Taking all these online mixed media classes has left me with scraps. For one workshop, I misunderstood what we were doing and drew this guy, who reminds me of Earl of Lemongrab from Adventure Time. But happy. And a pear.

I am a sucker for organization (and lists) because my brain is a dumped-over laundry basket. Hence the bullet journal. But organizational lists of art supplies?!

Wait! Don’t go! It’s pretty, too.

This workshop was comparing greens, but you could do any colors. You pick your colors of the same hue (the three greens here), plus a color to shift in both directions (yellow and blue for green, but you have to pick a specific color and stick to it for a real comparison), and a neutralizer (such as burnt sienna). All this testing has helped me figure out I am not a fan of Winsor & Newton’s watercolor paints. I like other things from them, just not the watercolors. I think it has to do with the text. And the colors are a bit off from what I want. I’m a Daniel Smith watercolor paint girl!

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Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore (Norton, August 25, 2026): Warning, this is not the happiest book. Nonfiction, it is about, yeah, tech bros, essentially. Buh. Good read, though. I especially liked part 3 talking about how science fiction affected tech bros.

More swatches! This is blue inks on the left that I put onto wet squares on the paper. So lovely. You can see how different the pigments are to make the two colors because they separate in the water a bit. And on the right is more (smaller) blue swatches as well as colored pencil swatches to do a little color pencil1 workshop. Art style not my jam, but the coloring was still fun.

Where Are You Really From? by Elaine Hsieh Chou. My library has a “surprise selection” you can sign up for and you get a random (hand-selected) book in your holds. This was my most recent one. OK, so I didn’t finish. But I plan to! It’s just hard to read for fun when you already spent most of your day getting paid to read with an eye for detail. It’s tiring. (My trick for turning off editor brain is to read faster, but that is also tiring.) But this book is great because it is a collection of short stories, so it is easy to start and stop. And they are weird. One is called “Carrot Legs.” They also freak me out a bit, though I don’t think they are intended as horror, per se. No spoilers. Go in expecting to be baffled and entertained.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dear Diary,

Please do not be disappointed in me as I am disappointed in myself more than enough for the both of us. And maybe the rest of the crew. We were having our daily athletics outing, mainly playing catch. I was doing so well: catching in mid air, chasing into the fence, wild leaps and feats of acrobatics. But I missed one after it had essentially leapt into my mouth. I did eventually get it, but the sick feeling in my stomach of missing that ball left a sour taste in my mouth. I managed to get the flavor cleared by prancing about in my pool for a brief stint. Even thinking about that pool, I am already feeling better again

Let’s get splashy!

Wally T. Goobers

I made a journal to use for taking notes about all the plants in our property. And it is super fun so far. So far? I can only imagine it getting more fun.

Back a ways, I shared the Everything Journal I made during a course with Andrea Chebeleu, the book on the right, above, made using 9x12 Strathmore Mixed Media paper. The one on the left (the illustrations are old ones pulled from Communication magazine), was made using the 11x14 paper they recommended in the class, but I couldn’t get at the time. (I have since bought two more sketchbooks with that size paper!)

You might have a keen eye and recognize those two terrifying faces that never fail to make me laugh from the Best Self Portrait Ever. 😍 Those are the photos the illustration was based on. The red flowers in the bottom left are a wee pocket! On the right is a pamphlet for the table of contents / index.

Under the TOC, is this aspirational page: Not everything needs to become something. And page 1 on the right is for one of my favorite plants. Our Wood’s Rose is growing right next to our driveway and it about 10 to 12 feet tall at this point. And filled with birds and rabbits! I will share more pages in a later newsletter.

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You can get a print copy of Flying Dodo Magazine: Vol 1, Dodos! It is delightfully full of whimsical dodo-related facts, games, puzzles, stories, and more. It is the bee’s . . . dodo’s knees?

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Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher by Timothy B Tyson and Mary D Williams (Liveright Publishing, August 18, 2026): An interesting look at both the race issues in the US in the early/mid 1900s and gospel music at the same time. No surprise: A bit scary.

August 22 (10am to noon), Let’s Get Inky! At Dakota Art Bellingham, a delightful art store.

Monument Valley. Yes, the Netflix game. It is now on the Switch so I finally played it. OMG. It is exactly the kind of game I like. Interesting illustration style (very simple but lovely), fantastic music (like I would get that as a soundtrack), and intriguing puzzles. It must have been inspired by MC Escher. It gets really trippy. You are just walking the “monuments” and solving the puzzles to get from one place to another, but there is lots of spinning, weird gravity, and it uses illusions as reality. Very cool.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

Life is good. Always good when I am at Hovander Park. Life is so good, sometimes, that I feel I must fly about at the speed of light. Have you felt the need to expel an exploding star’s worth of energy? I suppose as a journal, that is unlikely . . .

