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Malaysia 2023

: 🎶 Leavin on a jet plane (the damn thing left before I could finish drawing)… also realised I …

: Without migration, the population of high-income countries would shrink …

: The First Virtual Meeting Was in 1916 spectrum.ieee.org/virtual-m…

: Starting to understand the weird perspective around Flinders station

: Grab built its own map in Southeast Asia, and is now going after Google …

: Can’t start a podcast without having to skip 2 mins of adds and throat clearing… …

: First time life drawing in a few months. Very rusty.

: How does my podcast app always know to download episodes in an inverse order to how I want to listen …

: Branching out: the Sydney street libraries where neighbours swap plants instead of books …

: Honestly don’t know how Australia can continue to call itself a real country as long as …

: What the hell kind of race was that #f1

: Didn’t quite get the perspective

: Another Flinders. Back to watercolour this time

: Really need Apple to explain why, just because I installed Xcode after I installed Vsual Studio …

: Never really understood cut flowers. But I’m really growing to like them

: Some of these multiples between perception and reality…

: Amazing maze-based, interactive exploration of abortion policies in the US …

: Firooza burned all of her cricket gear to hide it from the Taliban. Then Australia went into bat for …

: Not only is the hardcover cheaper than the ebook, it’s cheaper to get a hardcover shipped from …

: Another Flinders scribble. Struggling with the foreground

: Flinders station

: Girl in a purple earring

: Tackles and textbooks: inside the UK’s NFL dream factory www.theguardian.com/sport/202…

: Waiting for the train home

: Lovely, warm weekend away. I scribbled the old post office.

: The Guardian picture essay: Sumba’s sandalwood ponies www.theguardian.com/artanddes…

: Australia and New Zealand have begun conscious uncoupling

: The blogosphere is in full bloom. The rest of the internet has wilted …

: “Last year, the world’s rivers had their driest year in at least three decades” …

: Started off as a self portrait. I lost the likeness along the way but kept running with it…

: After years/months of waiting to buy F1 tickets, I get on the pre sale, select my seats, and then …

: Grin and bear it? More than a third of lower income Australians are uncomfortable with how their …

: We hacked a robot vacuum — and could watch live through its camera www.abc.net.au/news/2024…

: Melbourne’s magpie hotspots: Where you are most likely to get swooped …

: Should probably figure out what these flowers are called

: Can make some really lovely colours with this new palette

: Making myself old again

: Got some new gouache

: Men Harassed A Woman In A Driverless Waymo, Trapping Her In Traffic …

: Forgot to post this yesterday: Inktober 1

: PETA is building robot elephants for Hindu temples restofworld.org/2024/divi…

: I bought a pair of shoes last week and I paid for a 50c shopping bag to take them home in. Just …

: A most sunny day

: Think I got this likeness

: At first glance an Australian F1 Driver has been replaced by a New Zealander, but I think we can all …

: Sukhdeep wants to see her mother while she is still alive – but Australia’s visa rules have left her …

: Ebook pricing just does not make any sense

: Brazil’s Farmers Are Plowing Over an Ancient Amazon Civilization www.bloomberg.com/graphics/…

: Fantastic Full Story podcast today: Sisonke Msimang on why politics needs to be more diverse …

: Going through a bobble head phase

: Using up all this blue is taking foooooreeevvvaaa

: The week around the world in 20 pictures www.theguardian.com/artanddes…

: Have somehow drawn myself so poorly I look like my grandpa

: This street art/sign/whatever search is amazing www.alltext.nyc

: Who you’ll (Australians) probably marry, based on your (their) job …

: The sun is out!!!

: A visualisation with every outdoor basketball court in the US 🤯🤯 pudding.cool/2024/09/c…

: “Marry someone who loves cooking” is the most under appreciated life hack imo

: After its wettest winter in 46 years, the Greenough River has undergone a mesmerising transformation …

: Escaping the rain

: Train sketching. The guy left before it was done :(

: Extreme weather is making life harder for Vietnam’s delivery riders …

: ‘Not safe to run in the dark’: how inadequate lighting in public spaces is creating barriers for …

: It rose!

: New favourite thing on the internet is the South China Morning Post’s Panda tracker …

: Trying to get back into live drawing

: A watched Xbox game never downloads

: Haven’t been posting many scribbles. Am practicing drawing people again

: ‘The wells are salty’: how the invading ocean is contaminating Vanuatu’s water …

: The link between local news coverage and Americans’ perceptions of crime …

: How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsoni…

: Wow. The damage to Tesla’s brand in Australia since Musk bought Twitter …

: Also why is it so hard to buy a belt that isn’t either leather or elastic

: Increasingly clear the only reason people have hands and feet is to mess with me when I’m …

: “Her research shows at least one in four residential car parks in Melbourne’s CBD are …

: Had to fix my rss scrapers for the ABC because of the new redesign. Is it just me or are the stories …

: In Ukraine-controlled Sudzha, stranded Russian civilians question what’s next …

: Powerful interactive from the my colleagues, showing the Israel-Gaza war through the lens of …

: Satellite imagery shows how deadly landslides swept through settlements and washed away hundreds of …

: Finally getting warm enough to do some city scribbling before work

: Gaza Reduced to 42 Million Tonnes of Rubble. What Will It Take to Rebuild? …

: I don’t even understand how Github can go down

: “nothing empowers violence more than a righteous sense of victimhood” …

: “Australians have lost so much faith in government that just being heard feels like special …

: Parents are waiting more than 30 years for an Australian visa. The new home affairs minister needs …

: Llama Parse gives you 1k free pages a day…. or 7k pages a week if you pay 🤔

: “The first international cricket match on record was between the United States and Canada, and …

: “The Olympics' host loses scrillions of dollarydoos” you say. But it’s worth it …

: This is a great blog given we are once against discussing the english language skills of …

