°❀⋆.❀Flower Beds & Glowing Teeth⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Hi friends, Kandarchists, slackers, and stud-muffins! How are we doing? Happy Friday. How was your week? Did you do anything fun? Did you get to enjoy some spring weather? The weather here has been all over the place and it has decided to continue freezing at night which has made my seasonal plants VERY unhappy. My whole table is filled with all the plants that I could physically pick up and take inside… and every night I have to wrap the ones in the ground because IT IS TOO DAMN COLD! My poor plant babies. Speaking of gardening, THIS week I volunteered at the Arts Council and fixed up their back courtyard garden. It is literally plants in dirt on pavement but it has potential to look incredibly cute. I ripped up all the dead matter, dug up the dirt to loosen the soil a bit, took out a TON of crocosmia bulbs, and then added some plants from my own yard (THEY ARE FREE, DUH), and mulched it all just in time for the artist reception they have tonight! (Pictures are down below, for proof that I kicked ass.)

We did go celebrate my husband’s birthday in Grand Rapids on Saturday and had a really great time. We ended up going to an indoor market that had incredible Greek food (homemade baklava ´ཀ` ), we went to an arcade and played Glow putt-putt, then went shopping and made him buy some things for himself… which he hates doing, and then we went to see a stand-up comedy show that was really good! We’ve only been to one other stand-up show live, but Nate really likes to watch the videos on his phone so it may be something we try to do more in person.

A freaking GIANT, LARGE, BIG, MACHO, INCREDIBLE news for you: My painting, “The Cactus Hollow Hotel” (Remember it, huh, do ya?!), was ACCEPTED into the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Bedford, PA for their Biennial exhibition!!! I’m SO excited! The show begins at the end of July and runs through October. My husband and I have already talked about driving that way (it’s 8.5 hours to Bedford, PA from us) for a quick trip just to SEE MY ART IN AN ART MUSEUM!!! Of course, I want everyone to know… myself included… that this is just the beginning! I should not need the validation from anyone or anything but this acceptance does feel like some kind of proper validation. My art career has just been stuck for the last year or so and I have had a really hard time knowing which direction it should go… hopefully this is a good path to take! Fingers crossed, y’all! ⚔ (Those are swords but it’s kinda the same thing.)

Image captions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th pictures are the proof I did hard work… hopefully the plants will prosper & fill out well! 5th picture is boo & I at glow golf. It was in Grand Rapids and I highly recommend it. It’s a small course but they only allow a certain number of groups playing the holes at a time so it feels quite private! They also have a bunch of arcade games, including free ones, that you can play while you wait for your turn to get on to the course! We will bring our kids next time! Image 6 is a small update about our new bird Cleo (he’s the white one)! He is now in the cage with Leo and is doing incredibly well! They freaking LOVE each other and it is just precious to watch.

Finally, I just want to touch up on the fact that I am no longer on social apps and it feels INCREDIBLE. I’ve been doing a LOT of work on myself and between not drinking, no longer seeing so much negativity online, and keeping myself active, I am starting to see a difference. I do wonder if I am going a little TOO hard… Like, maybe I am trying to distract myself a little too much? How does one find their equilibrium? I keep taking on more projects and saying yes to more things… I’ll sit down only to stand back up. Does anyone else do this? How do you slow yourself down?

Friday Query Corner:

I know I said I was going to nix this part and do something different.. and I will… But I haven’t figured out what that is yet so until then, I’m just going to keep you guessing and you won’t know what this part is going to be because I MAKE THE RULES HERE- MOHAHAHAˊᗜˋ

What have you been listening to lately?

WELL… I’m one that has the same playlist since… essentially middle school. I’ll add some new things every now and again but I'm stuck in the late 90’s-2000’s alternative rock scene & honey…. I don’t want to get out. That being SAID, a newer band that I’ve discovered and freaking love is called PREP. They are an English indie pop group that has really fun, disco-esque vocals with some funky jazz instrument solos that hit home SO GOOD. If you give them a listen, try songs: On & On, Who’s Got You Singing Again, and/or Years Don’t Lie

Be good, y’all, and have a great weekend!

xxx- Kanda 𐦆

────୨ৎA Wallpapered Dressing Room Dream୨ৎ────

Hello, Kandarchists! How is everyone doing? It’s May! Did we survive this week? It has been a crazy one with all the appointments and running around I’ve had to do. I did not do any art this week besides the mini 3D printed Detroit Lion’s Helmet. May is always so busy because of all the May birthdays in my family. Tomorrow’s is my husband’s and, on top of going plant shopping (That’s DEFINITELY for him and NOT me… ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ), I am going to take him out for a night on the town. Maybe putt-putt, maybe drinks (nonalcoholic for me, I have officially gone a month-woot!!) a stand-up comedy special, and maybe some shopping! That fella is my favorite person in the world & I want to make sure he feels celebrated all good and proper.

We went antiquing twice this week. The girls are WAY too good at shopping at these places and always find the best things! This particular time, it was a baby goat named Hetta. She was adorable and tiny and wagged her wee little tail a lot! There also was a meeting this week which nailed down more details for the Art Walk committee’s summer event: Sculpture Garden Shindig - you can read more about it here. I’m also planning on getting down to the Arts Council’s back courtyard garden to clean/spruce it up so if anyone wants to donate money to help make it beautiful, just let me know! >ᴗ<

Images: 1. Beautiful antique set up, I want to live in an antique store. 2. It me 3. A wallpapered dressing room dream. 4. Hetta the tiny antique shop princess. Cover photo of an old (and moody) pencil sharpener on the mustard-colored wall of a chili dog restaurant.

So, tonight I’m going to cut this a little short as it is later than I planned on hopping on here. But I will first remind y’all that beginning next week, I will only be posting on Fridays! And also finish up with another Friday query (though I’m not sure if I like this format and may find something else/a different pull going forward)!

Friday’s Query Corner:

What do you like to do in your leisure time?

