2023 March & April Roundup

The weather has been a bit odd recently, several weeks of frosty sweater weather (a bit of a shock after spending three weeks in warm, sunny Japan), then a sudden wave of summer temps and dry thunderstorms for a few days, followed by cool rain starting today. I'm glad the deep chill of winter is finally over, but I hope the rain sticks around for a while. I want to be able to enjoy proper spring weather!

My cherry tree in bloom mid-April 🌸

Today I'd like to share with you my art-related activities and recommendations from the past two months. I won't go into specifics about my Japan trip, since I'm already doing that in a separate blog series, but it may come up here and there. In any case, I hope you'll enjoy this two-month art roundup!

Patreon Rewards

In March I sent out these adorable postcard rewards featuring the chibi caricatures I recently made of my two pet pigeons, Kumo and Sora. I did not originally make the caricatures with the idea of turning them into a reward, but it worked out so well that I'm going to make rewards featuring my two pups and my kitty next 😊 I'm very close to done with the puppy reward, so be sure to sign up here if you'd like to receive the next adorable postcard (or a larger, more detailed print version)!

deviantART

Click here to view, comment, and fave on deviantART!

Whaaat?! I finished posting all my 2022 work to dA?!

Yes! I did! Finally!

Now I have four months of a productive 2023 to catch up on 😆 Of the most recent uploads, this final piece from Inktober 2022 is my favorite. The prompt was "farm" and I was still following my gryphon theme, so I drew a turkey-gryphon farmer! Not only did I enjoy the amusing visual, I feel this was one of my best inking jobs from the challenge. Makes sense, since it was the 31st ink drawing I did that month!

Art Livestreaming

At the end of April, I finished my Aoife chibi! Aoife is my big dog; I finished Chibi Chappie (my little dog) on the last Friday before I left for Japan 😄 These two will become my next Patreon reward, as I mentioned. You can watch the final round of work on chibi Aoife, which was done live on Twitch, on YouTube:

My streaming schedule remains the same as usual: Inktober52 on Mondays (an ink drawing combining a weekly prompt with my self-imposed gryphon theme), a Lucky Dip on Wednesdays (four random art tools used to practice an anime-style character drawing), and Chibi Fridays (adorable chibi caricature drawings). Be sure to check out my Twitch schedule and follow me there to get notifications whenever I go live!

Charity Fundraising

Because March is Women's History Month in my country, I chose RedRover as my charity this time. RedRover, among other good things, helps people escaping domestic abuse (a population which is disproportionately comprised of women) keep their pets with them, especially because pets in such situations are in just as much, if not more, danger as their abused human guardians.

Since I was going to miss several weeks of livestreaming while on vacation, I decided to use March and April's stats combined to determine my donation. My formula is thus: for every unique viewer I get on Twitch in the selected time period, I donate USD $0.10, with a minimum of $10 and a maximum of $100.

Through March and April, I had 14 unique viewers, which equals a $10 donation to RedRover! They had a checkbox to cover processing fees, so I actually donated a little bit more to ensure the funds could be as effective as possible ❤️

My featured charity for May is The Peregrine Fund. I chose them because the California condor population, already critically endangered, is suffering huge losses due to an outbreak of avian influenza. The Peregrine Fund is making concerted efforts to help the birds, and I want to join them 💪

Mika's Monthly...

In this section, I will share some of the things that have kept me fueled, happy, and healthy through March and April. I hope you'll give some of these recommendations a try! (As always, I am not being compensated for any of these recommendations. I'll let you know if that ever changes!)

...Workout 👟 The way I kept active the most during these past two months was walking! In particular, this was the most accessible way to get my blood pumping while still enjoying my vacation in Japan. I even did a one mile walk around the track on the top deck of our cruise ship, the Silver Muse, during a day at sea! Of course, the ship moved so fast that the stats on my Garmin were totally off 😆

...Vegan Victuals 🍱 At the end of April I hosted my first cherry blossom viewing party! I've wanted to do so ever since I moved here, because there's a cherry tree in my back yard. For the party, my sister and I made vegan bento boxes for everyone 😊 It was way easier than I expected. I bought some cute vegetable cutters to make the flower veggies, but other than the bento boxes themselves, no other specialized equipment was required. These boxes were lined with leaves of romaine lettuce, filled with steamed short grain rice which was then topped with furikake seasonings, then filled the rest of the way with carrots, cucumber, radishes, avocado, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, boiled sweet peas, vegan hot dogs, and cute animal-shaped vegan chik'n nuggets ✨

...Show 📺 I finished watching The Mandalorian season 3 in April and I loved it! Din Djarin has solidified himself as my favorite character in the series 🥰 I am so excited for the next season, I really want to see where things go from here. There are so many possibilities!

