Some pretty intense April showers…

 

…are hopefully bringing us a TON of May flowers!

We had some pretty intense thunderstorms this week – my road was completely flooded, and the stream across from us burst its banks and essentially turned the entire field across from our house into a river (seriously, there were huge logs floating downstream through the field). It was crazy! I’m still surprised that we didn’t lose power or our internet during the storm.

 

Maddie Mondays

Since spring is FINALLY here for good, I’ve had fun spending time with my mom doing some plant shopping. When my parents moved to a new house two months ago, my mom was nice enough to give me some of her large pots from her old yard. With the weather warming up, I’ve been dying to get some color and life back in Sugar Springs!

Of course, no project is ever simple when I’m involved, so I had to take it a step further and paint the pots as well! I didn’t do anything crazy, but my gray house was clashing with the slightly yellowed pots. So, I applied a light coat of watered down gray paint, and they look great! The lovely aging is still visible, but it’s no longer clashing.

I also FINALLY ordered a rain barrel with a hose hook up, so no more watering all my plants with a tiny little watering can. In past summers, my plants have struggled a bit because the watering can just couldn’t get them enough water, so I’m really hoping finally having a hose will help with that!

My parents also gave us some shelves from their old garage, which has been extremely helpful in getting my chaotic back room all organized and cleaned out. I have a feeling this is going to hugely help with my DIY projects, now that I know where everything is.

I now know, for example, that I have about 200 more paintbrushes than I thought, and I pretty much NEVER need to buy sandpaper again. Needless to say, I have a much better inventory of all my supplies, and it’ll be easy to find them for whatever project I have going on. (So maybe this means I’ll start busting through some major Maddie Monday projects? Who knows!)

 

Green Rider: First Rider’s Call

The campaign was a success!

We did it, guys! We hit and exceeded our base goal for the First Rider’s Call soundtrack! We raised $57,481.30 – woohoo! I’m so excited to get started on these images. It’s been so fun brainstorming with you all on stream, and I’m looking forward to bringing them to life with you!

Patreon

Now that the fundraising campaign for the Green Rider project has ended, I can refocus on Patreon. And I’m starting by bringing back the patron-only streams!

This week, we did a brainstorming sketch for the next Passages series scene, “Differences.” I really love brainstorming with my patrons, because they always think of things I never would. Since the main point of “Differences” is to show multiple viewpoints, I’ll be creating two costumes (one dress, one pants) for this series. My patrons helped me develop the dress design during our brainstorm session this week, and, guys, I’m in love. I never like the first sketch when I’m developing a new concept. But between my patrons’ brilliant ideas and some inspiration we found on Pinterest, I finalized the dress’s silhouette. It’s so pretty! This is going to be, well, different from the series we’ve done so far, but I’ll get into that more below.

Right now, as we wrap up the Thistle edits, I have a poll going to help me choose the title of this series. I pull inspiration from quotes that talk about the themes of each scene, and then my patrons get to choose. Anyone in the $5 and above tiers get access to all the polls, so come check it out if you’d like to have a say in Thistle’s naming!

In addition to polls and exclusive live streams, I post weekly updates on both Passages and First Rider’s Call – and my patrons usually get the news before everyone else. If you want to be “in the know” before the rest of the world, come hang out with us over there! All tiers (including the $1 introductory tier) get these updates, so you’ll never be left out.

Passages

The story I want “Differences” to tell is that there are always different ways of looking at beliefs and issues, different ways of solving problems, and just different ways in general of doing things. In the brainstorming stage, I’ll be working on Differences exclusively on Patreon. I’m really excited to dive into this one!

I’m editing the last few images of Thistle on stream (don’t you just love the sneak peak I included in this email??), and I would love for you to join me to see how it all turns out!