I love to read, like I’m sure I’ve already said. I really like to garden. I love to go outside… not to do hard labor but to do easy activities or lay in the sun. I really like going to concert (if they weren’t so darn expensive lately). I love to drive around and visit new places. I also have been really into crossword puzzles. ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜ I highly recommend getting a physical puzzle book and markers and destressing yourself with them every once in a while! I feel like quite the older lady lately because, since staying off of social apps, I’ve been taking a bag of things to do with me everywhere I go. Crosswords, sketchbook, notebook, regular book, and a snack, duh. But literally, I’ll never be bored. And all those things beat the shit out of app scrolling.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆Packets of Seeds & Bookmarks⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Hello, sweet frans. I hope this weekend has been good to you. I was down and out for a couple of days and am still suffering (and sniffling) through some sort of sinus infection but I’m at least working on feeling better. I’ve been doing a lot of work with our area’s Art Walk, the path on which we keep the public art, maintaining as well as documenting and bringing in new artworks/concepts! This whole winter season was dedicated to compiling the correct information for each piece (22 in all?) and THEN we are finalizing a GIS map to help get all this delicious art information to the pedestrians that find themselves in the area. On top of that, this week is FILLED with doctor’s appointments, gymnastics, therapist appointments, PLUS my husband’s birthday Saturday. I’ve been working on painting his Lion’s helmet and am praying it turns out well!

I have a mom friend in the area, who I actually knew growing up, and she is just beginning a floral arrangement business, so she has been selling off low priced bouquets for starters! Oh darn… I have to support a female-operated, hard-working-mom-managed, small business that sells flowers and brings them to me?! Oh. No. How awful.

(Image 1: pretty but way too smelly flowers 〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜 Image 2: My Uncrustable had an infected bullet wound… There was no exit wound but also, I did not eat a bullet so this is a mystery. Image 3: Working on putting together LOTS of free wildflower seed packets to hand out at our Sculpture Shindig later this summer! Cover image is of collaged bookmarks I have been having WAY too much fun making… I have no idea what I am going to do with them but they are purdy.)

I want to let everyone reading this to know that I am so grateful to have you here. Your existence is a light in a world of uncertainty. Your presence is important. Your contribution is powerful.

This shift in the way I get information and share my own experiences has really opened up a different way of critical thinking that makes everything I do feel more deliberate. As I can see the analytics of this blog, I’ve observed that a majority of my readers are only hopping on once a week to read both blogs (which is exactly how I would do it to, tbh…)! And although I keep reiterating that this blog is much more for self-exploration than peer apprising, I am going to be cutting down my blog posting to just once a week- on Fridays! So TODAY will be my last Tuesday post & I will make a longer post once weekly every Friday. I hope you will still join me and I hope you are having a smashing evening! Go eat something yummy.

xxx- Kanda ฅᨐฅ

𓇼 ⋆.˚Current Clime & A Smellfungus⋆.˚ 𓇼

Well, howdy hi! I hope this week was kind to you. It is gradually getting warmer ‘round these parts and I am here for it. Today was the day I officially applied the newest painting (“Butterfly-Finned Sharky”) to an exhibition in Rhode Island - so send out some good juju! I’ll know mid-May. I could really use a career win right about now! Being an artist is tough as it is BUT with the current clime…no one is spending on frivolities, and it shows in all small businesses. I’ve also noticed a lot more people hopping off of Instagram which has me wondering… where are y’all going? Are there better apps that no one is telling me about? I guess that’s fine, don’t tell me. I’d rather stay off of them. I cannot believe how much less time I have spent on my phone since purging those social apps. I’ll go to grab my phone out of habit and then, once remembering I don’t have the apps, I’ll just put it back down. I’ve even found games I didn’t know were on my phone, like one where I have to match a regular word with its fancy synonym. •ᴗ• It was fun for a minute, anyway. I assume everyone was probably much more productive before social apps came about.

I bought a special metallic blue paint for the Detroit Lions mini helmet 3D printed replica I will be working on for my husband’s birthday present. That is next week’s project. And engraving the rock for Sammi’s garden. I will wait a little while to begin my next painting because May is BAT SHIT for our family. My husband’s, mom’s, and daughter’s birthdays are all in the beginning of May and later May usually begins end of school year shenanigans which can turn into a full-time schedule. I haven’t quite figured out what my next painting will be yet, but I’ve got some time to think about it.

‍ ‍

A quick update without jinxing anything: Our new bird, Cleo, seems to be doing well. We had him interact with Leo outside of both their enclosures today and they were so damn cute after they finally settled in next to each other. They both ruffled their feathers as a mutual sign of comfort and companionship. Cleo seems to enjoy hanging upside down like a bat in his enclosure. ツ Keep those fingers crossed that he continues doing well.

Friday Query Corner:

What skill would you most like to learn?

There are SO many things/skills I’d love to learn. To be limitless in knowledge is the goal, right? I’d really like to learn how to put together stained-glass. That’s kind of something that I’ve always thought was gorgeous and such an incredible skill but never really looked in to. Unfortunately, I think it is one of those “hobbies” that you need a lot of specialized tools and equipment for so it may be something I don’t ever get to unless I do a kind of introductory workshop… which I am totally up for, just not a possibility at this time!

Enjoy your weekend, ya scallywags! I hope the sun shines for you!

xxx- Kanda 𖤓

⫘⫘Gold Ticket & A Pup Cup⫘⫘

Hi, friends! New friends, old friends, frenemies, come on in and pull up a seat! Find an especially cozy one! How has everyone been? Are we hanging in there? Listen, the sun is starting to shine again. The earth is brimming with brand new life and, as the foggy winter blues clear, a new positive energy is shifting. I love when it stays lighter later. I love when it’s warmer in the evening and you can hear the insects and birds singing late into the evening. I miss them in the quiet of the winter.

I was able to finish my “Butterfly-Finned Sharky” 11×14” acrylic painting yesterday and I’m SO excited to share it with you! I think it looks fabulous! I will be applying this piece to an exhibition in Rhode Island this Friday and will know next month on this piece. After this piece, I am taking a small pause on artwork to work on a few personal projects that are for my husband’s birthday (which always sneaks up in the beginning of May). I will be painting him an accurate mini Detroit Lions helmet figurine that was 3D printed AND I’m going to engrave a memorial garden stone for our Sammi and her corner (which is this summer’s project.) I ALSO grabbed an assload of mulch and will be getting down and dirty for Earth day tomorrow! After I spread the mulch, my front flower beds will be totally ready for this season! Then I get to hit the greenhouse… and greenhouse day is up there with Christmas. >ᴗ< Our favorite is Countryside Greenhouse in Allendale, MI. I HIGHLY recommend checking them out if you live in the area and haven’t already. They are Disney World for plant people!

Pictured above: (1) Newest painting all finished (2) Ozzy enjoying a pup cup (3) August better watch out for me ˶•̀ ᎑-˶ (4) We got our nails did while visiting my folks, mine is GLOW IN THE DARK ORANGE. It doesn’t actually glow… unless you have a black light! (The cover photo is the golden ticket for my pet portrait! I’m donating an 8×10” pet portrait to the silent auction at our Arts Council fundraiser next month and this is the ticket that the winner gets in order to redeem the painting!)

This year, a goal of mine has been to make more in-person connections. It has been really difficult for me, honestly, my entire adult life to make/keep friends. I know a lot of people have that same issue and it SUCKS, right? How did this happen to us? Our lives are busy as hell. We have families, jobs, responsibilities, etc., and if we have to actively work at keeping friendships strong… they will most likely take the back-burner. Because we don’t need ANOTHER thing to work at. BUT making friends means trying to be a better friend… which actually scares the shit out of me. Even in school, I was always the reliant friend that was there when you needed someone. It took me WAY too long to realize that it was never mutual. Since I’ve moved on from cough multiple cough toxic friendships, I’ve wondered if there is something about me and the way I approach a relationship that subsequently turns me into a doormat. Because of this, I’ve been really wary to go above and beyond for people I consider friends or even people I love. But I don’t want to be the person afraid of connections and I DEFINITELY want to have more people to do fun shit with.

Phhewww, on another note. Nova’s new bird, poor Aviana, must have had something wrong with her from the pet store… She passed away last night after acting really strangely all weekend. We kind of thought she was brooding/in heat. Then last night, she could not even stand up properly and could not keep her eyes open. We HOPED she was just exhausted from behaving oddly. But after checking on her in the night, she had passed quickly. I ALSO want it known that PetSmart makes you bring in the animal carcass to get the warranty which I think is archaic af… and also traumatizing to my poor 10 year old daughter. She wanted to bury her next to her other bird. ☹ She now has a new one, his name is Cleo, and I’m not showing him to you just in case I am jinxing anything. Keep your fingers crossed, y’all! And behave yourself this week. A friendly reminder NOT TO MOW YOUR LAW YET. Just heckin’ take it easy!! Sit back. Relax. Let those early pollinators get those early flowers!

xxx- Kanda ✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆Flooded Roads and Butterfly Fins⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Happy wet Friday, friends! (That’s not meant to be gross >ᴗ<) We, here in Michigan, have been getting DRENCHED and though today was a lovely, sun-soaked day, we have gotten so much rain in the last week that all the areas are flooding and everyone is dealing with water in their basements… and swimming pools for yards. Bridges are under water. Roads have been flooded! It’s crazy. We are currently out of town visiting family, and I’m worried with all the rain we are still supposed to get this weekend; we’ll need a boat to get us home. What’s really strange is that I have been having dreams, for quite some time, about water over roads and not being able to go farther because of the water blocking my way. I need to find the journal entry I wrote about it once I get back home… How bizarre, please don’t be a premonition! (·•᷄_•᷅ )

I have also stopped drinking (again, iykyk) and I’m really feeling good about where I am at mentally to keep it going. I’ve decided to stop because I felt so much healthier after my dry month and tend to stick to healthier habits when I’m not drinking. I’m California sober now, have been working out again, and making efforts to start eating better. THIS combined with staying off of social media and prioritizing inner emotional stability has ALREADY felt beneficial for me overall. I’m also trying to cut back on caffeine which makes me feel SO old… I feel like an idiot getting a DIET CAFFEINE FREE COKE. Like, what even am I drinking?

Butterfly-finned Sharky is ALMOST finished; Just his pretty little tail needs finishing up! I made a little shark tooth stamp out of an eraser and used it for the border on this canvas frame! It will feel so good to see this all wrapped up. Hopefully by next week. THEN I can get back into the flower garden! I can’t wait to show you all my hard work in the yard! AND YOU BETTER LOVE IT! We also have gotten a new bird for my daughter. This sweet yellow and green princess is named Aviana and we are hoping she thrives with our family. We already can see her adorable personality and are praying that Leo, the other bird, will like her too. She has to wait around 30 days to be introduced into his cage.

Friday’s Query Corner

What is your favorite place to read? Ohhh, hehehe, I love reading anywhere. And I do read anywhere and everywhere. I have the ability to shut out everything else and can read in the loudest settings (which includes my house!) ¯\_(- > -)_/¯ That being said, THE BEST place is on the beach at Lake Michigan while my kids are playing in the water! Enjoy your weekend, all! Behave yourselves!

xxx- Kanda ↟↟𓂃 ོ ☼↟ 𖠰𓂃

── ⋆⋅𖤓Sunshine & Postcards𖤓⋅⋆ ──

Well, hi there! How are you doing? Did you get some lovely spring weather this weekend? We sure did and I was able to get outside and work on my flower beds in the front yard. (And then had to go stock up on antihistamines!! ≖‿ ≖ ) Now they are all cleaned up and ready for mulching! There was a whole bunch of life already sprouting their little buds. I get wayyyy too excited when everything turns green again. I want to try and focus a bit on the backyard landscaping because it feels like every year it is either, I keep my front garden looking gorgeous or I focus on plants in my backyard. I have not successfully done both in the same year and my backyard has suffered because of it. We moved into our home (my husband’s childhood home) in 2021 and have since been remodeling the interior to fit our needs and taste. The yard, when we moved in, was an absolute disaster. There were NO PLANTS. NO TREES. NO nothing.

• I had to take a quick break to go check out the intense thunderstorm we are getting right now. It is intense. Beautiful & scary! We are in a tornado watch currently.

