📸 by Luke Awtry at Art Hop 2025

*spring art vlog* painting vitriol, new orleans, dumb phones, experimental art festival n more YouTube video by cons.tellation

My latest art vlog where I paint my faux-medieval tapestry about toxic victimhood narratives titled Vitriol, I rant about my phone addiction and give a review of my blackberry dupe, my New Orleans trip, new art supplies. :)

Every day that I have to go to work, I suddenly would LOVE to edit my next YouTube video and start my next piece. But every weekend day, it doesn’t seem like the right time. 🤔

Now I realize that having the “time to draw” isn’t nearly as important as having the time to truly rest. To daydream, to soothe, to twiddle my thumbs. Being bored has, so far, been the most impactful action I’ve taken to paint more, and regularly. When there’s nothing to do, I will create something.

I worried that all the “cutting out” would make me less inspired, my work less cutting edge, tamper my discovery of new techniques. Maybe it will, but I haven’t found that yet. I still find heightened states good for inspiration, but not for actually sitting tf down.

I also have been looking forward to the sitting down and spending time painting more. I didn’t realize how I was coming to feel like the actual process was the means to the end of a piece. But when I’m actually bored, it feels just like a great way to kill a couple hours.

It’s not enough for me to “have the time” to draw. I still work the same hours, and I still struggle to paint after work. It’s because my mind is buzzing with the stimulation of the day: frustration, anxiety, insecurities. But on weekends, I wake up bored and almost always make my way to the studio.

I realize now it was probably bc I was BORED. I was addicted to the internet as a teen, too, but your feed would end when you saw the new posts from people you followed. No endless suggestions and ads. We may feel bored when we scroll bc we are not sated, but I mean running out of things to do.

Seems that I’ve ALWAYS been trying to paint more and more consistently. I’ve listened and tried a ton of advice from popular YouTube gurus. Some helped more than others but none have really stuck. When I think about when I was most prolific, though, it was when I was a teenager with no art routine.

This made me start reading again! I needed a book for my morning doo, at the drs office, on the bus, before bed. I also realized I was MUCH more present with friends, at yoga, in my cooking. I started daydreaming again, making shapes out of clouds out the window. THEN I started painting again.

I had to get REALLY REAL with myself and cut back. I did a lot of things, this thread isn’t really about those things but about the eventual ABSENCE. I replaced my phone w a SM-free BlackBerry dupe. The first weeks were hell, constantly seeking entertainment. I realized I couldn’t just Be Bored.

What WAS I doing? It was that damn phone. I was carrying to high-stimulation dopamine casino everywhere I went. I would lose hours 😬 easily swiping videos. And I didn’t feel better after my journey through Instaland and Twitteropolis. I just replaced my worries and desires with a thousand strangers’

I began My Season of Rest and Relaxation by cutting out drinking and socializing with new people: huge anxiety sources for me. That wasn’t too hard during Vermont winter. And it would give me time to do things that calm me: reading, painting, cooking, etc. But it didn’t. I was still a frazzled mess.

I wasn’t painting because I wasn’t bored enough, I guess. 🧵 This past winter, I tried to live I a lower-stimulation lifestyle to manage my #anxiety and regulate my nervous system. These changes snowballed into many aspects of my life, and provided insight into my #creative process. #art

here’s me painting in real time. and that time is SLOW. one of my biggest introspections this past year has been about how important peace, calm and BOREDOM is for me in my creative process. #artsky #painting #watercolor #slowliving

my bff @phunky-bitch.bsky.social and i enjoying a participatory art piece, Field of Time by local artist Allison Wray, at the experimental arts festival, Plex Fest. #vermontart #vermont #performanceart #artfestival

Featured negative flowers:
💐Yellow Tulip: jealousy, unrequited love (victorian)
🌸Petunia: resentment (victorian)
🌿Lily of the Valley: tears, mourning (biblical iconography)
🌼 Buttercup: ungrateful (greek mythology, victorian)
🌱 Morning Glory: possession (personal)
#watercolor #history #folklore

#watercolor and #gouache #WIP

Audio was poor, with ambient noise for sureeee

I made a vlog about this painting i finished, my new sketch, making new prints (for sale now!), and the spring equinox!

youtu.be/pVVDbW0115M?...

#artsky #artvlog #youtube #vlog #painting

Right now the biggest obstacle is that my computer is only 8GB of RAM and I don’t have a camera. But I was surprised to see that my kinda outdated iphone could actually handle filming, editing, and uploading! I’ll save up for better equipment soon, hopefully :)

I wanna get back into making YouTube videos, but lord there are so many obstaclesssss

"Poppy Dreams" 🌺

Congrats! I also deleted mine last weekend, after 16 years 🥲 I feel lighter but also I keep like going to check it and realizing I deleted the app…

A poster for the economic blackout on February 28. It is a big red Jack rabbit on an aqua blue back ground. It says economic blackout in hand done black type. There are two black speech bubbles. One says “don’t buy stuff Friday February 28th. The other says we have power. Below it says No Amazon, Walmart, target, gas food, gas. Below that it says OK small business, use cash. Designed by Martha Rich.

I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!

Cherry,WIP. If you hear me breathing (or stress moaning), no you didn’t ;P
#watercolor #artist #art #asmr #satisfying #artsky

that sounds incredible. like a factory reset for the nervous system haha. 🖤

filmed a really satisfying frisket peel a couple weeks ago and watched it back today. not only am i like breathing directly into the mic ig but also ??doing a weird stress groan every 30 seconds?? 😩

Here’s a little sneak peek of the underpainting for my latest piece, created for the "Dreamland Awaits" exhibition at Corey Helford Gallery! I’ve started this painting on a 12x16 inch copper panel.

#oilpaintingprocess #underpainting #beautifulbizarre #art #coreyhelford #DreamlandAwaits

Cherry, WIP. 16 seconds of playing around w one of my fave colors, but one i very rarely paint with! Song is RA by Gaupa :)
#watercolor #art #painting