All my love,

Dr. Wally T. Goobers

I took a little workshop: Nina Rycroft’s Watercolor Wonder, to make an Alice in Wonderland illustration. There are a billion watercolor techniques (or three, depending on how you count), so I love seeing how other people do it. And this one also included character design.

Did I share this? I keep getting lost. But it is so cute, I don’t mind sharing it again if I did. A to Z of Pets in a limited watercolor palette. This is sounding really familiar…

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Heehee

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Archives of the Unexplained: Lost Skies and Seas by Steve Foxe and Daryl Toh (First Second, August 4, 2026): I worked on this forever ago! I don’t know what took so long for it to come out, but the publishing industry is weird. It’s a cute little comic, though.

Barnaby Jones! It aired from 1973 to ’80, classic private detective show, currently on Amazon Prime. Barnaby is played by the guy who was originally supposed to play the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, Buddy Ebsen, a dancin’ man. And his daughter-in-law/secretary Betty Jones is played by Lee Merriweather, who earlier played Catwoman in the 1966 Adam West Batman movie. Best part, though? Everywhere Barnaby goes, he orders milk. In someone’s home with a built-in bar? Milk. Questioning someone in a bar? Milk. And the actors nailed it because everyone gave him the same look for ordering milk that I get for ordering milk at bars and at The Outback Steakhouse.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Darling Diary,

Our dear elderly Blue had a birthday the other day. And I know I attended the party. I remember arriving. But the end of the part has mysteriously dissipated. I am sure a good time was had by all.

All my love,

Just Wally

P.S. Our quartermaster made these party hats in about 10 minutes as a last-minute idea. What a brilliant nerd.

I adore the feel and sound of scratching nib on paper. Digital will never be able to reproduce it. Not anytime in the near future, anyway. So I am going to teach how to do just that, ink with a nib, at Dakota Art in Bellingham later this month. Join me and learn how to have the most delightfully ink-covered hands and ink-smeared smile. (I will teach how to do it without all the ink-smearing, too.)

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Saturday, August 22 (10am to 1pm), Let’s Get Inky!
$65 - (includes a zine and workbook)

To register please call Dakota Art at: 360-676-8918 or stop by the Bellingham Store.

Black-and-white illustrations can be strikingly beautiful or quaintly funny. Inking with a nib is a versatile medium that you can spend years perfecting, but you can also jump right in and start to play! This workshop includes a mini comic by your instructor, Angela Boyle, about the history and properties of ink, as well as an 18-page workbook. We will discuss tools and techniques, including many examples and demos, and will have plenty of workshop practice time. Limited drawing experience is needed, but you can also come to learn more and up your inking game.

Supplies are not included but materials can be borrowed or students can purchase a supply kit. Materials Needed:
• Variety of nibs
• Corresponding nib holders
• Size 4 round watercolor brush (optional but useful)
• Ink
• Smooth paper, any size, sketchbook or pad
• Pencil and eraser

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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I drew this in 2012. I have no explanation. A coincidence is this cup I bought about 10 years later at Goodwill.

This is the last batch of paintings from the Win with Watercolor week. If I have included any in previous emails, well, I hope you enjoy them again.

Mood and atmosphere with Dani. I like how she taught this class. We started with how not to paint, using all the colors, then how to use a more limited palette to create focus. Then we practiced how to make mood using, I think, the same palette: storm and bright day. Finally, that fantastic snowy day.

Old Dutch windmill with Julia Henze. Look at that moody sky!! And some, er, rickety blades (in gouache).

Plein air with Massimiliano Iocco. He did his with graphite wash, but I couldn’t find mine at the time, so I used Davy’s gray, which was also interesting. It is a weird paint.

Quick figure drawing with Shari Blaukopf. Fun practice drawing straight to watercolor.

Rio de Janeiro with Alan Ramiro. This is the first workshop I did. Good depth.

Simplifying streetscapes with Vanidas Mangathil. I did not have the patience to let this dry so I might have simplified it a bit more than intended…

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Stunning mountain sunset with Hannah Pickerill. It was interesting to paint the entire sky then paint over them for the mountains. Which works really well! Very glowy. Plus I used some opalescent paint for the stars and moon.

Unlocking contrast with Alex Hillkurtz. I think I liked painting (or not painting as the case may be) the crosswalk stripes best.

Urban setting in 3 steps with Wade. I like this loose style of ink and watercolor and need to remember to try it more often, especially with comics.