Where was I? Oh yeah… No NOTHING! Both the front and the backyard were barren save for a butterfly bush and lavender at the base of an old flagpole. We now have a few teenager trees, a peach tree, hydrangeas, azaleas, lilies, irises, roses, and more! Everything planted has been from my (+ my mother’s + my husband’s) hard work and that is really rewarding however it is soooo slow to see any sort of progress. And it is a LOT of work! I was online yesterday searching for some inspirational images to spruce up a special corner of the backyard, where our sweet Sammi girl was lain. I found a cozy little hammock set up that is my summer project! (I thought it was a fairly cheap idea but after already having a few of the landscaping items needed, I priced out the project and it is going to be more than I expected. Blech.) And as I was searching, I got HELLA distracted by all that my backyard garden COULD be that it felt overwhelming as hell. How I want it to look VS. what it is is WAY more work than I was ready to admit. But I guess that is what older people do. I am now 32 years old, so I’m going to start working towards my dream garden… I’ll work at it until I’m 100 and it will be absolutely fucking beautiful and then once I die, it will go to someone who doesn’t know flowers from the weeds. If that isn’t a metaphor for life, amiright? ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)

I began the shark on my Butterfly-finned Sharky painting and she’s looking FABULOUS though a bit on the toothless side! •⩊• This piece will be wrapping up fairly soon and then… You guessed it, I will start something else! No breaks, baybay!! I’m still reading through Poe’s short story collection and I really do love them. His narrative/story telling is a bit on the sarcastic side, or smart-Aleck-y. And though most of his stories are dark, not all of them end poorly. Some have bizarre last minute twist endings that had me chuckling. And of course, I’m obsessed with Arthur Rackham’s illustrations, particularly his inkwork. I’d love to get a piece of his art tattooed someday. The only difficult part would be deciding which one to get. Arthur Rackham was a late 19th century British illustrator. (At this point, people should know my affinity for 19th century illustrators. cough Thomas Nast. Cough Phiz.) He created artwork for stories like Peter Pan, Rip Van Winkle, and the Grimm Brother’s fairytales. PLEASE, look his work up if you get a chance!

Alright, I’m hoping the power stays on for us. Hopefully y’all are tucked in like little bugs in rugs, nice and dry! Stay safe, everyone! And have a great week!

xxx- Kanda ꧂

₊˚༺Superheroes & Fallen Feathers༻*

Happy Friday, all! How is everyone doing today? I have my mug of lemon ginger tea, I have my comfort show on in the background, I’ve been painting and reading and trying to keep my kids from going stir crazy all week. Yesterday, we went to the Muskegon Museum of Art for their Free Thursdays event where locals are invited to walk around the museum for no cost! They also had a ton of family focused activities, including a craft and a movie with free snacks, and are open late! We love going to the museum anyway, but this exhibition was superhero/comic themed and there were so many people walking around in fun costumes (and jammies)- it was really neat to see a more casual side of a stereotypically sterile environment. (You know the image: stuffy galleries with their white walls and their glass boxes and their fancy gloves.) Art is for EVERYONE and Muskegon’s art museum preaches that!

This morning, I made a heart-breaking discovery. Our daughter’s parakeet, Sarah, had passed away in the night. She had not been doing well for a while. We had even taken her to the vet a couple months back to see if there was anything that could be done. Of course they were like… well… it’s a bird… there’s lots of things that could be wrong with her and not a lot of ways to know for sure. So they gave her some pain medication to take orally but if you can imagine… getting a tiny bird to take medicine is a big ordeal. We ended up deciding to quit giving it to her and just keep caring for her. She began falling from her perch and seeming to have epileptic episodes. Once these started happening, we moved her to a smaller, soft flooring cage away from her roommate, Leo, and kept close eyes on her. This was about a week ago. I kept checking on her and turning our heat pad on for her. However, I checked on her this morning and she was gone. </3 Poor little birdie. And poor Nova. We have had wayyyyy too much loss happening in our family lately. It just feels like YET another weight has been added to our shoulders. I know YOU know that feeling when things KEEP going wrong and you just sit there and think… could I catch a damn break!? The bird wasn’t my favorite. I, honestly, believe birds belong outside. But she was my daughter’s baby and I feel so bad that my 10-year-old has to keep getting handed grief like this.

On a different note, I have slowly chipped away at my painting this week and have finished all the wee little fishies AND added in iridescent bubbles throughout which means NOW I get to begin on the MAIN ACT, sharky!! I drew in the outline and am so excited to get in there… which might have to wait until next week when the kids go back to school! This piece is 11×14” and will be applied to an exhibition in Rhode Island. Fingers crossed. .☘︎ ܁˖

FRIDAY QUERY CORNER:

I wanted to answer a question about art, about life, about me, or about anything anyone wants to throw at me (email me here). This week’s question is: What artwork are you most proud of?

Well THAT is a tough question…. I am able to see improvements in every piece that I make so in that instance, I am proudest of every NEWEST piece I make. BUT if we were to think on terms of my art “career”, the piece that I’m most proud of is “Sunny Side”, the pen drawing of a skull with painted sunflowers for eyes. This piece was created in 2019 and was incredibly successful after I posted it on Instagram. It was that type of validation (sadly, but that is how society has raised us… we have to unlearn that shit) that made me realize I could actually “make it” as an artist. That I DID have the talent, I could get the support, and I COULD be a full-time artist. The next year, I opened my online shop & I’ve since sold out & had to do another edition of “Sunny Side”. I had almost SOLD the original once and decided to back out (sorry, boo) because I wanted to keep it as a reminder that I can do hard things. AND FOR FUCK’S SAKES- SO CAN YOU!

xxx- Kanda 𓋼𓆏𓍊𓋼𓍊

𓆩༺Small Fish & A Derp༻𓆪

Hello, friends! How are we doing? (Besides being actually petrified to check the news, I mean…) We are doing well over here. This week is our spring break and since we have just taken a week off at the end of February to go to Florida, we aren’t doing anything besides sticking around the area this time. I always like to try & plan fun activities for us to do while we stay local but I have NOT been sleeping well and I have ZERO energy. It doesn’t help that I ran out of coffee this morning and was too in my zombie-funk to want to leave the house and get more. Tomorrow’s problem. ˙𐃷˙ We DID, however, go to my girls’ friend’s house yesterday. I brought a plethora of crafting/art supplies and we had a fun couple of hours creating things together! Mostly me and their mom did while the girls ran around but that was really nice too. I have had a really hard time, in my adult life, trying to make friends, especially being a stay-at-home mom and freelance artist, so when I hang out with an adult with similar interests (even with my kid’s friend’s parents)… I call it a win!