: Australia needs permanent supportive housing to end homelessness – and it will pay for itself …

: Just got a text with a coupon for a Sydney pizza place… a city I have not lived in for two …

: Just amazing Reuters visuals on the ancient Olympics www.reuters.com/graphics/…

: The lawless mining gangs targeting the Amazon’s precious green energy minerals …

: Great piece by ABC story lab on the Big Mac index and what’s driving the cost of burgers 📊 …

: Back to normal

: “12 percent of Americans now identify as multiracial” 🤯 …

: Flicking through my journals and realised I forgot to post this coffee shop scribble from the last …

: How Tahiti’s location and seafloor help create one of the world’s best spots to surf …

: Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers www.theguardian.com/world/art…

: Finally landed back in Melbourne…. THIS CITY IS TOO COLD WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES

: Safe to say Singapore is more walkable than Ho Chi Minh City (we arrived on Sunday)

: ATMs charge you for each transaction and only give $50 notes. Stores refuse to accept $50 notes and …

: We went to see the lights at the Singapore fake trees

: We went on a river cruise

: Food here has been so good

: Some very serious reading going on

: Sending a whoooooole bunch of my postcards today. Can’t believe I did scribbled so many on …

: Am going to miss hotel breakfasts when we go home

: I’m so old edition.cnn.com/interacti…

: Not sure why but Australia really has sub par papaya, guava and pineapple (at least what I can get). …

: Travelling through Vietnam has been one of the best food experiences I’ve ever had. Even for …

: Very annoying Australia doesn’t have much of a domestic drinking coconut industry. I could …

: This timeline of the chaos of the Trump presidency is just… I don’t have words. …

: Pretty sparkling day at the beach in Nha Trang

: Catching up on painting some postcards from the trip

: At what point do we get any company that even thinks about our private data to chip into a permanent …

: Sitting in a lovely space but struggling to finish reading this bio of Ho Chi Minh 😅

: Starting to wonder whether Americans tourists sign some kind of contract when leaving their country, …

: Not the happiest with this scribble, but I had to keep drinking cocktails to buy time to finish it. …

: Less than 30kms to go in the final overnight train of the trip :(

: Bought so many stamps the post office ran out 😂

: Escaping the Huế rain in a lovely bar :)

: Rain rain go away

: Rain rain go away

: I do not understand why someone would start a blog (fantastic! more please!) in the 2020s and not …

: Good morning from the sleeper train somewhere north of Huế

: Last full day in Hanoi :(

: Temple of literature also lovely. Especially in the heat. Hanoi is just great generally imo

: Water puppet theatre in Hanoi is amazing

: The more I travel the more baffled I am at how terrible fries/chips are on average in Australia …

: Had another crack at a watercolour postcard of Hạ Long Bay

: I need an “Unsubscribe from all marketing emails” option that comes into effect - with …

: “Western landscape paintings depict the object, focusing on realism and imitating nature, …

: List of things the book has outlasted rottenandgood.substack.com/p/list-of…

: Interesting banner flying on the outside of the Ukraine embassy in Hanoi

: Beating the heat with coffee

: Cruising around Hạ Long Bay today

: Putting aside that the headline here seems to have been wrong, this cover is such great visual …

: I was in Cambodia about to go to Vietnam in 2020 when borders started shutting. Finally made it …

: Rainy day at the botanical gardens

: Kava toast is the real breakfast of champions

: Finally found some shade

: Bloody hot day at universal studios

: Something underrated about Singapore (when you live in bloody Melbourne) is the ~4 degree temp range …

: This is a great post about what we lose when we write off certain things as “soft …

: Going to try and draw/paint a postcard every day. Here’s the first one. Don’t like it as …

: We made it to Singapore!

: Some great visuals in here - ‘Totally immoral’ weapons found in share holdings of …

: Boggles my mind that we’re a decade and a half into a mobile-first world and the most reliable …

: $1600 is an absolutely astonishing amount of money. And completely unreachable for many. The latest …

: Sword granny! www.theguardian.com/global-de…

: #Datavis on where migrants in the US come from and where they live …

: Sorry not sorry

: Was a bit excited coz we bought a printer and I’ve never owned one (my mum had one but …

: Really like this way of displaying uncertainty in the nytimes poll tracker #datavis …

: Another beautifully illustrated #datavis from SCMP albeit about a very serious topic …

: Starting to get better proportions in quick unposed sketches

: Reading late

: The return of pneumatic tubes www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/1…

: ‘A distressing reality’: our beautiful planet under threat – in pictures …

: Can the Australian and New Zealand governments not just timeshare a plane? This question is not …

: (English) students at top private schools have 10 times more green space than state pupils #datavis …

: Also what the hell is up with this cloud(?) in Melbourne today

: Really not a fan of Kraft paper

: Missed this great interactive on why you shouldn’t mow the lawn 📊 …

: Great ABC roundup of pertinent numbers around nuclear energy in Aus www.abc.net.au/news/2024…

: Discovery algos are too heavily weighted for recency. Watercolour demos and furniture …

: Minoli made mani pittu!!!!!

: Best thing about cheese boards is quince paste tbh. I could take or leave the cheese most of the …

: it was all yellow

: “The carbon cost of rebuilding Gaza will be greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions …

: Australian cricket team currently taking on a German grandmother(?) at the World Cup

: Can’t recommend life drawing enough. Went for the third time last night and I can definitely …

: More dogs everywhere imo (with mitigation for people who are scared, allergic etc.) …

: Waiting for the tram

: Just keep knitting

: Devastating maps and photos of the destruction in Ukraine #dataviz …

: Need a compound German word for pants that immediately eject anything in your pockets when you sit …

: TFW your model won’t stop moving about

: Inside the last of New York’s original artists’ lofts – in pictures …

: The Matildas supporter

: The knitter is back home from her research!

