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sacredsapling.bsky.social
Sapling 🌱 Print shop open!
@sacredsapling.bsky.social
5.1K followers 430 following 17K posts
Disabled #watercolor artist obsessed with queer #OCs ✨ some 🔞 #SaplingArt

genderfluid, 30, ♿️ 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 🇪🇸 EN/ES

🩷 Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SacredSaplingArt
🎨 Comm waitlist: https://tally.so/r/3NNaJ0
🌈 Queer zines: @taplingzines.bsky.social
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sacredsapling.bsky.social
I think my control of watercolor gradients is really good! In just 2-3 layers I can make a fully rendered piece even with dramatic and soft lighting or lots of details~ ✨
A half finished watercolor hydrangea, made of only two layers of watercolor to get the vibrant and deep tones of each petal.
January 14, 2026 at 11:53 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Dog got poodle-ified though!
A photo of a pale golden poodle sitting all pretty with a head puff and a pink-purple sweater on a faux wooden floor with sunlight behind her.
January 14, 2026 at 11:38 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Time for a #PortfolioDay share: Open to all artists who identify as disabled!

To join:

🩷 Link to your portfolio day post (no AI!)

🩷 Comment on or repost 4+ others

🩷 Alt text encouraged

No requirement to share your disability

Abled artists, boost to help disabled people get jobs! 🥰

#ArtShare
A half body portrait painting in watercolor of Nzuzi and Nsimba, two male Congolese twins, posed together at a club. On top of them is the text “Portfolio Day Share for Disabled Artists” with a wheelchair and service dog icon. Additional art description: The soft purple lighting highlights their dark skin and timid smiles. Nzuzi is in the front making a peace sign, in a semi-see-through white shirt and pearl necklace, with bright blue lipstick, gold eyeshadow, and gold hair jewelry in his long dreadlocks. Nismba is behind him with a hand on Nzuzi’s shoulder, bare chested with purple and blue paint on him. He has short-ish twists with an ombre dye of turquoise, a glow stick around his neck, and some burn scars around his upper face, including his eyes, which are a pale blue and have a unique shape from the scarring.
January 13, 2026 at 11:45 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Hi #PortfolioDay! I’m Sapling 🌱 a disabled genderfluid #watercolor illustrator~

🏳️‍🌈 I co-publish queer multicultural art zines at @taplingzines.bsky.social (Kickstarter soon!)

🩷 Comms waitlist: tally.so/r/3NNaJ0

I’ve been very sick & have to leave my ‘day job’ so boosting this would be amazing ✨
A detailed watercolor full body painting of the angel Kokabiel. He has white pants and Indigenous jewelry, with shoulder-length blue and turquoise hair, multicolored head wings, and two back wings with blue, green, and pink feathers. The background is a painted nebula with some glowing and shooting stars. A detailed watercolor painting of a dark-winged angel with brown skin and hair holding his injured lover on his lap. The injured angel has brown skin and hair, with damaged lavender wings and chest bandages. They rest together in the clouds, stained purple and yellow from a sunlight glow behind them. An intricate watercolor painting of a reclining masculine figure with dark wings in barely any clothing, except stockings, underwear, and a translucently painted silky pink shawl. He has medium brown skin, curly brown hair, and is crushing a rose onto his chest with a lifted and gloved hand. Giant pink orchids, painted with lovely realism, surround him. Some pink fabric falls to the right side, and detailed hand painted blue lace fills the background. A half body portrait painting in watercolor of Nzuzi and Nsimba, two male Congolese twins, posed together at a club. The soft purple lighting highlights their dark skin and timid smiles. Nzuzi is in the front making a peace sign, in a semi-see-through white shirt and pearl necklace, with bright blue lipstick, gold eyeshadow, and gold hair jewelry in his long dreadlocks. Nismba is behind him with a hand on Nzuzi’s shoulder, bare chested with purple and blue paint on him. He has short-ish twists with an ombre dye of turquoise, a glow stick around his neck, and some burn scars around his upper face, including his eyes, which are a pale blue and have a unique shape from the scarring.
January 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
My 2026 art bingo! It's pretty ambitious considering my health, but I'm hoping I'll have more time and energy to work on art this year.