I knew this week was going to be rough to get any painting done since the kids were home from school but I have finally finished the reef and am now adding in wittle fishies to it so it looks teeming and alive! I’ll also be adding in bubbles before I move on to the Sharky subject. I’ve said before that I’ve done a drawing of this butterfly-finned sharky concept but never have I done a paint study of it and I’ve been trying to take my time, adding all the love that this piece deserves.

As I continue to finish these paintings, I have been applying them to specific artist open calls in hopes of getting my artwork into more galleries and expanding my reach/visibility as an artist. This year’s goal was, not only to get into more exhibitions, but to also create a body of work that I am confident in and that has the ability to stand on its own as a solo show. (Le sigh, big dreams! ⋆°•☁︎) I keep hoping a “big break” will come my way or a huge opportunity will present itself BUT life is rarely like that, right? Most of the time it is just us making small steps in the direction we deem is the right one. And though hoping for something bigger doesn’t erase your progress…. sometimes we need to accept that these small steps may be all we get. Stop comparing our journey with another’s. You are doing amazing going at your own pace.

xxx - Kanda ❁✿❀

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚Spring Break𐦍༘⋆

Hello, my Kandarchists! (It’s a compliment, I swear…) I hope everyone has been hanging in there. The news headlines feel BONKERS right now. Like, all of this information is REAL?? It is madness which is why I’ve tried to keep my own peace by microdosing it. It’s going as good as you’d expect… My kids just started their spring break and since we were just in Florida a few weeks back, we aren’t going anywhere this next week besides our local area & maybe doing some stay-cation shenanigans. We like to check out antique/thrift shops, visit museums, libraries, coffee shops, and maybe we’ll find an indoor pool we can swim in.

A majority of this week was spent working on my newest painting: a butterfly-finned sharky! I’ve slowly been chipping away at the background and getting lost (as I do) in the details of a coral reef. I’ve wanted to do a detailed painting of this subject for so long that I’m adding as much love and relishing in all the stages. I’ll be so excited to start painting on the actual shark but know that the love I pour into this piece, background and all, will translate well. I will be adding little fishies and more bubbles to the background after I finish the reef and THEN will begin the main subject. I have found two galleries to submit this piece to…if I can finish it on time. Wish me luck!

Our upstairs renovation is in full swing. As it is, I am upstairs listening to Nathanial scrape the absolute piss out of the subfloor so we (haha, I’m helping) can have an entirely flat surface to start laying our flooring. The majority of the new walls have been dry-walled, and we hired an electrician to come do some wiring work. It’s coming together. We are finally on the building up stage whereas we have been on the break down stage for SO long! For anyone who is new around here: my sweet stud-muffin husband is a licensed contractor and after already redoing the basement in 2021, we have moved the reno to the ENTIRE first floor of our home. Luckily, the basement has been our living space since our earlier reno and we can hide down there, pretending all hell is not breaking loose upstairs. I’ll be so jazzed to have this wrapped up & be able to invite people over. Not that we have that many friends… I’ll have a reason to make more once the house is finished, right?? ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

I began the next Austen novel I planned to read, "Mansfield Park”, but then accidentally picked up an absolutely GORGEOUS collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories with illustrations by Arthur Rackham and have not been able to put it down. It’s gorgeous. I found it at the library but may need to find it to purchase for my own collection. I’ve also still been perusing the Canterbury Tales, though obviously it has taken a bit of a backseat.

I hope you all have been behaving yourselves… not too much though. I’d like to start a Friday segment where I answer a specific question…. be it about art, personal life, famous query’s, anything really! I hope that sounds fun! But even if it doesn’t… it’s my hecking blog and you just have to deal with it! ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙) DON’T LEAVE ME THOUGH!!!

xxx- Kanda ⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡April Showers ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

Wow, I almost accidentally didn’t post today for the first time since I started this blog! Since I am no longer posting on any other social media, I look forward to posting on here twice a week. I usually think up what I plan on posting before that happens but today has been rough as it is my mother-in-law’s first birthday we celebrated without her. It has been really hard but also very special to come together with people that are also in that fragile state of grief and also wanting to celebrate the woman she was. It is kind of weird how things have to just move on. Everyone was so sweet and lit her purple candles for her, sent purple hearts, and made chocolate chip cookies today in her honor. We went out to celebrate/grieve together for dinner and I think being all together was very cathartic. It’s also where we would have gone if she were with us now. Hug your loved ones while you can. ♡

I began my newest painting, (YES, the butterfly finned sharky study), and I am REALLY enjoying it so far. God, I LOVE painting. I literally could paint all day. It’s annoying to have to stop to eat, etc. >⩊< I’ve found a couple different exhibitions this piece could potentially work for (once completed) and will wait to fill out applications until I have more of an idea of a direction where this piece is heading! I also am going to be working on one of those Face-Hole-Cut-Out-Take-A-Photo touristy boards for a local sculpture garden event happening this summer and I had a serious question for ANYONE willing to answer: I need a female sculptor artist whose sculptural piece is historically prolific but also family friendly? I’ve been struggling with this… Most ALL the sculptures I know are nude. Which is fabulous but not what we are going for… If you have any ideas, PLEASE email me or message me. I need your help!

