Paint is Evil

Here are some recent paintings. The above is my favourite. Just two people. There they are.

I decided to do some rough paintings recently just to relax but also to feel like I was "creating something" without putting much thought into it. Just feeling the paint move around and make rough, dry marks and kinda get everywhere. As soon as I've painted some nonsense in a day I start to feel like I'm a real person and I did something. After that I can eat noodles and browse Amazon for hair clips with skulls on them for 45 minutes.

One thing I always notice is that if I haven't painted much in a while I'll try to move slowly for more control. It takes a little while to loosen up and remind myself that big, quick, sweeping movements work better for me most of the time. I gotta work with the chaotic movement of paint. The paint knows what it wants.

The paint wants to be evil, and I'm gonna let it.

 

Little Star 🌟

I decided to try and recreate the little star person avatar I always use with these photos, since a while ago I saw people recreating their avatars and I thought it seemed like a cute idea. It would've been cool to figure out a way to make my amazing paper star light up (maybe position the fairy lights here in such a way that one of them could light up the star), but a paper star on its own will do.

I'm wearing what is clearly a summer outfit, but that's because its hot at every moment of my life still. Hopefully soon I will turn into the large pumpkin with long, thick drapes for a body. Until then, simply pluck an acorn from my bellybutton and respect the acid wash shorts.

I really love this top btw, it's from New Look, and is so well fitted it truly shocks me. A rare occurrence. Tank tops frequently make me feel a bit too exposed but I think that's partly because I've worn some extremely thin and not very well fitting ones in the past. This one: 1. fits, & 2. is thick enough to feel like real clothing. So my high standards have finally been met.

I've been thinking about cutting my hair short lately (to be free from its mass), but on the other hand: hair down to the ankles would be funny and cool, and I could start a long hair Instagram and probably go on This Morning and say "yes Phillip Scofield, my hair is long as hell". So, the decision is tough.

 One day I'll figure it out.

Back-to-School Bunny! | Kawaii Box ♡ Review & Giveaway・°☆

✶✵ This post contains items gifted to me for review purposes. ✵✶

So I was sent another Kawaii Box, and this one, the September edition, is super interesting because not only have they gone for a "back to school" theme, but they've also made some of this stuff themselves! 

Not these Corocoro Coronya stickers though, that's Sanrio doing their powerful work and making a bread cat just for me. Extremely cute and powerful.

Naturally, we have some prime school supplies here: these gummi bear themed pencils, and an Amuse lipstick eraser.

Here are the Corocoro Coronya stickers inside their packaging, and my personal favourite thing, Sumikko Gurashi blueberry yogurt gummies. They're delicious. Japanese gummies absolutely knock me dead with how good they are. I need a year's supply. Please.

Now let's take a look at the in-house stuff from Blippo (creators of the Kawaii Box). You may have seen their cute, fun design aesthetic on the Kawaii Box itself, but here it comes to life on a cool notebook featuring a paper doll. Who is she?

Here she is again on a nice little luggage tag, and there's also a neat little folder which has a design featuring a bunch of stuff from previous kawaii boxes! I still have the fish charm (shown bottom right) attached to a backpack.

And finally, here we have Blippo's own sleepy bunny plush. Do not wake him.

It's really cool and interesting that this box features some specially-made Blippo items. The bunny, folder, notebook, and tag are all well made and designed. I also think the bunny may have secret powers...

Anyway, if you'd like to win your own Kawaii Box, please enter via the widget below!
Entry is open worldwide - good luck! :o

Lilly Ashton Kawaii Box Giveaway

Reading Comics on my Nintendo Switch | Inkypen Review

When I found out there was a comics reading app for the Nintendo Switch, I was intrigued and immediately badgered Inkypen, after reading some of the free stuff available on the app, about writing a little review of their service. So the generous Inkypen Gods bestowed upon me a gratuitous subscription, and I delved into their selection of comics on my Switch Lite, like a "literary" "gamer". 

Panels from the incredible Harrow County, by Cullen Bunn & Tyler Crook.

I started waking up and reading comics for an hour every morning, and it felt so natural and fun reading on the Switch screen. The movement is really fluid, with buttons you can press for a quick zoom out/zoom in to see full double page spreads and detail as necessary. It turns out it feels really good to navigate a comic with a joystick.

Sir, please look at my Nintendo Switch. Sir?

The selection available on Inkypen is perhaps modest, but full of cool things. I found plenty of unique and fascinating comics to read on there after noodling around for a while.

Some of my favourites include: 

• Harrow County - a witchy, rural fairytale, beautifully illustrated in watercolours
• Marilyn's Monsters - a dark and ethereal comic telling the story of a strange Marilyn Monroe
• The Umbrella Academy - a compelling, angular, and sometimes silly alt. superhero story

The "my comics" page shows stuff I've read.

There's a nice little selection of manga on there too, although I haven't checked out too much of it yet, but I have been enjoying a bit of I Am Here! - for this page alone:

Me, prior to making this post.

All in all, it's been extremely fun reading comics on my Switch, perusing Inkypen's selection, and finding little gems. The Switch feels like the perfect device to read comics on and the experience is formatted so well here, I love it. It's the perfect size to be a cosy, portable comics reader - big enough for visual clarity, and possessing buttons and joysticks to make it a pleasantly tactile and unique comic-reading experience.