I'm excited to share these, since some were carried over from last year too! Let me know if any seem particularly fun~ 🌱

#ArtBingo #ArtChallenge
A 5 by 5 grid of bingo cards, with a digital sunflower design behind them made by Alma K. Rowan. The title reads "2026 Goals Bingo." The goals are: OC painting based on travel photos, Try stretching watercolor paper, Morpho book studies, Draw more of my women OCs, Nsimba sketchbook page, Try new watercolor techniques, Something entirely in gouache, Something with a detailed pattern, Complete art for a zine, Fisheye perspective painting or drawing, OC NSFW art, Make 10 thumbnails for one painting, Mixed media piece, Something with a dynamic composition/angle, A green and blue dominant painting, 3 style experimentations, 3 limited/well-planned color palettes, A master study painting, Do an art trade, High color contrast illustration, Digital doodles over photos, Pinterest or meme redraws, Sariel's character sheet, Remake an old painting, Nzuzi and Nsimba as kids.
January 11, 2026 at 5:10 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
human artists, use only one piece to convince people to follow you!! ✨🌸

#QueerArt #Watercolor
An intricate watercolor painting of a reclining masculine figure with dark wings in barely any clothing, except stockings, underwear, and a translucently painted silky pink shawl. He has medium brown skin, curly brown hair, and is crushing a rose onto his chest with a lifted and gloved hand. Giant pink orchids, painted with lovely realism, surround him. Some pink fabric falls to the right side, and detailed hand painted blue lace fills the background.
January 9, 2026 at 9:53 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Oo I have quite the fight between #Nico and #Gabriel to tell you all about! Purely from Gabriel’s recklessness and disregard for others’ safety (ASPD vibes).

Basically Gabriel had a lot of risky sex as a teen and young adult, but he deliberately never got an HIV test… (continued)

#OCLore
A pencil sketch of Gabriel, a freckled Filipino with short curly hair. A sketch of Nico, a mixed Korean-Chinese-Filipino transmasc with a cheek mole and short kpop-style hair with bangs and shaved sides.
January 8, 2026 at 5:00 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
I’ll go first as an example!

🎨 Offering 3 Holbein gouache tubes (full!) and a masking fluid pen (highly recommend for watercolorists!)

🎁 Prefer trade but gift okay

🌍 Spain, can pay up to 3€ shipping

🖌️ I’d love to receive watercolor dot cards, paints, or Sculpey brand clay (for my husband)!
A metal masking fluid pen, with a small metal dial that contracts or expands its opening to control how fine or broad the lines of masking fluid are. A photo of three full 15ml Holbein gouache tubes. Burnt umber, burnt sienna, and yellow ochre.
January 6, 2026 at 10:22 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Art Supplies Trading & Gifting! 🎁

Have old unused paints? Extra brushes or paper? A spare tablet? Yarn? Other materials you won’t use?

This is mutual aid share for artists to share supplies, all around the globe! 🎨

Instructions to join are below ⬇️

#ArtShare #TraditionalArt #MutualAid #ArtSky
An open watercolor pan set with the text “Free Art Supplies Trade! Share extra supplies you have and match with others to trade. Open to artists anywhere!”
January 6, 2026 at 10:17 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Throughout Gabriel’s teenage and young adult years, he questions all of this! Gender identity (fluid/third gender/baklâ) is easier to accept because it’s cultural, but being bisexual and in a gay relationship is harder since he’s a still-Catholic survivor of conversion therapy.

#OCLore #Gabriel
A watercolor painting of Gabriel, a young Filipino adult with masculine features, a lot of freckles, blush, lip gloss, and pink nail polish. He’s sipping bubble tea in a turquoise sweater with a pink background behind him. There’s a star on his cheek and a couple in the background and his curly black hair is highlighted gold at the tips.
January 5, 2026 at 8:56 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Face card 💜
Body card 💜

My beloved Nzuzi (he/him)
A watercolor portrait of a skinny Congolese man with long dreadlocks, adorned with gold hair jewelry, half tied up into a ponytail. He has a soft close-eyed smile with dark pink toned lips, complimented with gold eyeshadow. His shirt is a pattern of mostly yellows and dark greens, and the background is a cloudy blend of bright turquoise and pink, with a few heart decals. A watercolor full body doodle of Nzuzi wearing a flowy blue and yellow patterned dress, tied with a colorful scarf at the waist, skirt hiked up to show off a skinny long leg. His proportions are very lanky (XYY babey!) and he has a small shadow under his collarbone for his ICD.
December 30, 2025 at 9:26 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Eeee look at them—they’re so pretty and unique!!
A swatch of twelve granulated colors ranging from greens to reds to blues, browns, and a vibrant purple. Most have a secondary granulated color in them, like a grey in the red or turquoise in violet. Another swatch of twelve granulated colors, all cool tones. The watercolor blooms are really notable!
December 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Christmas gifts from my husband’s family literally doubled my watercolor pigment collection~!! So excited to test these out. I’ve wanted to try White Nights granulation series for so long~ ✨
Two unique sets of twelve watercolor pans from White Nights, one with lighter colors and one almost all very dark with slightly different shades (good luck to me and my low contrast eyes)
December 28, 2025 at 4:08 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
QRP to reintroduce yourself