This week has kicked off with a LOT of rain. Like, all at once. We may have snow later this week too but I hope that means that we are in for a real lush spring. Now is about the time I start to itch to get my annual plants (though it is really TOO early) and want to start putting some seeds in the ground. We’ve done only a handful of vegetables and, of course, wildflowers from seeds but we LOVE to grow things. I’m hoping this year we will find the time to do even more food growing. Have a very happy week, y’all! Go touch some dirt. (And then wash your hands!)

xxx- Kanda 𓆉 𓆝 ⋆.˚

⋆｡‧˚ʚ TGIF ɞ˚‧｡⋆

Hi, all! I hope this week treated you all properly! We have had some roller coaster weather that put me in a real sleepy state. I took a few naps this week, for sure. I also went to get my nails done because I needed a pick-me-up and was pleasantly surprised that my nails matched my book cover PERFECTLY! I did finish Sense and Sensability and LOVED it (though I felt like there was so much build up for the final tell of lovers and for Austen to brush over all the “happily ever after” details is BEYOND rude! Girl, WHY?!◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜) I accidentally started The Canterbury Tales right afterwards. I doubt that I will read the whole thing but I picked up the Nevill Coghill’s version of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales at a thrift store. The original works were written circa 1360’s and, honestly, it is interesting as hell. I’m such a history nerd. It is fascinating how humanity got on all these years and if any of you are familiar with the Canterbury Tales, it is a story OF story tellers from the time. Chaucer writes of (in entire rhyme) 29 travelers on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, each with their own narrative and personality. Again, not something I will finish but is VERY amusing to read. Plus, Chaucer is coined as the “Father of English Literature” so how could I NOT give him a go?? ‘Twould be disrespectful!

This week I also put up my newest painting, “The Cactus Hollow Hotel”, at the Arts Council of White Lake. I felt like it deserved to be somewhere it could be viewed as it waited to hear about the gallery exhibition we applied to. And I’m glad - it looks really nice there (big thank you to Sue for helping me hang art!). So if it does NOT make it into the exhibition… it still looks fabulous and has a chance to be seen! I’ve had a lot of family/friends tell me this is their favorite piece of mine thus far… Which makes me so proud but lights a fire to keep going and keep making more. I took most of the week to catch up with household chores but I was able to begin my newest painting, an 11×14” acrylic on canvas of my Butterfly-finned Sharky!! I’m WAY too excited to paint this fella. I’ve wanted to for soooo long!! The canvas has been prepped and I can’t believe how much smaller it feels. This is my normal size but since painting that big mamajama… this canvas looks adorable!

Did anyone watch the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary special?? It came out this week. I’ve been a pretty big Miley fan. I loved the show. I loved her music! My boo thang even bought us Miley Cyrus tickets for her BANGERZ tour (in 2014, and we ended up having to sell the tix because we were broke college kids & needed the money more than we could afford to see her show). Even now, her previous albums SLAP and I still listen to Plastic Hearts and Endless Summer frequently, but I could NOT watch that special. I got maybe 10 minutes into it and was like… Is this whole program Miley talking about Miley? Yes, she WAS Hannah Montana but SO many people made her that. How bizarre to have a big special about a show and not talk about said show. I think I’m just over celebrities at this point. Unless you are using your platform and attention for spreading positivity, love and awareness to injustices surrounding you… you are a just a societal pawn and it is blatant that you can be bought. ˎˊ˗

ANYWAY, sorry about that, I’m wrapping up this post by saying thank you so much to all those that are keeping up with my blog posts. I’m trying very hard to come back to a healthy baseline of posting/corresponding/viewing. I literally stopped replying to everyone. I stopped viewing friends’ profiles and keeping up with their art and just ‘them’ in general and I wholly apologize to those whom I miss. It was not you. I think I became overwhelmed with the state of the world and how my existence feels absolutely insignificant in proportion to it. I’ve thought a lot about carving my name into a large rock just to have some type of evidence that I existed long after I’m gone. Taking a step back has helped already so I hope those of you that are sticking around, know how much I appreciate you being here. ❤︎

xxx - Kanda °❀.ೃ࿔*

‍ ‍

⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹

So… this weekend was… rough. To say the least. We are thankful it is over. Hopefully healing can start afresh. We had family staying with us which really helped the blow of how raw the memorial felt on Saturday. We’ve done plenty of grieving, but this felt a bit like a form of closure. I wanted to say thank you to everyone that sent good thoughts and love our way and to everyone that showed up to celebrate the woman that I have to thank for my favorite person in the world. Life is bizarre and as we get older, I’m finding we never really have anything figured out. Some people have their crap together and seem to know what is going on more than others but… we all are absolutely clueless.

On another note: I did go in and read to my daughter and her second grade class for March Reading Month. We surprised my daughter so she had no idea I was coming to her classroom to read Cactus Hotel, the book that inspired my newest painting “The Cactus Hollow Hotel”. I also brought in my physical painting to show the kids which they LOVED. I wanted to show them that 1. literature is important… no matter what age you are. 2. books can inspire more creations 3. reading is cool!! The kids were so sweet and ended up asking me a bunch of questions that made me feel like some kind of rockstar. ˙ᵕ˙ (I.E. What’s your favorite snack? What do you like to do? Who’s your favorite artist?)

Today I was able to work on my summer class rubrics. I will be teaching a younger aged class where we explore artists who are famous for their: surrealism, cubism, and impressionism and apply their techniques to our own pop culture character! I drew a sample out with Mickey Mouse and it looked really great! I also will be teaching students to draw a sunflower in ballpoint pen and then applying acrylic paint (which is one of my favorite, most cathartic things to draw.) I’m excited to teach again, as it has been a while and it feels SO rewarding.

This week I am trying to brush up on all the things that got slacked off on, which is mostly laundry, and HOPEFULLY I will find time to begin my next painting (a sharky!!) I cannot wait to start a new piece. I hope you have a fantastic week & find beauty in small moments this week.

xxx- Kanda ❀˖°

꧁Save Your Tears꧂

I have so much to say but don’t want to sit and type tonight. We have family staying with us this weekend and so I will leave you with a huge promise to share more on Tuesday. And let you know that I am working on youth classes, planning my newest painting, found a dress to wear for tomorrow, AND it’s my baby boy, Ozzy’s, birthday! His fluffy prince-y, perfection turned FIVE today! Until Tuesday, so much love ‪‪❤︎‬

xxx-Kanda ˖᯽ ݁˖

⋆.𐙚 ̊First Gallery Appearance of 2026 ̊ 𐙚.⋆

Happy Taco Tuesday, friends! I’m excited to announce that my FIRST gallery appearance of 2026 is happening now at the 1301 Gallery at Nevada Fine Arts through July. The piece I created was for an open call for 1301 Gallery’s 4” x 4” show which could be in any medium and any subject so I went with another “Butterfly-Finned Seahorse”, the last one I drew in 2019(?)! This one was created with acrylic paints on watercolor paper. I really LOVE the color of the background corresponding with the colors in the seahorse. There was an EXCELLENT answer to the open call - there were over 1000 pieces accepted from all over the world!! Because of this, it was actually quite difficult to find my piece in the bunch BUT I DID!! I’ve added an image of mine circled within the group on the wall as well as a close up so you can really appreciate the details… 4 inches, people!

