Nicola Black

Scene from the edge of a lake. There are rocks and brush, leaves and grass in the foreground. The sky is filled with moody clouds. It was drizzling.

Last one. A moody lake scene. Clearly heavily edited, but… colors.

Various colored (yellow, brown, orange, red, green) fallen leaves on asphalt path.

I know, I know. They’re just leaves, but… aaaahhhhh!

View of a path to the right of a grassy area covered with fallen leaves. There are orange trees in the distance and a lake to the right.

View along the path. 😍 I’ve edited these to punch it up. I couldn’t help but play with these colors and scenery.

Yellow, orange, green, and red leaves on a tree.

More colors for a long afternoon walk. 🍂

It’s so nice. The best time of the year! ☺️

A shot of a tree with orange leaves.

Fallen leaves, of various earth tones, in a patch of green grass.

Another shot of the orange leaved tree.

A fuller shot of the striking orange tree!

On our morning walk, today, there were some beautiful colors to see. 🍂

A unicorn watermark in one of the oldest European paper sheets. Source: https://memoryofpaper.eu/apccv/apccv.php?Signatura=1475.1

Just a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians

Photo of a hand holding an original autumn landscape oil painting by Tisha Mark, "Autumn Mini No. 2503" 4"x4" oil on Ampersand Gessobord (2025). The painting shows a dense autumn landscape with a creek running through it. There is bright yellow light in a blue sky, and colors from the sky and trees are reflecting in the creek. A paint palette with puddles of oil paint, a paintbrush, and a palette knife are visible in the background.

I'm painting a little series of autumn minis. These will be added to my shop sometime next week. Early access for my email list, and the sign-up for that is on my website 🎨🍂

Tisha Mark ©2025, Autumn Mini No. 2503, oil on gessobord, 4"x4"

tishamark.com

#art #painting #TraditionalArt #bsnm

I've always loved the song, "Work," but I've been sleeping on the rest of Charlotte Day Wilson's catalog. It's so perfect for the mood and mode I've been in lately. Highly recommend if you'd like some relaxing vibes. 🙌

It's so easy to fall off w/newsletter sends. 😅 To get back on track, I made it one of my WIP Accountability Group tasks (I'm so grateful for my crew). The theme for next one is: Discovery & Curiosity. I'm exploring A LOT lately. Sign up to get it in your inbox here: nicolablack.kit.com/e2471072ca

The laughs we had at the end of today's WIP Roundtable Discussion were just what I needed. 🤣 The serious stuff was just as good: We all left with a good road map of next steps to make progress on goals that may have had a few unexpected side quests along the way. 🙌

The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds When Amazon Web Services went offline, people lost control of their cloud-connected smart beds, getting stuck in reclined positions or roasting with the heat turned all the way up.

Imagine being so plugged in that sleep becomes a digital subscription...to actually pay to rest? Everything is so ass-backwards. 😑 www.404media.co/the-aws-outa...

Because I just stumbled on an illustration someone posted with no identifying marks and also ENORMOUS enough for someone to probably print it at a decent size: don’t. Mark your shit, make it small and crunchy. There’s no amount of detail you wanna get across that means giving away your files.

Love this! And that frame! 🙌

Welp. That didn't last long. Just broke into the Halloween candy.

A square print by Penelope Dullaghan of a woman on a chair in a black and grey print dress. She holds a red umbrella and is in the top left corner of the piece. In the bottom right are two additional umbrellas.

That's so cool! I am a fan of Penelope Dullaghan's work as well. She was very kind to me, back in the day. She answered an email I sent to her about web design (I was learning and was so inspired by her as a fellow illustrator). I also picked up this print of hers. An art retreat sounds amazing!

I have this book too! It was gifted to me by an old friend. It's been a while since I've paged through it. Such an inspiring collection of work! Off to look at it again now. Thanks for the reminder. 🎨

Enjoyed a morning turkey bacon butty on one of my tall, home made morning rolls. 🥓🍞

Dough shaped into balls for baking. This is after their second rise.

The baked rolls. Golden on top with a dusting of flour.

Last night, I tried making some morning rolls. They came out well, but I think a bigger baking dish would’ve been key for size. They’re a bit tall.

Today we learn more about Theodore A. Harris’ “Thesentür: Conscientious Objector to Formalism,” on view now at 15th and Morris Streets in Point Breeze!

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Graphic for events happening this week at Work In Progress! There is a list of event titles, dates, and times. At the top is the Work In Progress checkmark logo. The text of the graphic says: Monday, Oct. 20 • 10am-12:30pm ET • Coworking w/Kara Monday, Oct. 20 • 2-3pm ET • Accountability Group Meeting Wednesday, Oct. 22 • 10am-12:30pm ET • Coworking w/Kara Wednesday, Oct. 22 • 2-3pm ET • WIP Roundtable Discussion: Autumn Reflection – Where you are, where you wanted to be, where you're going. Friday., Oct. 24 • 2-4pm ET • Coworking w/Nicola The above is a list of prescheduled events for the week. There may be additional impromptu sessions and events throughout. Lite Members may add Core events a la carte. Apply to join us at: JoinWIP(dot)com is at the bottom of the graphic in a black box.

We've got good stuff going on this week at WIP that I'm looking forward to. Our next round of Accountability Group Meetings starts today. They're always incredibly helpful to keep me on track with my goals. And our monthly Roundtable Discussion will be a good chance to reflect. www.joinwip.com

You both look like you're having so much fun! 🙌

Watercolor and gouache. This painting will be available for purchase at @lightboxexpo.com booth 100.
See you there this weekend!

A small, black and white rat terrier/chihuahua mix (Ollie) sitting on the step of a deck, looking back at me lovingly. Grass in background.

The way this little guy looks at me sometimes. 🥹❤️

A fresh baked, round loaf of bread on a cooling rack.

It’s a boule! 🍞

We really, REALLY need to be talking about this as an industry.

This is not normal. This is not sustainable.

There is so much talent out there underemployed and barely hanging on and just as much talent already in serious financial trouble.

I don't know how you fix it, but we HAVE to fix it.

I added her name to the alt text, but this is Emily Tull. An incredibly talented thread painter artist. I was in awe with her work. Beautiful.

A screenshot from Portrait Artist of the Year of artist, Emily Tull saying, “Um, yeah.” She is wearing a thinking word bubble hair clip with “I?” inside. It’s perfect.

Been watching “Portrait Artist of the Year” in the evenings (good if you’re looking for something relaxing to enjoy). This hair clip made an appearance. I need it. It was the perfect accessory as she was being seriously interviewed about her process and work. 😄

Annual PSA. The chemistry of Autumn leaves.
www.compoundchem.com/2014/09/11/a...