...Music 🎧 I've been listening to a lot of music of all genres over the past couple months, so it was a bit difficult to choose what to feature. One thing I didn't get very much of in Japan was a fix for my otome game obsession, so I have been listening to a lot of my otome game soundtracks since I got home! I let that guide my decision here, so I'm sharing my otome game playlist from Spotify 😄

That's it for this roundup post! In the couple days since I started writing, the weather has granted my wish and stayed lovely cool and rainy~ It's absolutely dreamy this morning ☁️😌🌧️ I don't expect it to last, with summer just around the corner, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can! Here's hoping you're also enjoying the weather wherever you are~✨ Until next time, stay safe, happy, and healthy!

2023 Japan Adventure - Part 2: First Day in Osaka

Welcome to Part 2 of my Japan vacation report! You can read Part 1 here. Today's entry will cover my first day in Osaka, which wasn't very long. My husband and I mostly explored the area around our hotel before beginning the boarding procedures for our cruise ship. Even with the short amount of time, however, we still found some cool stuff which I shall now share with you here!

Wednesday 15 March 2023 - Exploring Sakishima, Osaka

This photo is actually from the night before, but I'm including it because...

...I ended up taking the exact same photo, effortlessly, the next morning!
The tower on the left is Cosmo Tower, the third tallest building in Japan.

It wasn't even (astronomical) spring yet but many lovely flowers were abloom!

We enjoyed a walk in the sunshine 🌞 Cosmo Tower and the ATC building are visible behind us.

A map of the area we walked around in. We mostly followed the canal.

One of the best things about Japan: awesome vending machines everywhere!

This ship was a random find! It's a restored Kofun period ship named Namihaya.
This Asahi article from last October indicates people are trying to find a better home for it.

There were lots of lively birds in this area!

The blue and green ship in the background is the most vibrant ship I've ever seen!

Turns out this Osaka-themed manhole cover is an item in Animal Crossing: New Horizons 😲 My sister sent me an image of it! I discovered later that many places in Japan have their own specific cover designs, so I started taking photos of all that I noticed!

My first wild jellyfish sightings! I photographed several floating along in this seawater canal.

This was a cool driftwood art installation in our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Osaka.

Part of the artificial pond just outside the hotel.

I spotted several of these birds in the tiny park we walked to. I've now identified them as tsugumi, an Asian bird that I'd have never seen wild in my homeland!

That's all for this entry; I'm going to put our next step, boarding and exploring our cruise ship, into its own post. That will be next! Please look forward to it 😄

2023 Japan Adventure - Part 1: Boise to Osaka

This month I'm using my blog quite differently from usual. Since most of March was taken up by my trip to Japan (and a single day in Korea), instead of a roundup post, I'm going to make several smaller vacation recap posts 😄 Think of it like a digital photo album, with lots of images and short notes that allow you to experience my journey, or even imagine your own future visit to Japan!

First, a little background information. My husband, Sean, and I were originally planning to attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I had started saving up ever since the Rio Olympics closing ceremonies, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerged from a green pipe dressed as Mario ❤️ But, of course, those plans were destroyed (with some false hope in between) by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the replacement trip we decided on, a cruise around Japan in 2022, was cancelled for the same reason. But happily, the replacement for our replacement wasn't cancelled, and we got to have the most awesome adventure of our lives so far~!

Now begins a multi-post account of my three weeks in Japan! Please enjoy!

13-14 March 2023 - Traveling from Boise to Osaka

We didn't realize it would be like this, so it was an exhausting surprise to find our total awake time (not including naps on flights) ended up being over 24 hours, starting from waking up in the early morning on the 13th at home in Boise, and ending when we finally got to enter our hotel room in Osaka in the evening on the 14th 😅 The travel itself was great, we flew Delta One across the Pacific, which was sooo nice, especially since my last trip to Japan was via the cheapest seats, so I already had the least comfortable experience in memory as comparison. But I didn't expect to be so tired on my first day in Japan!

Me and Sean on the plane from Boise to Seattle.

My Delta One seat on the flight from Seattle to Tokyo.
I've never flown so fancy before~ The seat lays down into a bed!

As soon as you're seated, the first drinks service begins! We chose orange juice 🍊

All strapped in and ready for takeoff!