Where ink meets watercolor with Andrea Deng. To make this illustration more “me,” I made the people into mice and squirrels and gnomes.

Wood texture with Makoccino. I definitely intend to do a great big page of this wood texture to use as a photography background.

(Note: This is an affiliate link from which I could receive a small commission if you buy it.)

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, new translation by Michael Katz (Liveright Publishing). This is a freaking delight. Previously, I had listened to Crime and Punishment and it was laugh-out-loud funny, so I was delighted to take on this proofread. Turns out, I am a big Dostoevsky fan.

Total THB, Vol 2, by Paul Pope. I loved this work. The inks were still really inky, with all the gray tones and blobs, when I was working on it. I love Paul Pope’s work, so this was extra nice. I implemented copyedit changes and got to make some minor art updates. One of my favorite parts.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Dear Diary,

It has been horrifically hot the past few days. Fortunately, the boatswain is a digger, too. So there is a great big hole that we can keep digging up fresh dirt as a way to cool our bellies. And wow does it work!

All my love and lots of cool breezes your way,

Walleroo

These are all more classes from the Win with Watercolor week from Sketch Like and Architect.

Expressive color with Oliver Hoeller: This class was awesome. I loved the two colors he chose. Nearly random but not quite. I didn’t actually have the reference photo so this is a very loose drawing.

Finding freedom in shape with Reham Ali: Another fantastic class. I really loved her purposeful-messy use of watercolor. I did not wait long enough for it to dry in some cases, but still learned a lot. I especially like her purposeful dripping down the page.

Illusion of detail with Pedro Alves: Fun to follow along but really a lot of cartoonist’s bag of tricks.

Lakeside light with Matt Gibbons: I didn’t quite nail the dark to light to dark in the green of the trees but other than that, not bad. Also, I should have erased those perspective lines before painting.

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Language of light in urban sketching with Darya Mitta: I now have a new favorite color mixture: quinacridone orange and new gamboge, both from Daniel Smith. New gamboge from Winsor Newton is not as vibrant.

Loose minimalist landscape with Shelby Abrahamsen: This is one spread in my sketchbook. We did tape off the edges. I can’t draw a line that straight! I like the upper left best.

Loose, spontaneous landscapes with granulating watercolors with Mansi Gupta: I loved this class. But it made extensive use of a spray bottle, which I didn’t have. So I am going to do it again! Maybe I will try using my “granulating” spray, but it smells so bad, you guys. And I need to look up a video on how to use it. To the future!

I might have recommended this already, but if so, that is how good it is. Spumoni. As described by Wikipedia: “…a molded gelato made with layers of different colors and flavors containing candied fruits, chocolate, nuts, and nut brittle. The three main flavors are pistachio, cherry, and chocolate…” Similarly in Merriam-Webster: “ice cream in layers of different colors, flavors, and textures often with candied fruits and nuts.” From your old friend Angela: layers of chocolate, pistachio, and cherry ice creams, best with chunks of pistachio and dried cherry and swirls of chocolate. If you don’t have pistachios, chunks of almonds are great. The only problem is…no one makes it! There is one at our grocery store of choice in their own brand. That is the list. So I here and now make a call to Tillamook and Ben & Jerry’s: Please! Make a spumoni!! If I cobble it together, I use Tillamook Mudslide and Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio and their Cherry Garcia.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

We had quite the little meeting of minds the other day—the boatswain, elder, and myself. I can’t disclose what we discussed, even in the sacred space of you, my steadfast diary, but suffice to say, we agreed.

All my love,

Wally the Goob

Today, Friday, July 3, is the Collectively Assembled show in Bellingham, with art by tons of local artists. I really hope to be there but I also might be getting sick, so we will see how I feel tonight. And if you don’t want to get Whatcom County-specific emails, you can unsubscribe to just this section. If you need help, I left instructions at the bottom of this email.

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August 22 (10am to noon), Let’s Get Inky! Inking with a Nib at Dakota Art, Bellingham

October 10 (10am to 2pm) Playful Haunted House Painting at Jansen Art Center, Lynden

October 17 (10am to noon), Cabinet of Curiosity at Dakota Art, Bellingham

November 7 (11am to 2pm), Free-Floating Fall Florals at Jansen Art Center, Lynden

December 5 (11am to 2pm), From Clutter to Art: Painting a Wreath with Old Holiday Cards at Jansen Art Center, Lynden

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I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

P.S. How do you unsubscribe from Whatcom County news while still getting the regular newsletter? Navigate to your account Settings page via www.substack.com/settings and click on AngelaBComics. Slide the toggle next to each section you’d like to stop receiving emails or app notifications from. A gray toggle indicates that notifications will be off for that section.