: Greeeeeen

: Was just standing in the lobby of my building, pulling on my jumper, and a YOOTH “Hi …

: Had no idea Australian inflation so closely follows the US www.theguardian.com/business/…

: A few more from life drawing last night

: Live drawing class had a doggo

: Lines lines everywhere

: That’s it for another sketchbook

: Two pages left in my sketchbook. For the first 90% or so of a sketchbook I don’t really pay …

: Some morning people sketching

: Migrants are integral members of Australian society, not just economic units to be managed …

: Went life drawing last night :)

: It’s a market day

: Where to now for the people of Gaza? www.theguardian.com/commentis…

: Really glad someone “finally” made split ac for the Americans.

: Absolutely ridiculous. www.theguardian.com/sport/art…

: The Ugg Scribbler™

: Australia’s largest financial institutions should stop sending me press releases with such …

: So scarlet it was maroon: five places to watch Australia’s autumn leaves turn …

: Lovely sunny day today

: So cold and wet nothing is drying this morning :( this couple got up and left and another cycled …

: Really doesn’t make sense that all the European characters in Shogun spoke English. It was …

: Even more uggs. Much better still life subject than flowers imo

: Most liveable city lol

: I got a Thambili at the market! (And hacked it to pieces coz all our knives are blunt af)

: The [Government] Budget Commandment: “Everything is affordable if we choose to care about it” …

: Maybe I should get pink uggs

: Different perspectives on protest and Palestine www.theguardian.com/commentis…

: Anzac Day dawn services across Australia and New Zealand – in pictures …

: It’s getting cold :(

: The stories of Australia’s Muslim Anzacs have long been forgotten. It’s time we honour them …

: I scribbled a tree

: Went to Carlton today

: Might get some new flowers today

: “arbitrary nature of the good will of our prime minister threatens to reinforce a well-worn …

: Red and yellow and red and yellow

: Morning coffee #2

: “Everything worthwhile we collectively make is complex or, honestly, messy. The cracks are …

: Morning coffee 1

: Yet more phones

: Across from southern cross

: Still trying to get my head around using gouache

: Nice sky today

: Decided to challenge Rembrandt for self portrait king

: Barrelling towards winter so we’re getting lovely sunsets again

: Lovely sun today

: Bit of a fresh morning

: New profile pic just dropped

: Hadn’t done a portrait in a while

: Just about 10 years after brain surgery Vic Roads tells me to do a learners test, and I may be able …

: It sprung! 😀

: Quick scribble before we get on the ferry

: Bloody impossible to paint when it’s so sunny. Everything just dried immediately

: Very sunny Phillip island today

: Phillip Island is gorgeous

: Perks of being 6"4: the shower in this airbnb is below my chin and the bed has a bar on the end …

: It’s times like this (Aus vs NZ) I’m gonna miss when test cricket dies. Just full of …

: Amazing the Sri Lankan treats we can buy in Melbourne

: First attempt at sourdough didn’t rise :(

: Been asked to prove I’m not a robot so many times I’m starting to doubt myself

: For weeks after my brain surgery I couldn’t tolerate loud noises or bright light. I’d walk around …

: Almost impossible now to go to any website without having to close four things, block access to your …

: 😍 ok I’m starting to get some consistency now

: Oz needs to standardise some nomenclature: Shoestring fries = fries Any other potato-based food …

: What percentage of politicians have proudly uttered some version of the phrase “I am not a …

: This city makes no sense

: Struggling to understand why so many who write about coding projects do so on Medium, which locks …

: Starting to suspect the streaming companies time the forced re-log-ins to coincide with live sports …

: This tracks www.washingtonpost.com/technolog…

: It sprung!

: A Cycle of Misery: The Business of Building Commercial Aircraft …

: Message from my bank warning about impersonation scams and that their employees will never ask for …

: Blue earring

: Knitter

: Imagine if it was technically possible to allow someone to create an account on your online service …

: Another gloomy Melbourne day

: Someday I’m gonna figure out what Bill Gates/Microsoft did to scare the Australian government …

: Might be missing Sydney

: Didn’t rise properly today :(

: The young’ns have it too good politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2024/01/t…

: The most important piece of information about a hotel is whether there are power sockets on both …

: Parliament poking through the trees

: Super sunny day in Canberra

: Went to the Archibald 100 and discovered that John Howard has worn shorts at least once

: My last scribble from Sydney - a misty, sodden CBD from Watsons Bay

: Never ending cruises

: Just finished before we got rained out

: First day of holidays!

: Asking people to “do the research” on fake news stories makes them seem more believable, not less …

: Health inequalities ‘caused 1m early deaths in England in last decade’ …

: I watch one damn video about baking bread and Youtube’s algo decides the only thing I want to …

: Eternal quest to paint a portrait picture that looks (more) like me

: Had to get a photo for a new id at the post office and I’m too tall (6"4) for their …

: We should all be so lucky www.theguardian.com/australia…

: An all time Press release intro

: Aged her about twenty years 🤔

: Painted a rando from a magazine cover

: Why is Apple so insistent that I call my mum by name? Is this a California thing?

: Every time I draw my uncle his neck gets longer. Gonna be a giraffe soon

: Final painting of the year! Been trying to paint my uncle for ages

: Such a Melbourne story: Alan has been running Melbourne photo booths for 50 years. Now he’s …

: Palestinian artist killed in Gaza air strike was a ‘one in a million talent’ …

: Let my mum borrow my laptop and she won’t stop pawing away at the screen no matter how many …

: Do not understand why there are tech companies that have rolled their own developer blogs that …

: Need some tips for getting cleaner lines when doing a super strong wash

: Not a good likeness :(

: New favourite word: pestiferous www.theguardian.com/environme…

: Serious warpage

: Serious warpage

: Scribbling starting to come back

: Everywhere needs this law www.theguardian.com/environme…

: Might be grasping at straws because I very enjoy the programming parts of my job. But this gives me …

: Also rainy Melbourne not appreciating my quick sketch of rainy Melbourne

: Ok. Going to fill a sketchbook with hands.