Included with this seat was a care packet containing an eye mask, ear plugs, hand cream, lip balm, toothbrush and paste, and an eco-conscious pen.

It also came with slippers, headphones (for use with the built-in media system), and a bottle of water 😊 All needs accounted for!

The media system was so cool! Not only could you watch movies, listen to music, or the like, you could see all kinds of data and visualizations of the flight itself and its progress 🤩

The first movie I decided to watch was Spaceballs, a childhood favorite! I'd actually been wanting to rewatch it for a while and I was pleased to find it just as laugh-out-loud funny as ever 😂

My vegan breakfast at the end of the flight was delicious!

I didn't have enough time to watch the whole thing, but the second movie I chose was The Last Samurai, another long-time favorite. Again, I was pleased to find it just as good as I remembered 🥹

We safely landed at Tokyo International Airport, and when I was allowed to turn off airplane mode on my phone, it officially became Tuesday afternoon for me! We skipped a bunch of time when we crossed the International Date Line; it was only just after midnight back at home.

The sunset was beautiful on the plane ride to Osaka~

Gorgeous twilight aerial view of Osaka 🌇

We stayed the first night at the Hyatt Regency Osaka, a very nice hotel!

The best everyday part of Japan is the toilets 🤩🚽✨
Almost all have a "washlet" with various features such as a bidet, privacy sounds (so you can poop with other people nearby and not feel self-conscious! I loved it!!!), heated seat, etc. I want one at home...

Was so nice to go to sleep in a comfy bed after over 24 hours of travel. I had zero jet lag because I managed to stay up until a normal bed time 😌💤

That's it for the first day of our journey! Next time I will cover our morning exploring around the hotel in Osaka and boarding our cruise ship, the Silver Muse. Please look forward to it!

2023 February Roundup

I'm sitting in my garden floor studio, dressed for my lunchtime workout, with the space heater going because I finally got cold. It's surprisingly bright outside, so I have my curtains closed, even though I'd like to look out and see if it starts to snow. Last night's weather forecast predicted snow by this evening ☃️ I hope that prediction comes true!

February went really well for Studio Mikarts. Progress in all areas, no major hiccups, just smooth sailing~ I have lots of cool updates to share and news about upcoming plans, so let's begin!

Patreon Rewards

February was the first time I've printed Patreon rewards in-house. I used the same type of paper that I already use for full-size prints, Red River Paper's Aurora Art Natural, and the same archival printer, my Epson Expression Photo. The reward pictured here is my Winter Gryphon illustration. As you can see, printing went well, so I'll continue printing all rewards in-house for the foreseeable future. Sign up to get monthly Patreon rewards from Studio Mikarts here! You can choose from a single postcard, a pack of three postcards, a full-size print, or a print and three postcards 😄

deviantART

My Spring Gryphon was featured as a Daily Deviation!

I have some exciting news to share about deviantART! After nearly 20 years using the site, I finally made something that earned a Daily Deviation! 🎊😄🎉✨ For anyone who doesn't know what a Daily Deviation (DD for short) is, it's the prominent featuring of a user's submission by a deviantART official. I've always wanted to be chosen, but I never caught anyone's eye until now. Is it a coincidence that the selected piece was made during my first year after graduating from art school? Maybe, maybe not!

Gryphia Progress

I've continued working through my previous notes to prepare for planning chapter eight and beyond. It's taking a surprising amount of time; I have a lot of notes! But I think it's time well-spent, since I've rediscovered old ideas that fit wonderfully, and remembered previous elements that I don't want to forget to address before the story ends. Progress slowed as the month wore on, because I began using my writing time to prepare for my trip to Japan (in less than a week!) but small steps still move one forward, so that's all that matters 😊

Art Livestreaming

I had an excellent month of livestreaming, as usual! I've continued my January schedule, with Inktober52 on Monday, Wednesday Lucky Dips, and Chibi Fridays. I created so much work on stream in February it was hard to decide which piece to feature here, so I just chose the final piece I made. It's a sparrow + shiba inu gryphon, in response to the Inktober52 prompt: pup 🐶 Click here to check out my livestreaming schedule and, while you're there, don't forget follow me to get notifications whenever I go live! 

Charity Fundraising

My featured charity in February was The Rat Retreat, an Idaho-based organization that provides good homes to rats and educates the public about these sweet, intelligent, misunderstood beings. My monthly donation is always decided by the number of unique viewers on Twitch; I donate $0.10 USD per viewer, with a minimum of $10 and a max of $100. Nine viewers in February equals a $10 donation!