The 2-Color Palette: Painting an Overgrown Doorway with Susan Chiang. This bad boy is painted using only two colors! If I remember right (because I didn’t write it down), this is viridian green and burnt sienna. Lovely. I really enjoyed this workshop.

2 Colors with Unlimited Possibilities with Darman Angir. On a similar theme, this is another two-color palette: Prussian blue and Indian red. I had never used Indian red. What a watercolor paint! It is wonderfully gritty. Dense and opaque. Way too easy to paint overly dark with. So I tried again with the middle little cottage. And then I tried just Prussian blue with the tree piano. Looking at the painting by the teacher, wow. I went way way way way way . . . way too dark.

The Art of Simplifying: Loose & Expressive Tropical Sketching with Anastasiia Morozova. This loose tropical painting was great practice in negative painting, that is painting around the subject, instead of painting the subject itself.

A Boat at the Beach with Ink and Watercolor with Martin Lachmair. This was annoying but fun. I had just refilled all my pens and this was a bleeder. Worked fine after I let it dry a bit longer. I love the looseness in this piece.

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Charles Bridge in Prague with David Drazil. The demo for this painting was done at live pace, which many of them were not. Since watercolor takes so long to dry! A wonderful reminder of how I love to ink and paint together.

Color Planning for Stronger Watercolor with Patty Edge. This was an interesting little workshop about color planning. We started with the color swatches, figuring out the colors we wanted to use, and then a brief color thumbnail before the actual painting.

I am participating in a show that opens this Friday, a collection of exquisite corpses based on the various denizens of the Salish Sea. Above is my contribution of a silver-spotted sculpin, which I had never heard of. And I have no idea who it will be paired with.

I talked with the lady who is organizing it, and she is making it so fun, with lots of ocean-themed decorations and food and people dressed up.

And the illustration was huge! I never draw this big, but I should start. This was also drawn with a humongous Sharpie. I loved it.

Keep an eye out. I will send a “Bellingham only” email on Thursday. I have a bunch of stuff coming up. Most of it maybe not quite so visually enticing as the exquisite sculpin.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

What a disappointment. Just as the cook started staying home all the time, the quartermaster took off every morning. It as an unbelievable turn of events. Simply maddening. These two need to get their act figured out.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

Pets are the best, so when I saw Sketch Skool doing an A-Z of pets, I had to participate. It was a live draw-along. I chose a limited palette of a black Derwent oil pencil and Daniel Smith Moonglow watercolor. I had my watercolor palette, so some other colors snuck in, especially for O, which was “orange cat.” And Y for yellow tang (the fish). I used the same colored pencil to color in all the collars.

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Heehee! I learned a new book to bind and I love it!! The Everything Journal with Andrea Chebeleu. It’s an intense class and for the live version, you do a prologue the day before to go over the basic process and discuss what you should try to have done before the full class the next day. And then the day-of is a 4-hour class. And I did it! I finished in by the end of class. I particularly enjoy the little main at the top of the spine.

I am so surprised that I am enjoying all this abstract art lately.

Because of the way the covers are made, a large folded sheet glue on like a backwards signature, which means you can have a signature inside the cover, too! I am using it for a table of contents (of a sort).

On the first page of the ToC signature, I wrote all the book’s info, like a colophon. On the right side is the first page of the sketchbook from a Playful Mushrooms workshop with Kim Dellow at the Mastering Mixed Media Expo. FYI, that green paper on the left? The holes? I forgot this paper about some plants we bought outside and the slugs got to it. I love it! I am going to do it again, on purpose.

I have since added stickers to the inside of the back cover because I guess the matte medium needs longer to dry? Anyway, it keeps sticking, so I put some washi stickers over the most annoying spots and it is much better.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. If you have Hulu and a weird sense of humor, give this a watch (it is from Cartoon Network). Abe hated it. I adore it. I can definitely see watching it again in the future. Along with Regular Show, I keep getting distracted by the beautiful watercolor backgrounds.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

The sun’s out. Bunnies are nibbling on grass. And the pool has been washed and refilled! There is nothing I love more than dipping my toes in that refreshing liquid. My toe beans just get so hot with all that running and jumping. When we don’t have the pool, at least they provide a large water dish I can splash around in.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

My theme for my bullet journal one week was illustrated manuscripts, which lead to the fella above.

This is the last round-up from Sketchbook Revival.

I love how these turned out. It was a workshop on very loose leaf drawings. Eucalyptus in this case. Taught by Amy Maricle.