: Inktober 22: scratchy

: Still going! Inktober 20: Frost

: Still going! Inktober 18: saddle

: Still catching up! Inktober 17: Demon

: This one didn’t really work. But here’s inktober 16: angel

: Inktober 15: dagger

: Still catching up. Inktobers 13 & 14: Rise and Castle

: Inktober 12: spicey

: I might actually watch football if they did this www.theguardian.com/commentis…

: Lovely warm day today so here’s inktober 11: Wander.

: Inktober 10: fortune. Still can’t do hands.

: Still really behind on Inktober. Prob won’t finish in October. Anyway #9: bounce

: First person to figure out how to make a qgis tutorial that is not a 40min video is gonna be $$$. …

: Castlemaine is lovely. Although you wouldn’t know it from how I screwed up the perspective

: Very windy in Bendigo today 😬😬😬

: Inktober 8: couldn’t think of a way to do toad so I just did a green painting 🤔

: Was sick for a few days so trying to catch up. #inktober 7: drop

: #inktober 6: Golden

: Realised I was running a day behind so here’s #inktober 5: map. I just ripped off Anaximander …

: If anyone wants to buy soiled plates I will happily part with mine …

: “30% to 40% of the cost of most one-off street festivals was spent on consultants for local traffic …

: Inktober day 4: Dodge

: Questions that journalists should also be asking www.theguardian.com/commentis…

: Inktober #3: Path (aka march of the blue suits)

: Inktober #2: Spider

: Starting to replace Payne’s grey with indigo and really loving it

: Don’t know if anyone noticed but Melbourne has a fair few coffee spots. #5

: The sun went away :(

: First Inktober: Dream. (It’s only a guitar coz I couldn’t figure out how to make the …

: Don’t know if anyone noticed but Melbourne has a fair few coffee spots. #4

: Purple alley

: Still can’t do hands

: Another sunny day today! 😎

: Does anyone know of a good (book length) biography of B. R. Ambedkar? I really want to learn more …

: Now that I’ve read this I, too, can start using “Orwellian” as a synonym for …

: Libraries are amazing. That is all.

: 🤔

: Don’t know if anyone noticed but Melbourne has a fair few coffee spots. #3

: Don’t know if anyone noticed but Melbourne has a fair few coffee spots. #2

: Someone moved onto our floor that makes the most amazing smelling food and it’s really not …

: Don’t know if anyone noticed but Melbourne has a fair few coffee spots. #1

: Lovely sunny day at the market 😄

: It almost makes the Australia Tax worth it

: TIL the greatest poster ever exists

: A lovely sunny day!

: A couple more of the buds opened overnight 😄… Although I mixed the colours a little too muddy …

: We got a new bunch! This one hasn’t given up yet

: Started a new sketchbook and project. Going to try and fill it with scenes with people. #1

: Came to see the Rembrandt exhibit and now all I can think of is light

: Haven’t done an office still life in a while

: If Australia’s net overseas migration is going to remain fixed even as the population grows, …

: Long train trip today

: Very bitter coffee this morning

: Just had breakfast but am very hungry

: “publishers now think of libraries as customer service departments for their database …

: The markets again

: Checkmate

: Lost our table before I could finish :(

: We bought some nice flowers but like 24 hours later they’ve completely given up

: A pandemic is not just a disease – it’s a political, social and economic crisis fuelled by …

: Have updated our Voice polling tracker. Can see more incl. methodology -> …

: So apparently Australia Post have run out of forms to get a Victorian ID card. You can’t …

: Endless lines

: Quick market sketch

: If Qantas had influence over the government they would have scored billions of dollars in …

: If I were a government agency I would simply constantly change my methodology so nothing is …

: Iran is shutting down for two days because of the heat www.nytimes.com/2023/08/0…

: So much of the NLP documentation uses these lovely, pristine datasets that are packaged into …

: Another cold morning. Why do people live here

: “[Abortion is] the third most commonly performed surgical procedure in Australia but nobody, …

: Why plastic recycling doesn’t work informationisbeautiful.net/visualiza…

: More than 137k applications for parent visas stuck in the pipeline in Australia, and its grown …

: Ok what’s up with the huge (seemingly permanent in Melbourne) sheep grazier warnings on apple …

: If I were an academic group that painstakingly created a website (and blog) to share my research, I …

: “history is an edit war. Truth, factual and moral, hangs in the balance” …

: Interesting profiles of some of the last internet cafes, and how important they were as third spaces …

: Got to love the personal touch only a big Telco can give

: Hell of a chart in this Bloomberg story on Super …

: Math That Lets You Think Locally but Act Globally www.quantamagazine.org/math-that…

: About a week into our rental tenure the lightbulb in the bedroom blew. We’re moving out in two …

: Can’t believe I went more than a week with a new personal laptop without having installed …

: Bit of a brrrrrrrr day in Melbourne

: Never get between a government agency and their Microsoft Power BI

: A new study finds that 47,000 Russian combatants have died in Ukraine …

: Finally uploaded my favourite sketches from my Malaysia trip joshnicholas.com/scribbles

: Is Tennessee a Democracy? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc…

: Got one of these fancy ergonomic mice over the weekend coz Officeworks mispriced it and damn …

: The Complicated History of Pointy Hats daily.jstor.org/the-compl…

: Apparently when American special forces are doing some operation in another country it’s that …

: Does anyone in Melbourne use Pineapple for internet? These prices and speeds seem too good to be …

: Updated our Voice to Parliament poll tracker with latest Newspoll. Yes continues downward trend. …

: Orange Is the New Black Signalled the Rot Inside the Streaming Economy …

: This is a great feature on Sri Lankans that have travelled to Australia by boat. Written by Sri …

: The rains in India are horrific www.economist.com/graphic-d…

: Apparently whenever I draw a self portrait I suddenly lose about 10kgs

: Someone needs to do a long read on why kinder surprise toys are so simple/easy to assemble nowadays

: Got a new work laptop and its my first post-touchbar Macbook. Honestly, forget M chips or whatever, …

: Didn’t even go to Micro Camp but I got stickers :) thanks @jean

: With how much everyone is screenshotting on bluesky there really isn’t any reason to go on …

: So threads isn’t ActivityPub compatible at launch?

