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[Startear]

Ooooh,a good question!

For me usually it is thinking of why I want to master said skill. Is it because I like how art from a new art supply look? Is it because I have a deadline at work?  Or is because I want to do something specific? Then Itry to keep it in mind as I do the thing.

So this was a question making a few rounds on tumblr, and I am curious what the folks here think. What would be a bigger shock to you, that a walrus came knocking on the door, or if a fae/fairy did?

[Czarine]

I think I would be more shocked about the walrus since I don't know how it would fit through our building's narrow staircase up to the second floor...  And who has taught it to knock??

Question: What is your go-to recipe or comfort food? (I'm hungry!)

[Treefox]

Oh yes, I'm getting hungry too! One of my comfort foods is Shio (salt based soup) Ramen. It's just so nice and comforting. The instant kind, mind you. When need comfort I don't have the time to make soup from scratch.
Also a good porridge with a nice consistency.

Practical question: what do you do when you can't sleep at night because of the heat?

[Startear]

If I am truly desperate, I rinse the top I sleep in, and sleep in that. It is sensory uncomfortable to do, so I only do it when I am really really dying of the heat.

What life-skill do you think is underrated?

[jaRf]

Living under the roof I painfully know about the heat. It slows me down and it feels like my brain wants to melt.

About the life-skills. Well. First off, one might want to check what counts as life-skill. Moreover, it might be different from person to person when it comes to "rating". I am not certain how much other people value wich skill, I can only make some estimations from my position.

I would say:
Intelligence. Empathy. And also a sort of integrity.
But it might be my cognitive bias that I value these things and I often miss them "out there".

Let's try with a relatively grounded question, that is hopefully easy to answer for everyone. Inspired by the current warmth and my very recent consumption of it:
Do you have a favourite sort of ice-cream - and which is it / are they?

[Treefox]

I love all sorts of ice cream. Just looove ice cream! But my favorite might be Spaghetti ice. It's a German thing where vanilla ice is made to look like Spaghetti and placed over a bit of whipped cream, topped with strawberry sauce and white chocolate flakes to make it look like Parmesan cheese. The fascinating part is that the whipped cream starts to freeze and that is just super delicious!

Coming back to cooking and food-related questions:
Do you prefer baking or cooking? And why the preference?

[Startear]

Cooking. Mainly because I am more familiar with it, lol. I know what went wrong if my vinagrette won’t come together, and how to fix it.  With baking? Unless it is too dry, prayers  But also because baking is a science. There are things to consider, like elevation, the fat content of the eggs, temperatures etc. It stresses me out.

What is a dish, or ingredient popular in your culture that you just cannot make yourself like?

[Afke]

Stamppot.
Google translate calls it hotchpotch, but I'm not sure that's even the same thing, because the pictures that a search gives has way too varied results, haha. I have never cooked it myself, yet it was a staple dish when I was little. It's boring, and I prefer my potat to stay whole, because I want chewing to be necessary.
It baffles me how the Dutch colonised half the world for spices, but this dish remains so bland. Usually nutmeg is added, which is about the only spice I do not like. After watching the main character in The Guru add cinnamon to a lamb stew, for a while I put cinnamon in everything. Really recommend trying that, haha. Everything gets better with cinnamon. Perhaps even stamppot, who knows...

I'm busy preparing for Halloween; which holiday is something you look forward to all year?

[jaRf]

On some previous questions:
cooking more than baking, because I can correct things more easily. Baking gone wrong is... well, gone wrong.

There are some dishes, though I am not entirely certain how far they count as truly regional and traditional. And if one does not eat e.g. fish, this will already bring up a few dishes. But there should be Saumagen dishes or Saure Flecke. Both are about innards. Also "Mett" (raw minced meat) is not my thing, onions, salt and pepper or not. (Fried is something different.)
Mashed potatoes (in different degrees of mashedness) is a popular starch base here, too; nutmeg is not entirely uncommon with it.

The Dutch cuisine would be interesting to explore. The few times I was there... well, Lekker smullen in Febo. De lekkerste. ;-)
So that was mostly just fast food / junk(?) food.
But then, yes, there should be more spices. At least there is sometimes Sambal Oelek or peanut sauce (satay sauce).


Holidays:
Umm... for the remainder of this year? I assume Christmas (German: Weihnachten, lit. holy night(s) / consecrated night(s); 24th (Heiligabend lit.: holy evening), 25th and 26nd of Dec.).
There are few other public holidays til then, besides the Advent sundays and the non-spare-time Nikolaus (Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas, which is the 6th of Dec.) (As far as I know the Dutch people are more into Sinterklaas; and Kerstfest is a little less popular. Here Christmas is about the biggest thing, followed by Easter, Pentecost and New Year.)
Well, re-unification day, 3rd of October. When divided Germany became one country again. I'd wish that for the Korean people, too, however, without repeating the mistakes we made during this process.
(Halloween is not that much here, though commerce is trying to push it. For us, there is Reformation Day, when Martin Luther's 95 theses were put to the doors of the church (and he sent letters with them in all directions). Catholics rather have Allerseelen. There are also Totensonntag (Sunday of the Deceased) and regional Buß- und Bettag (day for prayers and repentance).)