I loved this one. Only two colors of paint. This is Serpentine Green and Prussian Blue. Taught by Trupti Karjinni.

This class was fun because of the cute characters but a pretty early level for me. Taught by Nina Rycroft.

The classes I have taken over the last few months have lead to some awesome self-portraits. Taught by Ohn Mar Win.

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I started this page from a workshop on visual prompts, hence the odd red/orange background. Then a class on fast and loose mixed media. She drew trees at a park near here and I drew the two trees outside our living room window that I always draw. Taught by Debbie Mackinnon.

True story! In grade school, I once decided to wear all red. But, as noted, my only red shoes were late-80s kids’ patent leather kitten heels. And not a single color of red was the same. And, it was a gym day so I had to run laps in my socks. Taught by Danny Gregory.

I wanted to try another mood mini from the class taught by Cynthia Hauk. So I did the text on the same page, writing it around like a border.

One of the most interesting things in this workshop with Karoru Hirose was the different sorts of paper I worked on. The yellower paper is a not-great cardstock. The white with black ink is some weird coated card stock. The ink doesn’t soak in even thought it dries really well. The blue is watercolor on cold-press watercolor paper but I was painting too wet, I think.

I just watched Regular Show. (Its on Hulu right now.) It ended nearly ten years ago! But I really enjoyed it. If it starts weird, it gets weirder, so hold onto your butts.

I hope your day gets better from here! Now go drink a glass of water!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

It was a day like any other. The smell of rabbits on the breeze. Birds swooping through the air. And a scent trail through the grass. I followed the loop through grass more than five times my height. When I emerged out of the grass, the cook and quartermaster were astonished at my bravery. They instantly made me pose for a portrait.

All my love,

Dr. Walls T. Goobers

What made me think of it is that I have an ink and watercolor class coming up: Fearless Illustration.2 I would love to send anyone who wants to know about it a reminder that they have until noon this Friday to sign up. (*wink wink) But I also don’t want to taunt people who don’t live in the area because it is live, in Lynden, WA. (It is going to be a very cool class.)

SO:

And as a thank you for looking at this poll, here’s an illustration made using the method I will teach in Fearless Illustration:

Thanks my darling dodo birds. I hope your day gets better from here.

—Angela

This might be one of the best things I have ever painted. It is a collage background and based on a photo we took in the car to tell family we were on our way over for dinner.

Continuing what I did during Sketchbook Revival 2026, we’ll start with this very fun workshop. I did the regular one with her the first time (a gratitude donut), but here is what I love about tea!

Next is an interesting prompt for a daily entry. Draw four boxes, and then fill them with an object that is near you, draw the sky as your mood would make it, pick a word of the day, and then fill some abstract art.

Below is some work in neurographica. I don’t really understand what it is but she had us do a little meditation then draw some lines very “intuitively,” and then color them in. And finally write a little about it all. I really like how it turned out.

There was a workshop on dachshunds! I love drawing dogs.

The following spread is on two different kinds of paper, using gouache and then color pencil on top. I love it! This was particularly funny because I don’t like most fruit.

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I love to take notes when reading books. I made the Book Notes notebook to keep them all in one place. And you can get your own copy on my website! There’s a table of contents at the front where you can record what book is on what page so you can find it again. And a list at the back of books you want to buy, either because you checked them out or just want to read it. I drew all the little illustrations and laid out the whole book.

Aw! I was watching Macmillan and Wife on Amazon and it left when I was only half way through. Left is in not available in any form. Can’t find it on search. Booo! It was very funny! Though I think some of the episodes were out of order. It took me an entire season and a half to remember the wife’s name (Sally, FYI). Show is from the ‘70s. It is really interesting to see how much things have changed in nearly 50 years. They had a live-in maid. Is that still a thing, now?!

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

The sun has arrived. It pretends to be a cold ball of light for part of the year, and then it suddenly appears, hot and infuriating. But sometimes, it peeks in through a window, providing just enough warmth for a nap. It found me among the cozy toys I have piled in my under-desk bed.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

There were so many Sketchbook Revival classes! So let’s catch up a bit on those. Because I did them all!!

Crinkle the paper, draw the lines, color it in. This is shockingly fun. I did this at lunch for a week with my mom while the dogs were playing.

This workshop was just a bunch of different and delightful ways to loosen up when starting into your sketchbook.

I probably won’t use the stuff from this workshop as much. But it was interesting to try, just collaging in your sketchbook as background for other sketches later.

This is a great style of sketching for ideas. Monotone first to play with shapes. Then adding those shapes to color. The color blobs are put down before the tree shapes are added.