: Testing Bluesky crossposting with another postcard portrait

: If I was in charge of announcements in an airport I would simply make them so quiet no one could …

: (Probably) the final painting of the trip. Number 28. Kuala Lumpur skyline from the hotel. Sky …

: Still boggles my mind that you can buy (genuine) Lapis Lazuli based paints/pigments

: Bit of a wait for the plane

: If the issue is companies scraping Twitter to train LLMs wouldn’t the easiest solution be to …

: So is Nitter still going to work for people who still need to follow some accounts 🤔

: Langkawi is so beautiful and green I’m almost out of yellow watercolour paint.

: Two tells that this hotel was built by Europeans: no sinks in the restaurant awnings don’t …

: Escaped across the bay to a new hotel

: Started pouring so couldn’t quite finish it :(

: One thing really nice in 2020/21 was the pop up sinks everywhere. I’ve never understood why …

: Unbelievable 😂 …

: For some reason beers are less expensive than coconuts at this resort (even though I am currently …

: First morning at the resort

: How come delivery apps have figured out taking food from one side of a city to another without it …

: Used the airport self check in and because my bag was ~1kg overweight was directed to a human to pay …

: Coffee truck! Everything was double shots 😄

: TIL Hansel and Gretel might not have been written if Norman Borlaug had been born earlier

: A-plus sign game

: Understand loyalty is only a fan thing in the NBA etc. etc. but am very sad to see Marcus Smart …

: My other morning scribble. Didn’t do the people’s proportions too well

: Very very sunny in Penang today

: Would rather not quote Arthur C. Clarke but interesting how timeless this is

: Long, hot walk in the sun today. So we stopped at a little shop for ice creams and cold drinks. …

: First job at breakfast every morning is to get two of each tiny drink to approximate a normal drink

: It’s that kind of heat

: Going to miss the coffee shops when I go home

: There should be a filter on hotel booking sites so you can exclude hotels that give you daily wifi …

: Very hard to draw straight lines when you have to stand and draw/paint

: Still not quite getting enough light in these paintings

: Had to retreat inside from the heat this morning

: Amazing how we still have these islands of pre pandemic life that never recovered. The coffee shop …

: Getting bombarded with ads for 24 week coding bootcamps. Can’t fathom you could learn enough in that …

: The extent to which the USSR couldn’t/wouldn’t trust their own astronauts is incredible

: TIL McDonalds has a VIP program in Malaysia. Kept seeing these stickers on cars but finally got …

: Who was the person that first came up with the idea for the absolutely tiny juice glasses at hotel …

: Does anyone have a good resource for explaining to parents that being connected to a wifi network != …

: Apple weather is completely useless in Malaysia. Currently says it’s just cloudy but when I …

: Last day in Ipoh for us

: The Thinker™

: Stingy RSL Pours Wine With Full Centimetre Of Air At Top www.betootaadvocate.com/breaking-…

: Wasn’t able to quite grasp the scale of the lovely train station here

: Some lovely old buildings in Ipoh

: Coffee culture in Ipoh is great

: Some Ipoh shopping

: White coffee to go at Ipoh’s famous Nam Heong

: Managing 380mbps download at my tiny hotel in Ipoh. Can’t believe how bad Australia’s …

: Finally reached the famous hipster cafes of Ipoh

: Started to drizzle so I couldn’t finish the painting :(

: My scribbles of the Petronas Towers four year ago and today. Pretty happy with how far I’ve …

: I really love the Malay spelling of English loan words. We should adopt these imo.

: First breakfast in Kuala Lumpur

: Don’t think I’ll be spending what will be like $6k AUD (after Apple adds the weird tax …

: Quick brunch near Flinders station

: Have spent most of the morning unsubscribing from podcasts I never ended up listening to

: “Argentinian Soccer Fans Decry a New Bronze Statue of a Former Club Coach for Its Comically Large …

: “Talent is a pursued interest” - Bob Ross (I’m watching the doco on Netflix)

: Less than 7 sleeps til I go on holidays!

: Ok that was a great finale for Succession. Simultaneously satisfied but also want to find out what …

: Two things that make absolutely no sense: pulpless orange juice getting ice cream in a cup instead …

: Quick self portrait this morning. Really needed a new profile pic

: There’s little more frustrating than being a journalist when your team is in the playoffs and …

: Huge improvement from yesterday, though

: She’s been sitting here for almost five hours waiting to be discharged from the hospital. Why …

: The IRS has “quietly built its own prototype system to allow Americans to file tax returns …

: Alt text test

: At the museum today

: Waiting for a coffee

: Really don’t appreciate how great the Australian Bureau of Statistics is until I have to work …

: Quick scribble at the market using water soluble ink

: What’s a good non-audible audiobook app/subscription?

: Posted without comment www.economist.com/graphic-d…

: First non-portrait scribble in a while!

: Smashed out five portraits to finish off the sketchbook. Can’t believe it’s finally …

: Based on choice of suit colour I have to assume that King Charles moonlights as a real estate agent

: Portraits 99-102! The hundredth felt like a big milestone. Only a couple of pages left. Am really …

: F1 is really getting boring again. Stopped watching for several years during the Mercedes dominance …

: Portraits 95-98 from last night and this morning. Four sheets left!