Hi all! I’m Sapling, a watercolor illustrator who loves painting queer and disabled OCs (with very complex stories!). 🌱

I’m disabled and basically always sick, so I’m a slow but happy painter. When I can, I also sometimes share my favorite hobby: cooking! 🥘
A detailed watercolor painting of a dark-winged angel with brown skin and hair holding his injured lover on his lap. The injured angel has brown skin and hair, with damaged lavender wings and chest bandages. They rest together in the clouds, stained purple and yellow from a sunlight glow behind them. A bouquet of watercolor flowers, featuring a central blue and purple hydrangea, bordered with white daisies and five petal pointed purple flowers. The background is a warm yellow gradient. A watercolor portrait painting of two masculine figures gently kissing. One with brown skin, Chamuel, has his hand tangled in Kokabiel’s long turquoise hair, which frames his paler face and purple headwings. A golden sun glow is behind them. Chamuel has some gold arm bands and a subtle gold ring with an inset turquoise gem. A small watercolor painting of an underwater canyon with sunlight pouring in from above, casting strong shadows on the rocks and illuminating parts in purple, blue, turquoise, and yellow.
December 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
QRP with your wing art!

#ArtTrain #Watercolor
A detailed watercolor painting of a dark-winged angel with brown skin and hair holding his injured lover on his lap. The injured angel has brown skin and hair, with damaged lavender wings and chest bandages. They rest together in the clouds, stained purple and yellow from a sunlight glow behind them.
December 26, 2025 at 12:42 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
I was finally healthy enough to work on my piece for @taplingzines.bsky.social today!! Here’s a peak into my illustration (featuring gay Muslim men in Al-Andalus).

If you want to get the upcoming art book with dozens of other queer historical paintings from many artists, check the project out! ✨
A traditional pencil sketch of a portrait of two Black men kissing against a wall, one with a full head wrapping draped around his neck too, the other with a tighter head wrapping and a golden band to hold it together. They’re also tenderly and passionately embraced.
December 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Hey artists!! Post some art you made from before Bluesky!!

(This is still one of the watercolor paintings I’m most proud of!)
A detailed watercolor painting of a dark-winged angel with brown skin and hair holding his injured lover on his lap. The injured angel has brown skin and hair, with damaged lavender wings and chest bandages. They rest together in the clouds, stained purple and yellow from a sunlight glow behind them.
December 21, 2025 at 10:54 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Gabriel only wear a shirt.
A comic panel painted in watercolor of Gabriel, a freckled Filipino with short curly hair, in only a green t-shirt, pacing in his bedroom. The shirt almost reveals more than it should.
December 17, 2025 at 8:32 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Artists, quote with your faces 🩵

#ArtTrain #Watercolor
A close up of a watercolor of Kokabiel, a masculine angel with semi-light skin and long blue and turquoise hair, with magenta head wings and bright blue eyelashes. He’s gazing upwards as his hair floats around him. A close up watercolor portrait of a sunkissed white man with tied back medium brown hair and a trimmed beard, squinting in the sunlight while surrounded by the sea. A close up watercolor of Ephiel, a golden skinned angel with multiple small scars, a fairly androgynous face, and short wavy white hair. His eyes are blue and red as he gazes upwards. He’s surrounded by a golden intricately design metal halo, and has a lot of golden neck jewelry on too. A close up watercolor of a portrait of Nzuzi and Nsimba, two skinny male Congolese twins, illuminated by purple club lighting. Nzuzi has long black dreadlocks with gold hair jewelry, some of them tied into a ponytail. He also has blue lipstick and gold eyeshadow. Nsimba is his twin, but with turquoise ombre two-strand twists, natural lips, and burn scars around his eyes, which are a light color due to damage from eye burns.
December 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
The first ever gouache study I made years ago! Guess the musical it’s from?

