I really wanted to have a sea themed set of stickers for August but apparently I don’t really own a lot of sea creature related sticker sheets, so I made do with what I had on hand.

Stickers

All from stickii this month, though mostly older stuff.

• Kitty dreams stamps by Jazlynn.art (I think from the 2024 stickii adevent?)
• Cryptid ladies by so.meudok (2025 stickii advent?)
• leafy ladies stamps by ameleafy (also 2025 stickii advent?)
• ocean icons (no artist name given but also from stickii, a past pack but I bought it separately)

Once again, I wish every stickii artist would turn their logo/name into a sticker so I can put these in my journals easily and find their names later when I want to buy more art from them.  Please!

Pens & Inks

After taking this photo I swapped out the purple ink for a green/teal one.  I’d been thinking about doing so anyhow but then I knocked over a completely full new bottle of ink and grabbed a syringe and threw some of what spilled into my newest pen after I was done cleanup.  Thankfully mostly the ink formed a small puddle and didn’t ruin too much on my office table, and I was able to suck a lot of the ink up into a vial for later use.

August 2026 Inks: Pilot iroshizuku ama-iro (bright blue), Ferris Wheel Press Crystal Blue Legacy (dark purple/blue), Diamine Cool Green (green/teal)

• Pilot E95S <medium> – Pilot Iroshizuku ama-iro (a hold-over from last month)
• Pelikan Pura <broad> – Ferris Wheel Press Crystal Blue Legacy.
  • This was from an ink sampler I bought ages ago.  I’m pretty unimpressed with Ferris Wheel Press since they’re doing some HP related stuff at the moment (among other red flags), and also I don’t love this ink.  It has some pretty blue sparkles that hardly ever show up and require a lot of agitation, and the rest of the time it’s just kind of a boring dark ink.  I was hoping the sparkles would look better in the Pura since it’s a wetter feed, but this ink is just meh.
• Kaweco Sport Ocean Breeze <fine> – Diamine Cool Green
  • This is the full bottle of ink I knocked over.  Bought a little combo pack of Diamine inks as a reward for finishing a writing project.  I was more excited about the other two colours but this is nice.  A little similar to the Teranishi Brilliant Mint but much darker. Goes well with the new pen!

Kaweco Sport Ocean Breeze fountain pen. The pen is shown on white paper in bright sunlight so you can see that areas are translucent, enough so that you can see the ink inside the pen and the shadow is clear-ish in spots.

I probably should have gotten a gold clip for the new Kaweco, but the store I bought it from didn’t have any in stock so maybe some future order.  This one is eventually destined to be a work pen which is why it’s a fine nib, something I mostly avoid, but the kaweco nibs have been consistently smooth enough that I didn’t think it was a high risk to try it.  It’s a pleasant little pen and I’m really stoked about the translucence since I’m so bad about checking ink levels in my opaque pens.

Life

One of kiddo’s big requests for this summer was that we go back to the Toronto Zoo, so we did that in the end of July.  It was very huge and very hot but a decent number of animals were happy to be on display including this lovely peacock who we nearly missed because J searched the app for “peacock” not realizing they’re listed as “peafowl” — thankfully I remembered where they were from last time.  Kid was initially disappointed that they were just hanging with their tails folded but we waited a while and eventually one of them decided to show off.    I brought some watercolour pencils and water brushes and painted in the hotel room, which was nice to do after a long day of walking.  I’m not great with the pencils but it was fun to experiment a bit!

Peacock at the Toronto Zoo. He’s displaying his full tail.

Small watercolour painting of a peacock at the Toronto Zoo.

We also hit up the CN Tower, which was less educational than I remembered with more psychadelic art panels instead, but the views are still good.  I miss the signs about how many elephants could sit on the glass floor, though.

CN Tower viewed from below.

And the aquarium, which I’d never seen before.  It was ridiculously busy, loud, and did not have nearly enough seating for me and my poor sore leg, but the creatures were great.  I think I’d wear earplugs next time to try to keep the overstimulation down.

Sea turtle, fish and sharks in the Toronto aquarium.

Hotel watercolour painting of the sea turtle in the Toronto aquarium.

Not as many adventures planned in August, mostly it’s all about going to the pool and enjoying our newly fenced backyard.  Hatch and I are spending some time out there often in the morning in lieu of a walk down the street, and it seems to suit us both.  Also, I’m drawing some doggies for “doggust” again this year.

A pair of Sealyham Terrirers for Doggust Day 4. They’re little white dogs drawn cartoon style, frolicking in the grass.

As always, I wish I had more vacation time.  But I’m finding ways to fit art and writing into my life still!