I love cutting into my sketchbook but am usually too worried about loosing a page to it. I need to get over that and just do it more. Here, we were supposed to draw our front door and then cut it open and journal a bit about how we felt on completing the Sketchbook Revival week. I did not sketch my door as it is but as it might be.

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I am not super into abstract work, but I can see doing more of it after a bunch of these classes. I loved this. Blop a bunch of watercolor. Then when it is dry, use a dark watercolor and some colored pencil to outline the flowers you see (or don’t see). I did the following painting with ink for the dark instead of indigo watercolor.

Newcomers by Alan Mikhail (Norton, May 12, 2026): What a fascinating look at old pre-US American history. Engaging writing style. This was a pleasure to proofread. It is about a founding couple of the United States who were quite different from who you would typically think of.

(Note: This is an affiliate link from which I could receive a small commission if you buy it.)

I recommend to you a class: Draw Wobbly Houses. Especially if you wish you could draw or draw more, this class is fantastic. It is all about accepting wobbly lines and having fun. Irene of Makings and Musings started this style so she could draw on public transit and it is so much fun. I started doing them “outside of class” and forgot to do the last workshop. To the drawing board!

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

Well nuts and Neanderthals. I try my best, I really do. I say yes to all sorts of invitations just to experience the full breadth of life. So when asked to try out for the part of detective in a noir film, I jumped on it. I learned my lines and showed up on time. But even though they congratulated my performance, they told me I wasn’t right for the part. They didn’t want a noir detective who looked happy to be doing his job.

Too happy to be miserable,

Dr. Wally TG

Title: An Unchecked Need to Preserve Useless Relics of the Past (available at the Jansen in Lynden in the Flicks Studio show)

“This is not junk, eh?” The old Junk Lady outside of Goblin City echoes my inner voice every time I look through my treasure box. Objects can be physical forms of memory—direct transports to the past. The old Junk Lady is a reminder to not let the fear of losing the past drag you down under its own weight, neither mental nor physical.

Movie That Inspired Piece: The Labyrinth (1986)

Medium: multimedia (watercolor, watercolor paper, black colored pencil, acrylic ink, foam board, glue, pin). All the pieces are up from the background.

P.S. You can just see Abe’s reflection in that photo.

Sketchbook Revival is over. I did almost every workshop. There are a few more I want to do. And then all the bonus material and classes!

The opening sessions (above) was long but really fun. The spread is divided into 12 sections and each has a different activity. I got to use these cute washi stickers to label each section.

For the wobbly house here, I did the inks with my left hand and colored very loosely with my right using markers. My handmade sketchbook has about five types of cardstock in it, and this is an odd coated paper. Interesting to work on.

I had Abe find me a “boring, everyday object” for the creative flow workshop. We have two potatoes that need planting. I was skeptical, but this was so fun!

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For these paper flowers, the first step was to make our own paper by painting our own color mixes. I had to wait for those to dry do I made the left flower first, using magazine/catalog clippings. The one on the right is from the paper I painted. I had leftover petals clipped so the bottom right is a little pocket I put them in.

I loved this one: Mood Minis. Random paint, then doodle on it. Then write a list of images you see in it, and then a list of descriptive phrases. Finally, write a list of phrases the first to lists bring to mind and pick one as your image label.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

The cook and quartermaster made me follow them around for hours. Into buildings. Back out of buildings. In the car, out of the car. Exhausting. By the time I convinced them it was bedtime, I was too tired to remember to drop all the balls I brought with me to bed.

All my love,

Dr. Wally T. Goobers

The following triptych (+ a friend) is titled: A Rumbling Under the Ground. The three square pieces are displayed as a triptych, 6 x 6 inches each in 10 x 10 frames. The wee little friend in the mismatched frame is on our (nonfunctional) piano. They are acrylic ink on watercolor paper and boy oh boy expect some more because I loved making these!1

For the show, we were asked to create art inspired by a “flick” (or something related to flare or flow). This piece was inspired by one of my favorite manga,2 also a movie: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Studio Ghibli, 1984).

My inspiration: Fungi are fascinating, enchanting, an entire kingdom neither animal nor plant—and they are the hidden magic of the world, right under our feet. In Nausicaä, a post-apocalyptic world of poison is slowly being rejuvenated by fungi. Originally a manga (graphic novel) by Hayao Miyazaki, this stunning tale became the first movie from the global phenomenon that is Studio Ghibli. The art of Miyazaki, carried through Ghibli, has affected generations of artists, a mycelial network rejuvenating imagination.

