Dysmorphia
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dys-morphia.bsky.social
Dysmorphia
@dys-morphia.bsky.social
300 followers 300 following 770 posts
Busybody neighborhood ecologist, poet, philosopher & theurgist. Current top interests: technical writing, space opera, pleinair watercolor, fiber arts, Japanese

She/they

More active at https://sfba.social/@dys_morphia

blog: https://rinsemiddlebliss.com
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dys-morphia.bsky.social
A little bit of fun in the garden painting with a limited palette: cad red, cad yellow, titanium white, dioxazine purple, hooker’s green, yellow ochre. Truly limited palettes are things like 3 colors, but I usually have 14 & thought it would be interesting to challenge myself a little. #watercolor
A sample card mixing yellow, red, white, purple, green, and ochre water colors. Next to it, a metal watercolor palette with those same colors A postcard sized watercolor painting of two kinds of sage, one with purple flowers, one with red. The painting is held up against the sage bushes that inspired it
November 15, 2025 at 10:18 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I am happy and/or sad to report that Cadmium Red looks absolutely amazing. It’s unmatched by any other warm reds & I could’ve saved a lot of money on red watercolors if I’d just gone for it, but I was too scared. I had to first personally experience a lot of frustration with meh reds that mix poorly
Swatches of wet watercolor samples of (clockwise) yellow, red, orange, and pink
November 10, 2025 at 3:53 AM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Managed to make it out onto the hill and paint a little. I went back and forth between trying to represent the hill as I saw it and just painting a hill inspired by the hill in front of me.
A person holds several watercolor paintings of a hill in their lap a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background. The painting looks only sort of like the hills a painting of two hills of a radio tower held up against the same scene in the background. The painting is significantly simplified with no attempt to depict the buildings or large radio tower
November 9, 2025 at 12:42 AM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
In my latest blog post, I wrote about dealing with the gloomy season and the limits it places on painting outdoors:

Still lifes will continue until morale improves

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-1...

#blog #watercolor #StillLife
An extreme closeup of a watercolor painting of a gourd with bits of blurry green and orange.
November 2, 2025 at 7:06 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Everybody’s a critic.

#watercolor #cat
A black tabby cat on a table looks at 3 watercolor paintings in front of her: a panting of gourds and a cranberry bean pod, a painting of yellow tulips, and a painting of orange tulips. The orange tulips from the painting are also in the base behind her.
October 26, 2025 at 5:52 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Uses of the Light

I would rather stay home
and paint yellow tulips

than march in the street
and protest; yet I must,

lest tyrants steal more
than the good October light.

(Poem and painting by me)

#NoKings #poem #watercolor
Watercolor painting of tulips. Over it a poem that reads Uses of the Light I would rather stay home and paint yellow tulips than march in the street and protest; yet I must, lest tyrants steal more than the good October light. Dated Oct 18, 2025 Both poem and painting by AK Krajewska
October 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
My latest blog post is on a topical matter

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-1...

"All empires end" is also a statement of hope. If all empires end, then this situation, no matter how enduring, unstoppable, or inevitable it seems, will also end.

#NoKings
A small watercolor painting of a beach, looking inland with trees and a building in the background. A small figure on the beach stands next to writing on the sand which says "ALL EMPIRES END"
October 17, 2025 at 8:58 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Here’s what I painted during the class. I like how the paintings came out now that I have them. However I think I prefer instructors who are more technical, and talk more about the paint, the light, the science of perception. This class was much more about the subjects.
Watercolor painting of several fall harvest veg, somewhat realistically represented but not photorealistic. Clockwise from the top left: a cranberry bean pod, a light yellow and green striped pumpkin, a mini eggplant, a knobby gourd with a long stem and bulbous body, and a mini orange pumpkin.
October 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I did a bunch of big swatches of all my watercolor paints. I’m feeling a bit rough lately and not very creative, but creating this big color sheet gives me something creativity-adjacent and will be a good reference for later. #watercolor
Two sheets of paper with swatches of watercolor paints grouped into yellows, reds, yellow moxes, blues, greens, and earthtones.
September 21, 2025 at 11:51 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
A new blog post about watercolor painting in which I give myself permission to doodle on the good paper

Mark making and color

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...