: Catching up on a bunch of paintings from the weekend. Portraits 85-94. Just six pages of my …

: Portraits 83 and 84 from this morning. 17 degrees in the morning. Got to paint comfortably outside …

: Portraits 81 and 82 from this morning. Minoli says I’m rushing them…. Maybe. Only about …

: Just finished the 80th portrait in the series! Can definitely see how far I’ve come as my …

: Catching up on portraits over the weekend. Portraits 72-76

: How many stories I see nowadays like this one about two wrongfully convicted men. Have we ever had …

: Portraits 70 and 71. Liking drawing straight with pen a lot more

: Portrait 69 this morning. Slipped back into glazing by accident

: Portraits 67 and 68 from this morning. Think I’m much better off using a few, stronger washes …

: Portraits 65 and 66/120. Wasn’t able to finish 65 in the park the other day because it started …

: Need to build myself a podcast player that automatically deletes an episode if a derivative of the …

: Portraits 63 and 64/120. Not really happy with either. Overworked them both

: Portrait 62/120. First self portrait of the project. Doesn’t really look like me.

: Didn’t realise you could get two vaccines at once but just got flu and covid jabbed 💪💪

: Portrait 61/120. Another one from an old photo of Minoli. Think I’m getting a bit better at …

: Portraits 59 and 60/120 in the new sketchbook. Already much preferring the 100% cotton paper. Half …

: 58th and final portrait of the sketchbook is Minoli eating milk toffee. Just 62 portraits to go!

: Portrait 56 and 57/120. Just one more to go and the first sketchbook is done!

: Portraits 54 and 55/120. Three pages left! Going to finish it off today

: Portraits 51-53/120 from this morning. Only a few more pages left in my sketchbook!

: Portrait 50! Just 70 to go.

: Portraits 48 and 49/120. Sort of starting a mini series of people reading

: Portraits 46 & 47/120 this morning. I do actually miss reading newspapers

: Painting some history this morning (someone reading a newspaper)

: Portrait 45/120. Another (slightly better) attempt at painting Simone de Beauvoir

: Portrait 44/120. Tried to paint Simone de Beauvoir but failed horribly

: Portrait 43/120: I got a watercolour hue called “Aussie red gold” that I’m really …

: Portrait 42/120: I appear to be stuck on the cool side of the palette. Probably need to find images …

: Back in Sydney for one day. Having breakfast at one of the old haunts. Can’t believe …

: Has the Russian Presidential Press Office shot this on an angle to make Putin appear tall?

: Am watching the fütball

: Portrait 41/120. A purple grumpus

: Portrait 40/120. A third done! Trying to get a bit looser

: Late today. Portrait number 39: back to monochrome-ish. Trying to figure out a good complementary to …

: Amazon package got stolen yet again 😑. Honestly think my only option is to shop exclusively at sites …

: Portrait number 38! Trying to ramp up the harsh light. Need better strategies for handling finer …

: Portrait number 37. Screwed up the hair shape a little but can see improvement in lifting out …

: Portrait # 36. Had to make up for the horror show this morning. Starting to get a bit more used to …

: Running really late so a bit of a cop out with this morning’s portrait. Ghoulish skin, sausage …

: Portrait #34. Screwed this one up by going over with fountain pen lines 🤔

: Portrait #33. Not too happy with it. Been trying to figure out how to blend layers better so I …

: Todays portrait. Number 32. Another attempt at painting Minoli

: Today - for the first time in years - I wandered around a bookshop trying to find something to read. …

: This mornings portrait! Number 31. Trying to see if I can experiment more with warm and cool colours …

: Portrait number 30! That’s one sketchbook half filled with portraits. Hopefully the next one …

: Almost caught up! Portraits 28 and 29. These two didn’t really work. I’m still trying to …

: More and more stories about people exonerated after years in prison/on death row. Yet I don’t …

: Portrait number 27! Wasn’t patient enough to wait for it to properly dry between layers

: Finally finished the big glob of Quinacridone Rose that was on my mixing tray! Can start playing …

: Still trying to use up some of the colours in my palette! Portraits 25 and 26

: Portrait 24! Probably the most convincing shading to create volume, so far. Although I went a bit …

: Portraits 22 and 23. Still unsure how to handle closed eyes

: Just going to race through a bunch of portraits in the middle that I’m not too happy with. …

: Couple more portraits (12 and 13): these are two from Flickr. Hoping more monochrome portraits helps …

: Starting to suspect the colour lights next to the train station is timed so that we always miss the …

: Portrait no 11 is of my wife Minoli. Probably one of the closest likenesses I’ve achieved but …

: This is my favourite of the portraits so far. Number 10. My great uncle again. Feel like I captured …

: Portraits 8 and 9: my Great Uncle came to visit. This whole portrait project actually started …

: Getting a bit better at using the white of the page. Wonky fingers, though. Portraits 5, 6 and 7.

: Really not a fan of the paper in this journal, but pressing on. Portraits 3 and 4

: So, last month I started a project to fill two journals with watercolour portraits. Roughly ~120 …

: Trying something a bit different to get my head around colour theory

: Trying another cityscape

: Another hot day at Queen Victoria markets

: Boat sheds on the Yarra

: Just had the worst bretzel ever. Why are so many baked goods in Australia just normal bread dough …

: Think I might like working at the state library of Victoria

: I want data on what % of librarians wearing headphones while reshelving books are listening to an …

: Breakfassssssst

: It’s pretty hot today 🖌️

: Waiting for the fireworks

: Can’t get more exact than that

: “if wood burning were mostly a working class habit, it would probably have been banned …

: Started to drizzle as I finished 😬

: Coffee at the art gallery

: Meta drawing

: Reading/scribbling next to the Brisbane river 🖌️

: Three attempts later, finally painted the surfers paradise skyline 🎨

: Sunny Christmas Day at the beach

: Rousing endorsement of Queensland Art Gallery on Google maps

: Bobble head

: Surfers paradise from above

: Trying to see if I can do some city scapes

: Starting to run low on ink 😬

: Two attempts at the sunrise this morning. One with slightly more care and patience 🎨

: Tried painting Minoli again. Lots of cauliflowers and ruined the hair at the end :(

: This one didn’t quite work. Messed up the perspective on the lamps (among lots of other …

: Coffee run!