Butterfly-Fin in temp. home 𖹭

“Mini Butterfly-Finned Seahorse” by Kanda Parrott

I read A Court of Thorns and Roses because I wanted to read a book from THIS century that everyone was excited about and… It was extremely hard to get through, ha! I have also begun Fourth Wing thinking the same, and to almost the same effect. THEN I began Sense and Sensability, Jane Austen’s first novel, and I’M FLYING THROUGH IT AND EATING IT UP even though most Austen fans believe this is her dullest novel. (˶ˆᗜˆ˵) I started a fairly intense 19th century literature obsession in 2024 and LORD SAVE ME, apparently, I’m still not out of it. I’ve read a few Dickens’ (which I loved), two of the Bronte sisters (no. thanks.) Alexander Dumas (I didn’t finish, if you can imagine—he is notorious for his length/word count.), Oscar Wilde (also fab), and out of all of these and other authors of the time, I’ve REALLY loved Austen. I think it has to do something with the depth in which she gives her female characters. Obviously, men writing about women at that time was very much a different vibe than women writing about women. And the Bronte sisters, I’m convinced, romanticized toxicity and abuse. However, Austen shows all angles of 19th century women, their kindness, their loving nature, their endless duties and what is expected of them, also their brutality, wit, common sense, and, of course, their pining & specifically the emotions that come from fighting your own heart and reason. Authors of the time were not allowed to be female. There was limited space in which women were allowed to exist in this time and Austen challenges it all by writing pieces about multidimensional woman characters AND THEN published under the pseudonym of “by A Lady”. Boom. Mic DROP. What a friggen queen. Has anyone else read anything from the 19th century they found incredible? PLEASE SHARE!

On another note: I wanted to say that I am working on a few youth art classes to teach at our Arts Council this summer and more information for that will be coming! It seems kind of weird that spring is right around the corner when we keep getting dumped on by all the snow. I’m thankful to have my furry best friend, Ozzy, who could care LESS about the weather and always guilts me into a walk. If he doesn’t get his walk, he gets VERY bratty and pouts for good couple of hours. Getting out & moving is literally saving my life while this season drags and our spirits are lowest. My mother-in-law’s funeral is this weekend & her birthday is the week after. If we can get through this, we can do anything. If someone else could come clean my house for guests, that’d be great. :D Again, keep your loved ones close. Let them know how much you love them. Has anyone told YOU that you matter today? You MATTER. We are thankful you are here. The world is better with you in it. Stick around, okay? Things will get better. 𖤓

xxx - Kanda જ⁀➴ ♡

⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ Tchotchkes and Bouquets ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹

Wow, y’all! I’m so grateful for the positive reaction that came from my Instagram post yesterday, which will be my last for quite some time. My Instagram page has been so under the radar lately that I wasn’t even sure people were seeing my posts BUT yesterday, I was sure the people that are meant to see it DID and I had a lot of encouraging messages as well as pledges from many friends to read The Kandamonium weekly. If that includes you: Thank you so freaking much!! You guys are seriously the best. If you need a reminder sent, please add your email in the box at the bottom of the website! I am also thinking of borrowing an idea from a friend and do a physical snail-mailer newsletter every once in while just for fun… because receiving any sort of mail that’s not bills is exciting as hell!

I have not started my newest Sharky painting just yet since the week following will be extremely busy (and difficult), so I have been “putzing” around in my art studio room. I love to putz and am usually doing 5 things at once while I’m in the lair. I’ve created a few smaller items AND made some dried flower bouquets to add to my ACWL spot. The current situation is Valentine’s themed still & needs to be changed to SPRING 𔓘! (Though the weather around here thinks otherwise…) I also have a colored pencil drawing that was started on vacation of the most perfect tchotchke chicken… dragon? It might be AI, I have no idea the source but I saw the image and NEEDED to draw it. I’d like to picture it holding warm chocolate chip cookies sitting on top of the refrigerator. As I began working on this piece on the airplane, a sweet, older woman sitting next to me WOULD NOT stop watching me. We had a small conversation, and she said she was so impressed by what I could do! ◡̈ It was really lovely but if you know me at all, you’d know how uncomfortable I will get in those situations. And my mom made it more so by pulling out the book cover I created last year and showing it to her. GOOD LORD. I was bright red. Thanks, mom! ⁠˙𐃷˙♡ My artist PR is a work in progress…

We have family coming to stay (in our renovation mess) next weekend and though the circumstances are awful, we are looking forward to seeing everyone gathered together to support each other with love in grief. Life is uncertain. It’s bizarre the memories our brains involuntarily decide to hold on to. Moments that seemed like only passing time become vivid pieces left behind of a person that is no longer with us. Something that felt like nothing then is everything and all that is now. Hug your loved ones and make sure you let them know how much they mean to you! Enjoy your weekend, hooligans!

xxx - Kanda ☠︎︎

𓇢𓆸࣪ “Cactus Hollow” Finished On Time!! ִֶָ☾.

Hello, all! I’m so excited to announce that my painting, the 18x24” acrylic on canvas “The Cactus Hollow Hotel”, WAS finished up RIGHT on time! Thank you for all the good vibes sent my way— they obviously helped! The application for the gallery was due Saturday and I spent Friday AND all day Saturday working my booty cheeks off to finish up and submitted it around 8 PM! The piece as a whole is really pleasing but I find the details the best to get lost in, therefor it is really nice to take a closer view (or zoom in if it’s not possible to view in person). The plan is to put this piece up in my spot at the Arts Council of White Lake-Nuveen during the submission process. I will also be reading the “Cactus Hotel” children’s book to my second graders’ class this month as a mystery reader for their Reading Month festivities and bringing in the painting to show them that books-even children’s books- can inspire beyond just reading their words. (I’ve done quite a few pieces inspired by books including Harry Potter & Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend! If you haven’t seen those, maybe I’ll share them on here sometime!)