Since I'll be on vacation (sailing around Japan!) for four weeks starting mid-March, my next featured charity shall use both March and April's streaming stats. Since March is Women's History Month in my country, I chose RedRover as my next featured charity, because one of the things they do is help people who are escaping abusive homes bring their pets with them. Women are disproportionately victims of domestic abuse and too few shelters accept pets, who are often victims themselves, so I hope my donation at the end of April will help both women and their beloved pets!

Mika's Monthly...

Here are my recommendations in a variety of categories for things that made my February healthy, fun, and awesome! As always, I am not being compensated in any way, I just legitimately love these things and hope you'll give them a try, too 😄

...Workout 💃 After recovering from a triceps injury I sustained at the beginning of the year (like, literally on January 1st 😅) in February I was finally able to resume playing Zumba: Burn it Up! on my Nintendo Switch! This game is super fun, I love the music selection, and there's not a huge emphasis on getting the dance moves exactly right. The game part just seems to care whether you're moving to the beat, so it's really easy to get into the game even if you have no dance experience! I decided to add dancing to my workout routine after watching a documentary that suggested exercise that also engages your brain in learning is overall more effective. Whether that's true or not, dancing is fun, so Zumba is remaining a staple in my routine!

The shortest, easiest class but still enough to work up a good sweat! #TheActiveOtaku #ZumbaBurnItUp #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/1CurufJJrJ

— Studio Mikarts - Denise みか Hutchins (@StudioMikarts) February 28, 2023

...Vegan Victuals 💝 For Valentine's Day, my husband got me a box of No Whey! Truffles 😍 This brand is awesome because not only are their chocolates absolutely scrumptious, they're vegan! I am happy any time there's an excuse to eat their tasty treats!

...Book 📕 The one book I finished in February was Andy Serkis' audiobook reading of The Fellowship of the Ring, but even if I had finished some of the other books I'm currently reading, this still would have been my top recommendation for the month. As I state in my StoryGraph review, Andy Serkis doesn't just read the book, he gives a performance!

...Show 📺 I started rewatching one of my favorite anime of all time last month: Natsume Yuujinchou. It's generally a monster-of-the-week style show featuring a boy in high school who can see youkai (a kind of Japanese spirits/monsters). His ability causes him all kinds of trouble, worst of all social isolation and difficulty finding a place to safely be, both socially and physically. It's usually a bittersweet show (almost every episode makes me cry, no matter how many times I watch it!) but it also has some very dark and creepy moments, plus a healthy dose of cuteness and humor. Although the show doesn't directly address these topics, it nevertheless makes me think deeply about relationships, mental health, and how difficult it is for everyone to navigate the world, whatever their circumstances.

...Game 🎮 A Little to the Left is a game I instantly wanted ever since I saw it in a Nintendo Direct last year. Happily, one of my friends gave me a Nintendo gift card for Christmas, so of course I bought this gem immediately! It's a super chill and cozy puzzle and organization game. Many puzzles have multiple correct solutions and there's a Daily Tidy challenge, so even though the main game (which has a surprisingly touching ending!) doesn't take long to get through, the replay value is still rather high 😊 I've been playing every day to unlock all the Daily Tidy badges!

I finished the main game yesterday; this was one of my favorite levels. Eye candy~ I'm glad there's a Daily Tidy for me to look forward to throughout the year! #ALittleToTheLeft #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Yvvfgd5Idr

— Studio Mikarts - Denise みか Hutchins (@StudioMikarts) December 30, 2022

...Music 🎧 I discovered something amazing in February: several of my favorite video games have soundtracks and other albums available on Spotify! This inspired me to create a new playlist called Mika's Instrumental Game Favorites 🎻 and I've been listening to it virtually every day since. It's got a lot of calm, peaceful tracks from Okami and Ace Attorney but also some more peppy, rocking tracks from Sonic Adventure. Either way it makes for nice background music for all kinds of activities throughout the day (I've been listening especially at shower time!).

So that's it for February's roundup! In the week since I started writing, it's snowed multiple times and it looks like it's trying to come down again as I type 😄🌨️ There are only a few days left before I depart for Japan 🎌 Half of March will be taken up by this adventure, and I intend to make lots of plein air drawings and paintings while I'm there! I think that will make next month's roundup quite different and interesting. Please look forward to it! Until then, may you be safe, happy, and well ❤️

Chappie and Aoife enjoying the snow~!