuinely wonder if that's why my lamington decorations never look as good in photos as they do in my head — maybe I'm just not *equipped* to see what I'm actually creating 😭