To celebrate finishing this painting, I WILL BE BEGINNING ANOTHER! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜ Literally am going to just keep chugging along and keep painting & submitting & painting & submitting. I’m used to hearing a lot of “no’s” from galleries and shows, it will be fun if a few “yes’s” get thrown in to that mix and by constantly applying myself, I believe, will get me there. Once a door opens, others tend to follow. My next painting will be an acrylic 11x14” “Butterfly-finned Sharky”, much like the kind I have done in pen previously, however, I am really looking forward to getting into the nitty gritty details with my favorite tiny brush and having lots of fun with the brighter contrasting colors in this one.

I mentioned living through a lot lately (on a personal, national, AND global scale- for crying out loud.) and that things have settled a bit (at least personally) which I am grateful for. I was able to celebrate turning 32 quietly. Then the family & I snuck away from our Michigan winter to frolic in Florida for a week, which was both rejuvenating and made us appreciate coming home that much more. The end of this month will be a rough one. With my mother-in-law’s celebration of life memorial, her birthday shortly afterwards, and family in town to be together during what, will undoubtably be, the most difficult day all of us have lived through… I’m giving myself (and my family) lots of time & grace to just be. But I will continue to freaking blog because I am no longer posting in other apps and I don’t know what to do with my hands (Ricky Bobby, IYKYK). I will be pushing myself to post twice a week-every Tuesday and Friday. However, I will not be setting a time for the post so maybe just plan on coming to hang with me the next day? I hope you’ll come back to check on me… ᓚ₍⑅^..^₎♡

xxx, Kanda ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ 𓆉

₊˚⊹ ᰔ”The Cactus Hollow Hotel” ᰔ⊹˚₊

Hi there friends! I’d like to share with you my almost completed artwork, titled “The Cactus Hollow Hotel”, since I have been working on this piece for over 2 months straight now. This piece is being completed in acrylic paint on 18x24” canvas and is the largest I have created in quite a long time. A goal of mine for this year was to apply to more galleries/exhibitions while trying to build a "cache” of artwork that I was proud of and felt comfortable sharing with art professionals. Since I am proudest of my paintings, I’m hoping this piece will be my “foot in the door”.

There is a children’s book titled "Cactus Hotel” by Brenda Z. Guiberson (1991) that narrates the life cycle of a desert saguaro cactus from its seed to its husk, however the husk or end of the cactus’s life actually begins a very busy and thriving ecosystem inside that cactus. This book and the imagery of a bustling hotel inside a dead cactus became the inspiration behind the piece I have been working on since January. I have a bit of buttoning up to do and a few more things (bugs and spikes) to add but we are GETTING THERE. I had planned on applying to a specific gallery exhibition with this, unfortunately the due date is TOMORROW and I know I have a good amount of work to go before I can call this piece finished. I’m not disappointed at all because we were on vacation in Florida all last week and I’d rather be walking around Disney and swimming in the pool there than freezing and painting away here! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜ If I cannot finish it within the time frame, I have found a different open call to apply to.

This piece (and a few of my other newest paintings) feels like an exploration of our human identity in the natural world and how coexisting in this space together is the only way to a better future. I hope to have this piece finished up to show you soon! Please keep your fingers crossed!

xxx, Kanda 𓆉 𖤐

✶⋆.˚𖦹Welcome to the Kandamonium𖦹˚.⋆✶

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

Well hello friends, strangers, weirdos, earth walkers, and the like. I’m cordially welcoming you into the Kandamonium: a blog about the life, trials, art, inner workings, and musings of an artist (who goes by the name of Kanda). For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a 32 year old female artist living in West Michigan with my husband and our two kids, plus a slew of messy animals that refuse to pay rent. I feel I am always juggling the work of a stay-at-home mom with the work of an “Up & Coming” artist and that can feel a bit like madness. 2025 was. without a doubt, the worst year of our lives. We navigated through surgery & healing, through loss and a LOT of grief, and through a nation’s “democracy” unraveling seemingly indefinitely. Because of these life-altering events AND the style in which we appreciate a post has shifted so dramatically** I’ve decided to really take a step back from social media sites. I think being strategically informed and only reachable by the best kind of people is the way to continue keeping my mental health in a good place. The world’s tough, amiright? BUT being either slightly narcissistic, or a millennial who has spent years posting something to someone, or perhaps a mixture of the two, I cannot give up posting all together so I’ve decided to start this here blog! It’s really for myself but it will be fun if anyone decides to tag along.

I’m REALLY pumped for this new project, I’m even thinking about doing some sort of logo for The Kandamonium blog! I would even like to dub any reader (and enjoyer, I suppose) of this blog a Kandarchist! I really want this to be a safe space to share my artwork and things that I am currently working on, as well as somewhere to come and share thoughts, ideas, and maybe a few qualms every now and again. Though I’ve mentioned I’m writing for myself, I welcome any and all humans who have a love and respect for nature and towards one another! My next and first official art post will be about my current art project, a work in progress 18x24” acrylic painting on canvas, titled “Hollow Cactus Hotel” and is about the thriving ecosystem of a dead saguaro cactus and the importance of each individual role. I hope to see you there!

xxx, Kanda 𓆉 ⚝

**I felt I had to expand a little more on this but didn’t want to in my earlier paragraph… I just remember when I began sharing art on Instagram years back, 2017?, I’d share an image of a piece of art I had created with a caption and after a few years, my page picked up momentum! I was successfully selling art on my IG and through my stories and was able to open my own commerce website which did really well for the first few years. However, TikTok became popular which then inspired Instagram to make its comparable Reels. Reels are videos, usually shorter in nature, that show a viewer quick content. For artists, it was their art PROCESS which changed and the thrill of creating something and then sharing is now, sadly, more about sharing the process of the creation instead of what is made. It feels performative (which IS itself a form of art) and not about the art piece at all. What happened to art speaking for itself? All right, tangent finished.