Well. A question is needed.
What atmosphere do you prefer for drawing your EQ art? Are there any prerequisites?

[Foxeye]

I love all sorts of ice cream. Just looove ice cream! But my favorite might be Spaghetti ice. It's a German thing where vanilla ice is made to look like Spaghetti and placed over a bit of whipped cream, topped with strawberry sauce and white chocolate flakes to make it look like Parmesan cheese. The fascinating part is that the whipped cream starts to freeze and that is just super delicious!

I think I have to agree I've only managed to have it the once, in 2012 when Kael and I were in Frankfurt, and I've been grumpy that I can't find someone importing it up here in Finland. Way too many Kebab shops and not enough spaghetti icecream! 

Finding some will be one of the first things I do when we finally manage a trip to Germany.

[Treefox]

Foxy! Hey there! Next time you visit Germany, please let me know. I would easily travel anywhere to get the chance to say hello. Then we can have Spaghetti ice together!

Concerning the question: there several atmospheres that inspire me. But I guess, being in a quiet and safe atmosphere is really helpful. I love to draw during autumn and winter. The weather just makes being indoor and being creative so comfy. One of the best things is to sit in front of the fireplace and draw, listening to music or a podcast.

If you are drawing digitally, how did you choose your software or other medium fo drawing?

[Czarine]

Hmm, I choose my software based on usefulness and pricing.

I used to draw in Gimp for a long time because it's free (and I still use it for more photo editing like stuff), but I needed better ways to modify and post-process my line art (like individual line thickness, size/rotation/position of the drawn elements) without losing quality. I ended up getting Clip Studio Paint for its vector line art feature, and I've enjoyed it along with its 3D and other features. I also like it for being a (semi-) one-purchase program without subscriptions.

When my needs change, I might change the program again.

How do you celebrate Halloween? If you don't, do you have other celebrations before Christmas?

[Startear]

I have my own little ritual where I make a white pizza with mushroom and caramelized onions, then I watch a movie. It used to be that I watched The Craft (original) but since it was taken off Netflix, last year I watched Lo (2009). A great movie that everyone should watch.

Art question, why do you prefer your specific medium? Can either be specific, like why markers instead of, say, watercolors, or why you like Procreate better than Photoshop, or more general, like why you prefer digital to traditional/vice versa.

[Afke]

Aww, I just watched The Craft last week. I have my fave movies on DVD.

Hmm, I have used lots of different art materials, and some moved me towards others for specific reasons.
1) I used to draw with ballpoint pens and crosshatch a lot, but it started to hurt my hands too much, so this moved me towards graphite pencil drawings.
2) Coloured pencils also needed too much pressure to my liking, so I looked for softer stuff and went with pastel pencils. But since it's difficult to properly save those (these drawings will keep leaving marks of powder, even after fixating, and scanning them is hell), I moved onto alcohol markers and I still prefer those; no pressure needed, easy to mix and use painterly or for blocking.
3) I started knitting, because I liked the idea of yarn-bombing and just knit together random colours and feel no pressure from my inner perfectionist.
4) When I'm working on a puppet or something like that, I feel relieved once I reach the stage where everything can only be stitched by hand, because I can just sit on the couch watching movies while I do that. It's a slow craft that I love, and all the previous stages require more brain power from me.

As you might have guessed I prefer analogue materials over digital. I'm very tactile with my work I guess, I need my fingerprints on there, they're often even part of the process (especially when I use graphite pencils). I need to be on my computer for so much already for things I have no control over, and even though employment is currently cut out of my day, I still feel even more the need to be in less contact with screens.
And I guess for the same reasons I still have my DVD's; I don't want to be forced to replace my materials just because technology changed or a company decided to discontinue something, or I need and update I can't afford or whatever, just to be able to make art. I always want to be able to use what I already have.

Okay, question: are you busy with any (art) project right now or soon, or perhaps passionate about working on something else?

[Treefox]

Oh my gosh! The Craft! I watched that with my sister ages ago... as I remember, I liked it very much.

I really relate to what you are saying about haptics, Afke. At this very moment, I am drawing with analogue media and it feel so so good!
I would love to see some of your knitting! I tried it and failed so miserably...
And if you really want to keep something long term, owning it in a physical way definitely seems to be smartest way.

Concerning art projects, I want to start working on my portrait series again! A project that I will probably not finish in my lifetime...
And I decided to paint our door frame for Halloween. Again, using crayons and not digital media. Feeling very creative lately and wish for much more time to get it all out!
The other rather neglected project is to get my IT-related exam done this month... I don't want to do it, but will finally go through with it.

Question: Did you ever feel your art is getting worse? If yes, do you have a remedy?

[Czarine]

I want to get back to traditional mediums too! It's been so long since I last painted something. But I've been knitting my first mittens in colorwork, and it's been... interesting!

Whenever I feel that my art sucks, I try to remember the graph about how our perception of what looks good advances before our skill to produce it. So, technically we should be more worried when we feel our art looks awesome because our perception skill has plateaued! But the best remedy for my art slumps are visits to art exhibitions. There's just something about seeing the fruits of others' art processes that get my artistic juices flowing.

Q: Which art style/artist is your favorite? If you don't have a favorite, is there a style you dislike?