: Quick out and about sketches

: Went on to Twitter for a few seconds and was immediately greeted with someone being super self …

: Last morning coffee shop visit for a while

: Not a very successful office still life today. Couldn’t quite get the tones right. Office …

: Honestly don’t understand how I survived before it was possible to wear noise cancelling …

: Some more cars

: Picture plane 🎨

: Quick morning splash. Paper really warping. Need to start always carrying watercolour paper around

: Finally a sunny day! At Queen Victoria markets :)

: Was going pretty good until the traffic blocked my view :(

: Last one for the week. Tried watercolour again. Think I need to make the values darker. Office still …

: Quick train sketch! 🖌️ Almost missed my stop

: Was trying some wet in wet but lost control Office still life #12

: Quick train sketch 🖌️ Only a few pages left

: Hands are still the worst

: Was on Twitter briefly today and yesterday and realised how much I’m missing the community …

: Recent sketches now on the wall

: Quick morning painting sesh 🎨

: Had enough time for watercolours this morning :) 🎨 Need to remember to leave more highlights. Office …

: Quick train sketch. 🖌️ Really hard to grab poses in the space of one stop 😬

: Morning cricket 🖌️

: Lining up for ice cream

: Sunny day and lotsa people on phones

: So many bananas! Office still life #10 🎨

: Hurry up and wait 🖌️

: Proportions are off :(

: Practicing contrast

: Someone needs to create a course in how to use the various Wait methods in Selenium

: Couldn’t find the fruit today :( Office still life #9 🎨

: Sketching along the way. First time I’ve gotten a seat in a while. 🎨

: Something very funny about the front page of the NSW government’s data website defaulting to …

: Some of the best news for Australian democracy I’ve read in a while. …

: The window

: Is cheese the only positive Monger? 🤔

: A very sunny day in Geelong

: Almost every art book I read feels the need to include a disclaimer like this. Really sad that it’s …

: Better late than never Office still life #8

: A bit cartoony today

: We have nectarines now! Office still life #7

: Screwed up the perspective :(

: Why isn’t this already a thing in Australia?

: Good Victorians stay the same shape whether or not they are in a container

: Two electricity bills in a row now where the two of us apparently use as much on average as a 5 …

: You’d think with the number of recent data breaches we’d get some stock imagery other …

: Can tell how well Legalise Cannabis did in the Victoria election by how many times @benraue mentions …

: I may need a banana bread recipe. Office still life #6

: Pen ran out of ink :(

: Another sunny day!

: So Mastodon really isn’t cutting it as a link discovery engine. Could just be a function of a …

: So has medical science ever investigated how fütballers are able to recover from these apparently …

: Tried to do a 16km trail, got lost, and after ~10kms ended up at a shopping centre eating laksa …

: It’s sunny!

: Incredible they created an encryption in the 1600 hundreds that took experts (and computers) 6 …

: Think the Americans might be celebrating some kind of holiday. Hard to tell though as it’s not …

: No more mandarins :( Office still life #5

: Some morning chaos scribbling

: Nails the issues with previous Star Wars shows www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra…

: Now that everyone is on Mastodon or whatever can we get back to the real war: mainstreaming/bringing …

: Should start putting tracking numbers on the mandarins. Office still life #4

: A bollard fence

: Starting listening to a new audiobook and the narrator has a thick Australian accent. It’s …

: It’s raining :(

: Starting to suspect someone breaks in during the night and uses all the ketchup

: Struggling to think of a more obnoxious sound in a quiet office than a mac booting up (just …

: Trams are sorta hard to scribble

: This is just becoming a rolling argument that I need to eat more mandarins… Office still life …

: Just filled my water bottle up at a tap with a counter claiming it had saved 126k plastic bottles …

: Just finished Welcome to Wrexham… maybe rich Americans taking over really is the answer to …

: Ok. Have deleted my mastodon account. Going to try (try) and do the socials mostly through …

: Someone ate all the bananas! Office still life #2

: Monsterrra…d

: Ok, I lost track of it last time so starting again: Office Still Life #1

: Really like this point: why does one website (usually Twitter in the Anglo press) have to be the …

: Will PNG really stop log exports in 2025? …

: Melbourne giving me strong monsoon vibes rn. Just had to rescue the washing line from heavy, …

: How China’s Imperial Treasures Became a Public Exhibit www.theworldofchinese.com/2022/11/h…

: Ok MCG 🏏 take two. Last time it just rained. This time they’re building a stage even though …

: “crypto provides fast-track learning as to why we have banking and broker regulation in the …

: Best thing about sketching in permanent ink is when a pen leaks

: I don’t care what anyone says pumpkin isn’t a squash

: Just testing activitypub :)

: It’s raining :(

: People reading newspapers

: Morning scribbles

: Some weekend scribbles

: Hmmm. Testing cross posting.

: A gloomy fountain No sun today.