#SaplingArt #Gouache #Painting #Art
A deep purple toned painting in traditional gouache, of a portrait of a white woman in profile with various ear and hair jewelry, painting her lips with a paintbrush. She’s illuminated by a light purple light and has long shadowed hair.
December 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
Here’s an example of the very first layer of this painting (Nsimba, blue hair) compared to the second shading in Nzuzi! Same colors, less wet.

I’ll usually leave the highlights totally blank, then do a thin/very transparent wash over them for whatever color the reflected light.
A photo of a watercolor WIP of the Congolese twins, with Nsimba’s skin a slightly washy medium brown with purple highlights. Nzuzi has a second layer, with much more rich purple browns.
December 7, 2025 at 12:54 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
This piece is a decade old, but it was my #watercolor breakthrough! I’d made decent paintings before it, but nothing on such a big scale, with such an exploration of textures and colors.

Someday, it could be fun to repaint and see what new vision I could bring too~

#SaplingArt #Acuarela #Painting
A vivid watercolor painting of a huge canyon, filled with yellow, reddish, and purple shadowed hues, with a river cutting through it, with a turquoise that matches the sunny blue sky. Two masculine figures sit towards the edge of the cliff, one looking a little sickly all in white and one with red hair and a green backpack, with his arm around the other.
December 6, 2025 at 11:51 AM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
I'm Sapling, a watercolor painter always battling fatigue and opportunistic infections! 😅 I love painting queer & disabled OCs, and am planning on making more art about trauma healing (in all its complexities) too. 💖

I'm also making disabled queer history art for @taplingzines.bsky.social!
A watercolor painting of Gabriel, a young Filipino adult with masculine features, a lot of freckles, blush, lip gloss, and pink nail polish. He’s sipping bubble tea in a turquoise sweater with a pink background behind him. There’s a star on his cheek and a couple in the background and his curly black hair is highlighted gold at the tips. A traditional watercolor painting of a young Mexican boy, around age 8, lying in a field of green leaves, white and yellow chrysanthemums, and red geraniums. He's pale and looks as though he's sleeping, finally at peace. His brown hair is shaggy and unkempt, and his skinny hand loosely clutches a red flower. A detailed watercolor painting of Chamuel, a masculine angel with medium-brown skin and curly brown hair. He is reclining on the ground on a plush dark blue bed. His right arm, which is partially obscured by large dark pink orchids in the foreground, is propping up his body in a sultry pose. He is gently holding a pink rose, lightly crushed in his left hand. Four of its petals have fallen off, decorating his near-bare chest. He is wearing a translucent, light pink robe that covers his shoulders and drapes over his hip, concealing just enough. With closed eyes, his expression is relaxed. Large, dark-blue wings extend past his calves, and his feet are obscured by a thick pale pink curtain. In the background behind him are three large, light purple orchids. Behind these orchids is an intricate blue and white background of lace, featuring multiple leaf and vine-like patterns and lattice-like hatching. A detailed watercolor painting of Chamuel, a dark-winged angel with brown skin and curly brown hair, holding his injured lover on his lap as sunlight wraps around them from behind. The injured angel, Sariel, has brown skin and straight hair, with damaged lavender wings and chest bandages. They rest together in the clouds, which are stained purple and yellow from a sunlight glow behind them.
December 1, 2025 at 4:23 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
#Disabled Artist #ArtShare! Open to any kind of artist who identifies as disabled, chronically ill, or neurodivergent.

To join:

💙 Share your art and a bit about you (shop links ok)
💙 Alt text if able!
💙 Repost & comment on others
💙 Share this post to boost
💙 No AI!

Abled folks, please boost!
A watercolor painting of an underwater trench with glowing colorful light on it, with text on a white bar reading “Disabled Artist Art Share!”
December 1, 2025 at 4:15 PM
sacredsapling.bsky.social
It's World AIDS Day...so you know I'm going to talk about my HIV+ #OC Gabriel!

Gabriel contracted HIV at age 14, as a result of his Conduct Disorder that led to some risky sexual behavior (although HIV isn't always caught through risky behavior!).

(Continued)

#OCLore #DisabledOC
An adorable digital doodle of Gabriel, a thin Filipino with curly messy hair and freckles on his whole body, wearing a cute yellow cropped sweater with a bi pin on it, a pink pleated skirt, and blue sneakers with ankle tall white socks. The background is a soft salmon pink, with a shadow on the ground balancing out his standing pose.
December 1, 2025 at 4:04 PM