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The very first thing Sketchbook Revival 2026 (which you can still sign up for, Free!), offered was a video to make a style of book I’ve never made before: Australian piano hinge. Whoa. Wild. You can change out the signatures whenever.

So I made one! This is my first-ever Australian piano hinge book. The first page is always a pen test. Unless it is a book I really love, I suppose, and less of a sketchbook. Then it goes on the last page.

Here’s the truly amazing part of the piano hinge. The spine and the tabs that hold in the signatures. What a format. It is a little on the time-consuming side but is more reusable, too. The funniest part is the fancy paper I used for the cover and spine. Who Gives a Crap toilet paper and paper towel wrappers!

(Note: This is an affiliate link from which I could receive a small commission if you buy it.)

Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa (First Second, April 14, 2026 ) Simply lovely. I really enjoyed reading this while laying it out.

My current recommendation is Sketchbook Revival! You get three videos a day (April 11 through 21) with access until April 28, so there’s plenty of time. And if you want forever access, you can buy “VIP” access.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

Yes, it has happened. I am now four years old. My birthday has crossed forces with me once again, and once again I came out on top. Unlike in the picture provided here.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

Each Domestika class has a final project (where I have even more written about the “making of”), and this was a collage. I had been playing with collage recently anyway, so I had lots of preclipped images to choose from. I chose to reflect my silliness, and my love of nature and crafts, pulling from my alum magazine (University of Washington), a Knit Picks catalog, some catalog that was mistakenly delivered to my house, and a huge pile of my old Interweave Knits magazines.

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Because I am very into multi-layer surprises, I decided to include interactive bits, too, as seen in the animated gifs above. Lift the scarf to reveal “new tools.” The tea pots and cups reveal “create your world.” And since I have a background as a technical writer and like to bring that humorously to my work, there is a three-figure flap of instructions on ... I think how to attach a zipper? And a little booklet appears that has three or four spreads made from a multi section image.

April 18 (9am to 1pm) Cabinet of Curiosities

April 15 (10am to 2pm) Embroidered Watercolor Robin and Daffodil

May 30 – June 20 (10am to 12pm, four Saturdays) Fearless Watercolor: Ink, Watercolor, and Digital

You know, if I haven’t mentioned, I am watching One Piece (the original animation ). It’s an anime (Japanese, but dubbed on Hulu). I am obsessed! It started in 1999, has over 1,000 episodes, and is only now in the year 2025 finishing its “first season.” It is so so so so so slow (like 6 minutes of opening sequence + recap and then another 5 minutes of closing sequence and “next time” plus battles that go on for multiple episodes). But it is also hilarious! Perfect for “watching” while doing something else. The absolute best and most ridiculous faces. And some really touching story lines. So long as you can get past the ridiculous noodle bodies.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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My dear sweet Diary,

My turning radius might be becoming an issue. Our boatswain is just so incredibly fast that I can’t keep up. Try as I might, my bones and muscle might be able to turn nearly fast enough to Tag her, but my skin refuses to keep up!

All my love,

Wally Goob-Tube

My face! You can see my face! Well, you can see it if you join us at the Jansen Art Center in Lynden on April 9, 6-8 pm. That is opening night of the Flicks Show, all pieces inspired by movies. I have three pieces, one of which is a collaboration with the delightful and witty Abe Olson. The movies that inspired each are not posted with the show, at least not to start. So I will wait to post that info in a future post.

You could have seen my face tonight at the opening of the art show for the Cascadia International Film Festival, but I visited a dear friend I haven’t seen in nine years.

Remember this studious fella? It is on display now through April 25 at the Dakota Art gallery in downtown Bellingham. I will have to go see it soon! I love this piece.

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Coming soon, I am very excited for the Cabinet of Curiosities class, so sign up soon.

April 18 (9am to 1pm) Cabinet of Curiosities

April 15 (10am to 2pm) Embroidered Watercolor Robin and Daffodil

May 30 – June 20 (10am to 12pm, four Saturdays) Fearless Watercolor: Ink, Watercolor, and Digital

I drew “calligraphy” for my opening March spread in the ol’ bullet journal. I was skeptical, but it was super fun! I had to find a good quote and then I was sold.

Hardy-har. I am so excited. April 11 is the first day of Sketchbook Revival 2026. I already made one of the Australia piano hinge sketchbooks, and after I send this newsletter, I am off to make another. Very interesting. I will post more later.

Lost in Space, that old sci-fi TV show, made a comeback as a video game: The First Adventure. It was fun enough. Started out interesting, mysterious. I really enjoyed the "prologue.” Very short but somehow also very repetitive. The last half was multiple levels of the same three types of puzzle, where you have to remember random sequences. I tried to find a pattern or clues, but at least they were easy to skip without repercussions, except the game was even shorter.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

What an astonishing hole I found. It appeared quickly beneath my feet. I stuck my face in and got a massive whiff of the history of our underground denizens. Many a story to grab your interest.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

I’m so tired and rushed I almost just posted the same stuff to you as last week. But there’s no need! I’ve done things.

I recently discovered Peggy Dean, aka Pigeon Letters. I took an online (live) workshop from her recently on loose gouache flowers. It was super fun! I really like how my pieces turned out. I will definitely experiment with this some more. I am not very skilled with gouache and I don’t work so loosely very often, though I would like to.

I even like my page of practice brush strokes!

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My new website is looking good. And the other day I added a Freebies page! You can get three PDFs so far: a review of white pens, a fortune-telling game based on eating s’mores (dulcimancy), and a zine on making zines. The game and zine come in both a digital reading format and a printable format to make it into your own zine.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

I found it. I found the best stick. Diary, it was amazing.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobs

Hoo boy. I have a doozy of a copy edit on my plate so my posts might be a bit image > word. Not that it is a problem for either one of us. The book is freaking awesome (even if it is over 1,400 pages in Word, and not that is not a typo). And you’ll enjoy the pictures, I am sure.

I had some tools to test. More details on the results later. For now, here is what I drew for the tests.

On the left, we have a frog. On the right, a capybara. These were testing two colored pencils with watercolor. My new batch of colored pencils to test just came in the mail.

And this lovely lady was for testing some brushes. Looks like I left some pencil marks in there.

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I finished playing Minutes of Island this morning. What a lovely, sad, sweet game. I played it on the switch, swapping between the screen and the TV. Both were great, but the art is so lovely. That vibrant decay. I looks like it could be a centuries prior prequel to Adventure Time. A bit less chaotic in nature. It is a straight puzzle-platformer. There was only one annoying bit from the “platformer” part, which just took a little more patience than my usual.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

They took our portraits today, given a mere moment’s notice. I quickly spruced my face—some water on the cheeks to indicate my cleanliness even in dire times, yet a dab of mud toward the end of the nose to speak of my exploratory passion. I think both portraits turned out lovely. They have not informed me of which they will select.

All my love,

Dr. WTGoobers

I’ve started posting the main sections of the newsletter to the blog on my site, too. Under “Angela Says.” Same thing. Different location.

This is still one of my favorite comics. Silly and dark. This comic is included in The Early Years, a PDF collection of, you guessed it, my early comics, prior to attending CCS.

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If you were going to say Albert Einstein was an animal, he would be a ram, right? I drew this way back in 2014 and now I have put it on a t-shirt. I love him! This is back in the day I could still hatch from dawn to dusk. (Or, more like dusk to dawn.) You can also get this as an adorable print, dark blue on olive, at Art and Happiness, the most delightful store in Whatcom County.

I selected an organic cotton Tee. And I have named it Rambert Einstein.

The following four books that I worked on (proofreader or designer, nothing too crazy) were all released on March 3. The same day! Note: These are affiliate links from which I could receive a small commission if you buy it.

A Better World Is Possible by Danica Novgorodoff & Meera Subramanian (First Second)

Box Tales: Super Terrific Showtime by James Burks (First Second)
Very cute. Very young readers.

Churn by Claude M Steele (Norton)
Very interesting. Gives me some good ideas that I will try to implement when teaching.

Reproductive Wrongs by Sarah Ruden (Norton)
Horrifying and fascinating. She does a good job of taking into account the time in history various ideas take hold and looks at them with a churned stomach but through the lens of the time period. Looking at how it came about rather than ethically why. I actually really enjoyed it.

March 14 (10am to noon), Doodle Stamps

April 18 (9am to 1pm) Cabinet of Curiosities

April 15 (10am to 2pm) Embroidered Watercolor Robin and Daffodil

May 30 – June 20 (10am to 12pm, four Saturdays) Fearless Watercolor: Ink, Watercolor, and Digital

Isle of Elsi! What a delightfully funny kid-friendly webcomic that’s full of word play. I got Volume 3 from the Kickstarter a week or two ago and am diving in this weekend. By the excellent comics instructor Alec Longstreth, who taught the summer workshop I attended before CCS and the business-based class when I went to CCS. Simply the most wildly contagious enthusiasm.

I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela

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Dearest Diary,

The days are getting longer. The evening walks are getting brighter. We can just see in the light remaining when the chef finally gets home each day.

All my love,

Dr. Wally