Here’s some commissions I completed today for Mwako. I’m really happy with them!
🍄 Artwork is © 2023 by Marina Neira McKinzie. You may NOT copy, color, reference, repost or use this artwork in any way or claim it as your own. Only the commissioner/giveaway winner & those featured in the artwork may repost with credit and following my Terms of Use.
Here’s my early wish to a happier year for everyone who follows me. It would be disingenuous to tell ourselves that our problems will be solved at the stroke of midnight tomorrow, and I have to say, if we have even some sense of normalcy returning by July 2021, I’ll feel infinitely grateful. In this winter of our times, I believe we still have a good few difficult, cold months ahead. But if I squint a little, I can already see a glimmer of hope in the horizon. I hope you can see it, too.
I leave you with the lyrics to the opening song of one of my favorite Disney sequels, which inspired this drawing and has both lifted my spirits during sad times and made me smile during happy ones with the reassuring reminder that yes, things worked out in the end, and will again.
Under the snow, beneath the frozen streams,
There is life…
You’ll have to know, when nature sleeps she dreams,
There is life…
And the colder the winter, the warmer the spring,
The deeper the sorrow, the more our hearts sing,
Even when you can’t see it, inside everything,
There is life…
After the rain, the sun will reappear,
There is life…
After the pain, the joy will still be here,
There is life…
For it’s out of the darkness that we learn to see,
And out of the silence that songs come to be,
And all that we dream of awaits patiently,
There is life.
Songwriter: Friedman David Allen
There Is Life lyrics © Walt Disney Music Co. Ltd.
Lately, as in the past few months (or maybe it’s been during the duration of the pandemic?) my motivation for really basic things like doing my chores, showering, going out for a walk, has been really low. It’s almost painful. I still do these things every day just as I should. But it’s hard.
Today I had to go grocery shopping, it couldn’t be put off anymore. So I made myself get up and shower early, and did all the chores I could in the morning, and off I went, and got it done, and now I already have everything put away so that’s a relief.
Tomorrow we will make burgers and hot dogs and greet the New Year with people from “our bubble” that we have either been hanging out with already, or Christopher has been seeing due to work. I got chips and dips and drinks. I’m excited to end the year on a high note.
Last night I was really at a loss as to what to make for dinner. We were out of most things. But I defrosted some beef, substituted onions for shallots and butter for margarine, and with Mojito’s help somehow managed to scrounge up meatballs with mac ‘n cheese for Christopher.
Yesterday I got a huge number of posts moved from Instagram to the blog. It’s still such a small amount… from almost 2,000 posts I am down to 1,778. You may think it’s a pointless thing to do, but Instagram was my diary. I want to get away from that toxic atmosphere without losing all those memories.
Today, though, I have a Zoom call with my mom and commissions to work on. I leave you with some slimy bois:
Having a drink:
