I'm back with another edition of 15 under 50! Its been a weird last couple of months personally, filled with both wonderful and uh not so wonderful things. I've been trying my best to get in a better place mentally this year, and some days I feel as though I'm truly making it. I feel like me, productive and filled with joy for the small things but others just oof. I'm really struggling with brain fog, I'm not sure if its a result of having covid in January or simply the amount of anxiety and grief I've dealt with this year. I tend towards the latter because it does seem to lift when I'm doing better. My coping skills have (unfortunately for my bank account) turned back towards collecting and I have a really nice vinyl collection now as well as too many books to fit on my bookshelves, oops! Towards the end of October, there was an incident where I had to call the cops because two young men were at the end of my driveway yelling hateful things and then *coincidentally* like 30 minutes later, my pride flag that I've had attached to my house since 2020 ended up missing for the second time in the last few months. I live alone and I'll be honest, it shook the heck out of me. I live in a pretty quiet neighborhood, I have a fenced yard and I live pretty far off the road. Having to make a formal statement to the state attorney's office for a hate crime was not on my 2023 bingo card. I actually got my flag back, but I'm scared to put it back up and I'm still waiting for updates on the case (which is frustrating to get info on because they are minors). It makes me so sad that some people have so much hate in their hearts, however I was pleasantly surprised at my neighbors who offered support, protection, and assistance for what was honestly a really unsettling evening. On the nice side of things, I've also really gotten back into Neopets?? Talk about nostalgia. I'm also currently fully flung into winter and holiday preparations, because I figured it would bring joy. I've been fully wrapped into listening to Sabrina Carpenter's new holiday album Fruitcake and the playful unserious tone of most of it is exactly what I need in my life. BUT also, this mysterious canine respiratory illness going around?? I don't need a dog pandemic to worry about Also took Seren and I's holiday photos last weekend! So be on the lookout for those in December! So, that's me, struggling to keep my head above water on some days and floating effortlessly on others.
And now onto the art!
Trying to get back onto a DD feature roll, it's not happening yet, but I've already scheduled 4 DDs for December, so that's something. Hope you enjoy the art I've featured over the last few months!
Also, one that the artist set to watchers only after I featured it: https://www.deviantart.com/osphilia/art/Zoe-by-Julien-Sunye-on-www-OSPHILIA-CO-968473642
I wanted to share some lovely Autumnal pieces I've come across recently - some spooky and some sweet (and a few that I would argue are both)! Autumn is my favorite season, and we've finally gotten a couple of cooler mornings recently that have really put me in the mood - for Fall that is. I hope you enjoy I have a couple more fun things to share soon!
She's bacccckkkk~
But for real, sorry for the extended break on 15 under 50. I was really not doing well from a mental standpoint for a bit there. Too many hard things for my brain to deal with, and it just genuinely didn't feel like it was ever going to get better. However, I have made a sincere effort to MAKE it get better. I have been trying to do things I enjoy again, as well as working harder to take care of myself. I was looking at life as "which hurdle do I have to clear next?" but a friend reminded me that this wasn't the way to look at life. I went and finally saw the Barbie movie in theaters, I went to a photography presentation with a friend, I'm getting into embroidery for the first time, and I even made myself an Autumn moodboard to get the most out of the season (Fall is my fave, like most basic girls out there lol). All of those things brought a lot of happiness to me. I'm also enjoying the day to day, listening to vinyl, cooking dinner, going on walks with Seren (hopefully it will get cooler soon), and getting into watching some great seasonal movies and tv shows. I recently watched Haunting of Bly Manor and I'm making my way through Haunting of Hill House, both of which I found intimidating before because I'm not good with jump-scares or visually intense scenes. However, I had heard they were really worth it for the storyline and emotion behind them and I could not agree more. I also decided to start keeping a journal of "three good things" from each day, which honestly I thought sounded a little eye-roll worthy, but it's actually really made me think about the day-to-day in a different way. I also researched and found a therapist who I plan on contacting if/when things get bad again. It's been a journey, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
And my little collage of the past couple of months:
I also did two features for team in the past few months, they've been themed around different "aesthetics," and I've been getting a lot of joy from doing them. The first was for Cottagecore and the second was for Vaporwave, I hope you check them out and enjoy them! I have another one coming up in October, this time themed around Dark Academia! I'm still debating on the next theme, but it seems like steampunk has been a popular suggestion, so I think that might be the way to go
And now for some art!