: Landscapes are tough First trip to the Yarra Valley and all I got was one stupid painting

: Sketchin in Ballarat

: Grabbing a coffee

: Sunny but freezing

: The Claremont hotel Another lovely sunny day today

: An actual chapel

: Drawing Chapel Temperance Going to start drawing some of the interesting buildings down Chapel …

: Atop the hill Another sunny day near the observatory

: Flinders station again Trying this one again

: Coffee shop sketching Gloomy day today

: Hands are hard Need to come up with a way of practicing drawing hands

: Another sunny sketch First sunny sketch in Melbourne is of Flinders station

: New art space New apartment has a whole corner just for my art stuff! First painting

: Now some trees I always avoid trees and cut them out of my drawings for some reason. But playing …

: Solar powered drawing Had to stop as soon as the sun went behind the building. Starting to realise …

: Goodbye Taylor Square

: Another sunny day Final weekend before moving away. Had to sketch the Sydney Opera House.

: Some more blending Really enjoying this new medium’s combination of scribbly and blendy

: Non waterproof inks This is way more fun than contouring

: Someone got styled (It’s not me)

: Another quick coffee

: Some Saturday reads

: Watching some tv

: A basketball man

: Got some brunch Needed to get some Surry Hills experiences in before I move

: Lunchtime sketches #1 At the dog park

: Out of ink Ran out of ink halfway through scribbling this morning!

: Grabbing a drink

: An empty building Been walking past this place for more than a year. Someone make it a restaurant so …

: More Rocks drawings

: Another sunny day

: Sketching round Surry Bit cartoony but also nice to get out in the sun

: Morning scribbles #1

: Sketching the Rocks

: Some changing leaves Quick painting sesh before work :)

: Red blue person This new primary set mixes some nice purples/greys. I think it’s staining my …

: Quick morning sketch Just a few more days with this view every morning

: Lips are hard Not as bad as hands, though.

: Practicing still lifes

: Using it up Some quick head studies to try use up this damn burnt sienna.

: Paper is buckling I should probably buy some better stuff when this runs out. Screwed up the …

: Too much grey Accidentally bought two tubes of grey paint instead of a blue and grey 😅 gonna be a …

: Fineliner and charcoal First time mixing these two mediums. Charcoal really makes it easy to add …

: Scratchy

: Practicing some line

: Need watercolour paper Trying to use up an old visual art diary but can’t work wet in wet 🤔

: Pot plantsss

: By the beach

: Searching for a 300 page book just on how to draw hands

: Benny’s review of King Arthur

: Got some charcoals :)

: Don’t know about these new water brushes

: Chinese youth are…. tanking? www.theguardian.com/world/202…

: Work work work

: Started scribbling again

: Cat! 🇱🇰✏️

: I’ll sing you a song a song of the sea 🎶🇬🇧✏️

: Back in London for a few days ✏️🇬🇧

: 🤔 ✏️🇭🇺

: Trying some new colour combinations in Budapest ✏️🇭🇺

: Bought some orange crayons 🙂✏️🇭🇺

: Loving these trees lining the streets in Budapest ✏️🇭🇺

: Another view of the Temple of St Nicholas (yup) ✏️🇸🇰

: The clock tower in Bratislava ✏️🇸🇰

: TFW you forget to leave enough room on the page for the steeple of the church ✏️🇸🇰

: Morning from Bratislava Castle 👋 ✏️🇸🇰

: Beers by the river in Bratislava ✏️🇸🇰

: I thought I was drawing someone else but I now I realise this is just me sitting in the sun in …

: Last one from Vienna - Belvedere Palace ✏️🇦🇹

: Waiting for the art gallery to open 😴✏️🇦🇹

: Day by the canals in Vienna ✏️🇦🇹

: Some kind of ministry building in Prague 🤔 ✏️🇨🇿

: The Overlook Hotel/Prague palace ✏️🇨🇿

: A couple of days by the Vltava river in Prague ✏️🇨🇿

: Toooooorists ✏️🇨🇿

: Couple more from Krakow 😬 I only came to Poland cause I was “in the area” but damn is this country …

: Krakow Kathedral 😱 there are too many buildings to draw in this city ✏️🇵🇱

: Before and after 🤔 ✏️🇵🇱

: Warsaw is damn pretty tbh ✏️🇵🇱

: Saw a guy with pigtails in his beard and am now sorely tempted (shitty artists approximation) ✏️🇮🇪

: ‪Greatest thing yesterday was finding a pub with a MASSIVE selection of international beers. And …

: Scribbling from Dublin castle 😀 ✏️🇮🇪

: ‪TFW you buy a “pot” of tea and the pot turns out to be the same size as a cup 😑‬ 🇮🇪

: TFW you can’t figure out what these rebellious scum are up too 🇮🇪

: The murals in Belfast are absolutely spectacoolah 🇬🇧

: Lovely labor union murals in Belfast, too 😀 🇬🇧

: Your humble correspondent is in Edinburgh and neither draw hands nor collars 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

: Out a pub window in Stirling 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

: View out my hostel window in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

: Charles Dickens’ ladder and pond pump @ the Charles Dickens Museum 📷 🇬🇧

: St John’s chapel, Tower of London 🎙🇬🇧

: Walking through the gold souk in Dubai 🇦🇪 🎙

: Sick today 🤒 so decided to shoot a video on my phone of my turtle in the rain 🇱🇰 🎥

: There’s really nothing like being inside when there’s a monsoon pour outside 🇱🇰 🎙

: Monsoon thumping on the garage 🇱🇰 🎙 🎵 Raindrops keep falling on my head 🎶

: Feeding the elephants 🇱🇰 📷

: Baby elephant doing swimming zooms at Pinnawala elephant orphanage 🇱🇰 📷

: Temple dog 🇱🇰 📷

: Interlude 🇱🇰 📷

: Beach day in Mt Lavinia 🇱🇰 📷 These guys are really hurting from the crash in tourism

: Played billiards with my Grandpa last weekend 🇱🇰 📷

: A puppy in a bar in Galle, 🇱🇰 📷