Thoughts Awry

Also considering trying black tea and coffee. We have curly dock all over the yard too, which is apparently supposed to make a pretty creamy tan color. Plus there is sumac everywhere around here, like literally lining the side of every road, so I might go out and gather some of that too. Yarrow too, all over the side of every road.

One of my garden beds has been completely taken over by sheep sorrel, chicory, and mustard, but I think it's too late for the sheep sorrel because I'm pretty sure you want to use the seed heads for dye? Which are already dead here (and boy am I probably going to regret letting those go to seed later, oops).

There is also so so SO much elderberry and pokeberry in the back, but from what I've read the dyes from those aren't lightfast at all so idk if they're worth bothering with? and there's also a chokecherry tree back there (with a huge pokeberry trying to suffocate the life out of it lol). We have a good amount of aster growing wild around here too but it's the blue-ish puple-y kind? Not sure if that type produces different colors or not, but I know flower color doesn't necessarily indicate dye color at all.

I let it sit "overnight" (during the day while I slept) because I didn't get done with this until like 4 am and was not about to stay up even longer waiting for the dye pot to cool down lol. Read somewhere that letting it dry fully before you rinse it off helps the color fix better? idk if that's true but trying it only costs me a bit of patience so why not ig.

ngl I was terrified that I felted the whole batch into one big blob of wool because at one point I walked into the other room to go do something else while the stove was set to a temperature that would normally NEVER get hot enough to boil, only to come back and see that it was bubbling a bit. Immediately pulled it off the heat until it cooled enough to stop doing that and had a mini heart attack the whole time about it. Lesson learned, water full of wool and flower pigment can apparently start to boil a bit at a lower stove setting than plain water???

Now the question is... can I realistically use this dye bath for another batch???

AVES

Some extinct birds . poster available for prints and other items HERE

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ICHTHYOSAURIA

This chart shows only some members of the Ichthyosauria lineage featured on my video dedicated to Ichthyosaurs and relatives. You can see many more there. This composition is now also available at REdbubble for Prints, T-Shirts and more

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PALEOGENE PERIOD World Map (Medieval Bestiary Series)

This map is inspired in old cartography, presenting the animals that lived at that time in a stylized way, imagining how medieval artists would had drawn them. 🌎 It's been a while since I covered the Mesozoic and Permian. Those are also available at Redbubble, as this one is now too🌍

this artwork is available fopr prints, t-shirts and much more here

Instagram (new account):  @mariolanzaspeciosus

MOSASAURIA.

Mosasaurs were the third main lineage of Marine Reptiles of the Mesozoic, and the last one. They diversified throughout the late Cretaceous period, and were the dominant predators of the oceans until they became extict at the same time with Dinosaurs. Their evolutive lineage is not totally clear, but we know the are related to snakes and monitor lizards

This art is available at Redbubble for prints and more here. Many more are shown in this Youtube video I dedicated to this lineage of marine reptiles

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TEMNOSPONDYLI

Temnospondyls were a diverse group of early Tetrapods related to modern Amphibians. They originated in the Carboniferous Period, and became very prolific until the end of the Triassic. The last one known survived until the early Cretaceous.

This poster is now available for prints and more HERE. Some more are also included in THIS VIDEO I dedicated to these animals

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SPINOSAURIDAE

Some member of the longfaced theropod family. some more are included in the VIDEO I dedicated to them in my secondary channel.

These posters are available for prints and more at Redbubble too

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DIPLODOCOIDEA

Diplodocoidea were a group of Sauropod Dinosaurs known for their long tails. Many more Sauropods of all families are included on THIS VIDEO. This poster is now also available for PRINTS and more HERE

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''The cow with a pearl earring''

I painted this for my mother's birthday this year

A 22-month-old female scaredy cat tiger appeared to get the shock of her young life when she encountered a dead leaf floating on a pool of water in the Bandhavgarh National Park, India. Clearly unusure about just what was approaching her, the partially submerged youngster’s tail shot up in the air and with teeth bared she let out her most fearsome growl - all in an effort to scare the humble leaf away.

Wanting something requires dopamine signaling, but liking something doesn’t.

If you have a mental illness/disorder that affects dopamine, you might feel that you don’t want to do the things that you like. You do still like them. You will appreciate having done them.

Let your likes guide you.

(If you want to read more, here’s one experimental paper about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5171207/ This theory called the incentive-sensitization theory was originally created to explain behaviors in addiction but can be applied elsewhere as well)

I thought about just tagging this 'nuff said, but it's not.

I want to say something to all of the women under 50 on this site. Ready? You do not have to be over 50 to start taking up space.