I'm excited to keep reading and finding strange and wonderful comics. It's been super inspiring just looking at the lush, detailed panels in Harrow County. It's so spooky and good.

Me doing my important reading.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to read the X-Files comics that they have on here. 

They really should have done this for the Game Boy Advance SP though, honestly. Truly.

One of my favourite panels from The Umbrella Academy.

AT THE FARM WITH MY FRIENDS

In early August I went to a big farm with my friends. It was good. I took Instax pictures of everyone and saw a real fruit with my own eyes.

Eric and Natalie's shed time. They see sheds and they relax.

When we got there we spent a very long time among the raspberries (scoping out those raspberries). There were many raspberries. Really, too many raspberries. I did find treasure in the raspberry crops in the form of a small personalised pen with the name "William" on it.

Jo collects an onion (for good luck).

Later, we discovered "other crops", like big marrow. Very exciting.

Cucumber boy in his natural habitat.

Not quite as exciting, however, as the moment we finally discovered the strawberries. By this point, we had been on the farm for hours and were getting very thirsty because it was hot as hell. The strawberries were the most juicy and perfectly sweet strawberries I've ever tasted. All other fruits and vegetables were, at this point, nothing to me. I shun them all for the sweet and delcious strawberry. The greatest of fruits. The sheer bliss of finding strawberries was truly a powerful moment for all of us. We became nothing but our base instincts at the sight of the strawberries.

Going home with a formidable basket of farm delights.

We also wandered through the corn field, and I do have the sense that I belong in a corn field, on some level. I was comforted by the corn.

Natalie shows me that she has thumbs.

After our strawberry shock, we finally left the farm with all our fruits and vegetables and got some necessary drinks at the farm shop. I guzzled a bottle of coke and felt my ghost return to my body (being outside makes my ghost start to leave my body, don't worry about it).

In the corn field.

The farm was very big and good, although one suggestion I would make is for them to put sofas in. Just a few sofas in the corn field please.

Cool marrow. Really nice marrow.

I ended up with a nice punnet of raspberries and strawberries, a few cucumbers and corn cobs, and a little onion, although tragically the strawberries got all bashed around on the way home. A sad fate. They ended up making some nice flavoured, icy water though, which was very appreciated in the heat.

Henry gets ready to fight me among the raspberries.

Anyway, if you need me, I will be where the strawberries are.

Natalie locating and closing in on raspberries, like a Terminator (for finding raspberries).

Sanrio Delights | Kawaii Box ♡ Review & Giveaway・°☆

✶✵ This post contains items gifted to me for review purposes. ✵✶

After reviewing the June edition of Blippo's Kawaii Box last month, they very kindly sent me the July box to check out too, so here are my big, important thoughts on that!

First of all, the fun thing about this edition is that it's Sanrio themed, so I was pretty excited to see a whole bunch of my favourite Sanrio characters in here! The standout item for me was the Little Twin Stars pouch (pictured above). It's so cute, and I have a soft spot for a cosy bag charm that can double up as a little extra space to store small things.

Next up, I found some Gudetama snacks. A powerful elixir. Restorative.

There also were some Little Twin Stars socks, which I have to rate highly if only for the little hands they have. Beautiful.

Another two things I loved were these matching sets of My Melody sticky notes and page markers. I use a lot of sticky notes, so I'm always very excited to see some of these, and it was really nice to get a little matching set like this. Extremely cute.

Next, there was some washi tape with a super cute and relaxing design. Another adorable and useful piece of stationery.

One of the cutest things in the box was this cat pen. Look at it. It's holding a beautiful little cheese. I wish the best for this cat. And lastly, we have some Hello Kitty sweets. They have a tasty strawberry filling - yum!

So overall it was a super enjoyable box of fun stuff, I like the sticky notes and pouch the most, and I hope that cat keeps its cheese forever. If you'd like to win your own Kawaii Box, please enter via the widget below (and perhaps you will obtain your own cheese - wow).

Lilly Ashton Kawaii Box Giveaway

Gorgeous Paintings

Here's some paintings from recently. A bunch of weird guys. No, they're normal. Normal guys. Little unruly blobs. I've really loved painting with the green/blue combo. It makes such a nice colour. Reminds me of the sea at its most powerful and beautiful.

My Journal Can't Defeat Me

I decided on a whim to make some collages recently.

My journal tries to stop me, without knowing that I cannot be stopped. My problem is that glue sticks don't work on it, and neither does tape, really. Tape just tentatively begins to peel off after a while. It's like it has a forcefield against sticky things. But I just brute force it with enough tape and SOME of it will stick. So that's how I win (smiling devil emoji).

Anyway, I had some nice crumply, floral pink paper, so I painted hurried creature shapes all over it with the big brain idea to cut them out later and make little collages with them. It's nice to have a big painted thing to stick in. I feel powerful doing it. "Here this goes," I say, like some kind of muscled He-Man. All artists look like that when they are at home, alone. Trust me.

It's the hurriedness that was really the best element, I think. It's the best way to paint with a thick brush. Like you have to do it fast, because time is of the essence for some reason. You're robbing a bank with your paintbrush, maybe. I don't know. It's good, is all.

This bunny is satisfied. I promise.