#blog #watercolor #watercolour #art
An abstract watercolor painting of roundish shapes with space in between them
September 13, 2025 at 10:33 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I learned how to fix colors in scanned paintings, so click over to my blog to enjoy

Imaginary horizons

In which I use atmospheric perspective, highly-saturated wet-on-wet washes and muted wet-on-dry foregrounds to create the illusion of distance.

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...
A close crop of a watercolor painting of a mountain range against an orange sky
September 5, 2025 at 2:51 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
But from now on if I see a painting technique class for something I want to learn as an online class, I’m going to go for it.
An abstract watercolor painting of mountain ranges with atmospheric perspective with a coral pink sky and layers of mountain painted entirely indigo diluted to different values
August 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
You pick up a ton of implicit lessons just by seeing other students set up their workspace, for example.
A watercolor painting of abstract mountain ranges with atmospheric perspective, creating s sense of distance through color gradients from blue to pink to yellow and different values of indigo
August 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I’m a big believer in physical presence for learning physical skill, but, actually, I think interactive video works quite well for teaching a 2-d medium. I still think in person is important.
A watercolor painting of abstract mountains with a blue sky and some bigger trees in the foreground
August 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Snapshots of watercolor exercises I painted during the Case for Making class with Melanie Lan this morning. This was my first time taking a Zoom class instead of in person.
Three watercolor paintings of abstract mountain ranges with atmospheric perspective.
August 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
In my latest blog post, I follow an ancient trail that, when I started, I thought would be obvious and well-trod.

Expansible Egg and Leomund's Tiny Hut

Jack Vance's invention seems a likely antecedent to the Dungeons and Dragons spell.

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...

#DungeonsAndDragons
Photo of a white dome rising out of a blue building against a blue sky with fluffy white clouds, the clouds and the sky matching closely the white dome and the blue building. Sizewell B nuclear reactor in Suffolk, England.
August 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Ruth Asawa Retrospective at SFMOMA

This week, I wrote about the retrospective exhibition of a prolific and beloved San Francisco artist. (Closes Sept 2)

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...

#RuthAsawa #SanFrancisco #art
Closeup of Ruth Asawa’s watercolor painting of a bowl of cherries (Untitled)
July 25, 2025 at 3:43 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
This is Shinjuku’s more typical curled position, with the paws sticking out. Although the cute move of covering her nose with the paw is also less common. I think she does it when the lights come one and she wants to keep sleeping. #cats
A black tabby cat curled up on white cat bed with her paws out in front and one paw covering her nose.
July 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Here’s Shinjuku-kitty curled up on her heated cat bed. Her tail is not normally this fluffy unless she’s very excited. I guess she can also fluff it up to make an extra soft blanket for her paws.

#cats
A black tabby cat sleeping curled up into a ball using her own fluffy tail as a pillow
July 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Idli obsession: On a mission to make the deceptively simple South Indian breakfast

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...

Idli are an everyday breakfast food & anytime snack in India. I became obsessed with making them when I could’t get good ones in San Francisco

#food #cooking #idli
A closeup of two bags of white grains with slightly different textures. The one on the left is Urad Dal and the on on the right is Idli Rava.
July 14, 2025 at 2:45 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
Drawing of red stripes cat preparing ramen noodles. The cat wears an apron and headband.
June 22, 2025 at 4:25 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
We’ve been forgetting to close the toilet lid so I added a sign that I think might help. #caturday
An open toilet lid with a rough cat face made of painters tape stuck to the bottom. Little details of a cat face are added in black marker. There’s a speech bubble next to the cat’s tongue that says “yum! Toilet water!”
June 21, 2025 at 6:39 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I went to a watercolor class and learned how to paint where water meets land. Read more on my blog.

Imaginary lands and seas

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...

#watercolor #watercolour
A watercolor painting of mountains rising out of the ocean with a strait in between
June 10, 2025 at 8:27 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I had some ramen for lunch
A big bowl of ramen with a softboiled egg and piece of pork The same bowl, now completely empty.
June 5, 2025 at 7:37 PM
dys-morphia.bsky.social
I bought some artist grade watercolor paints and tried them out.

rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2025-0...
A small watercolor painting of a hill held up against the hill it depicts
June 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM