Lli Wilburn
@lliwilburn.bsky.social
Artist, maker of things, petter of cats. I like this place better than the other places.
Sketchbooks forever (no matter what machines you use to help, you can't skip the drawing. )
I'm mostly here to see what you have to say & show me about this world.
Sketchbooks forever (no matter what machines you use to help, you can't skip the drawing. )
I'm mostly here to see what you have to say & show me about this world.
Reposted by Lli Wilburn
I've had friends reach out and ask about "the protests in MN" and I've responded that "protests" is a terrible way to describe what is going on (although there are those too).
We are under attack by a lawless federal agency, and there is massive, decentralized community mobilization in response.
We are under attack by a lawless federal agency, and there is massive, decentralized community mobilization in response.
Because the media does not know how to frame what is happening, they keep referring to regular Minnesotans as protesters. But there is very explicit training that so many people done to learn how to be a constitutional observer. People are bearing witness to kidnappings, with phones and whistles.
by @democraticwins.bsky.social CNN just aired a devastating compilation of all the times ICE brutally attacked Americans. Remember, Donald Trump sponsored this. This is done at his command.
January 16, 2026 at 10:05 PM
I've had friends reach out and ask about "the protests in MN" and I've responded that "protests" is a terrible way to describe what is going on (although there are those too).
We are under attack by a lawless federal agency, and there is massive, decentralized community mobilization in response.
We are under attack by a lawless federal agency, and there is massive, decentralized community mobilization in response.
I have socks that are older than ICE.
ICE is younger than my blog
ICE is younger than my email address
ICE is younger than at least one of my ukuleles
ICE is younger than my email address
ICE is younger than at least one of my ukuleles
I'm just going to point out that ICE is about 23 years old. It was formed as part of the response to 9/11 and was reactionary, performative, and racist from the start.
Its not eternal. This is not a thousand-year Reich.
Its not eternal. This is not a thousand-year Reich.
January 16, 2026 at 4:55 PM
I have socks that are older than ICE.
There's a few really helpful people on the web who post watercolor swatches with detailed reviews/info on pigments, lightfastness and so on. Sadly one of them, Kim Crick, has had serious medical issues for years and her family is closing the business and eventually shutting down/moving the website.
January 2, 2026 at 8:30 PM
There's a few really helpful people on the web who post watercolor swatches with detailed reviews/info on pigments, lightfastness and so on. Sadly one of them, Kim Crick, has had serious medical issues for years and her family is closing the business and eventually shutting down/moving the website.
that feeling when you have a hundred pens but one VERY SPECIFIC ONE is MISSING
December 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
that feeling when you have a hundred pens but one VERY SPECIFIC ONE is MISSING
The Law of Glitter applies to iridescent inks and paints too. Therefore, everything in my sketchbook is sparkly.
December 16, 2025 at 1:01 AM
The Law of Glitter applies to iridescent inks and paints too. Therefore, everything in my sketchbook is sparkly.
December tomatoes: the last two tomatoes from my neighbor's garden, picked green when the nights got cold, and ripened indoors.
December 15, 2025 at 5:43 PM
December tomatoes: the last two tomatoes from my neighbor's garden, picked green when the nights got cold, and ripened indoors.
There's something so hopeful about making a new sketchbook. What will I record/discover/ imagine? (What will I leave unsaid but will turn out to be really obvious in the drawings?)
Fabriano Cocktail 290# makes really good soft covers, btw.
Fabriano Cocktail 290# makes really good soft covers, btw.
December 12, 2025 at 10:41 PM
There's something so hopeful about making a new sketchbook. What will I record/discover/ imagine? (What will I leave unsaid but will turn out to be really obvious in the drawings?)
Fabriano Cocktail 290# makes really good soft covers, btw.
Fabriano Cocktail 290# makes really good soft covers, btw.
My first look at the work of Jules Feiffer, Edward Gorey, Garth Williams, Arthur Szyk, Ronni Solbert, Helen Sewell, Clement Hurd, John R Neill, and many more came from the books they illustrated, and my memories of their art and the writers' words in those stories are inseparable.
Educators: You can help show next generation the value of HUMAN creativity. When talking about illustrated books, pls mention illustrators by name? Display student artwork on your walls w/credit. Discuss illustrators w/your class. Invite illustrators to visit your school!
#PicturesMeanBusiness
#PicturesMeanBusiness
December 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
My first look at the work of Jules Feiffer, Edward Gorey, Garth Williams, Arthur Szyk, Ronni Solbert, Helen Sewell, Clement Hurd, John R Neill, and many more came from the books they illustrated, and my memories of their art and the writers' words in those stories are inseparable.
well, one of them. There are many. But today's weather is just as much about sound as it is about visuals, and that always puts me in a Burchfield mood. (Also, close enough to 50 years.)
Charles Burchfield, Clearing Sky, 1917
Charles Burchfield, Clearing Sky, 1917
December 9, 2025 at 4:52 AM
well, one of them. There are many. But today's weather is just as much about sound as it is about visuals, and that always puts me in a Burchfield mood. (Also, close enough to 50 years.)
Charles Burchfield, Clearing Sky, 1917
Charles Burchfield, Clearing Sky, 1917
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
American crow
Common raven
Alpine chough
Steller's jay
Boat-tailed grackle
American crow
Common raven
Alpine chough
Steller's jay
Boat-tailed grackle
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Svalbard reindeer
Scalloped hammerhead shark
Leopard seal
Polar bear
Secretary bird
Svalbard reindeer
Scalloped hammerhead shark
Leopard seal
Polar bear
Secretary bird
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
- Elephant
- Moose
- Alligator
- Brown Bear
- Mountain Goat
Listed in decreasing order of proximity. The elephant was a quarter mile away. Moose, about the same. Alligator? 15 feet. Bear? 10 feet (through a window). Goat? TOO DAMN CLOSE.
- Elephant
- Moose
- Alligator
- Brown Bear
- Mountain Goat
Listed in decreasing order of proximity. The elephant was a quarter mile away. Moose, about the same. Alligator? 15 feet. Bear? 10 feet (through a window). Goat? TOO DAMN CLOSE.
November 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
American crow
Common raven
Alpine chough
Steller's jay
Boat-tailed grackle
American crow
Common raven
Alpine chough
Steller's jay
Boat-tailed grackle
Google results started giving me that sinking feeling in 2013 or so, same with crappy recycled/ripped off images for home design and recipes. Algorithmic/SEO slop wrecked the cool internet - the one where you connected with interesting humans who knew things- long before LLM slop came on the scene.
Automated text generation has existed for decades. "Dead internet" is from 2016. Markov chain text generation dates to at least 1984. The incentives to algorithmicly generate web text have been around since before 2010. Huge swaths of the internet have been case for seo/advertising slop for decades.
November 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Google results started giving me that sinking feeling in 2013 or so, same with crappy recycled/ripped off images for home design and recipes. Algorithmic/SEO slop wrecked the cool internet - the one where you connected with interesting humans who knew things- long before LLM slop came on the scene.
today's news from the ocean (also somewhere, "death-ball sponge" the band or the spicy dessert , is coming into being)
A 35-day deep-sea expedition in the Southern Ocean has uncovered 30 new species: from a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge to iridescent armoured worms, black corals and even the first-ever live footage of a colossal squid in its natural habitat. buff.ly/9uVWJvN
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Armored worms and death-ball sponges among array of life newly documented from the deep sea
In the darkness of the deep ocean, where pressure crushes and light fails, an expedition has found an astonishing array of life, including a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge (from the genus…
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 7:17 PM
today's news from the ocean (also somewhere, "death-ball sponge" the band or the spicy dessert , is coming into being)
oops someone's seen my house
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 9:41 PM
oops someone's seen my house
just me saying (again) that the ocean is the closest thing we have to another planet that people can go to right now, today, and we had better not fuck it up (any further)
thank you @alexandragallant.com for letting me know this camera exists!
thank you @alexandragallant.com for letting me know this camera exists!
New octopus dropped down in Coral City 👽✌️🐙 #octopus #cephalopodsofcoralcity #cephalopod #headfoot #alien #dropdown #peaceout #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
November 22, 2025 at 8:33 PM
just me saying (again) that the ocean is the closest thing we have to another planet that people can go to right now, today, and we had better not fuck it up (any further)
thank you @alexandragallant.com for letting me know this camera exists!
thank you @alexandragallant.com for letting me know this camera exists!
Also, happy November 17dee to all who celebrate.
November 17dee
YouTube video by Rasputina - Topic
m.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Also, happy November 17dee to all who celebrate.
I gave in to the Diamine Inkvent Calendar temptation and the first two colors dilute into a magical iridescent purple, so have a happy purple day, everyone.
November 17, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I gave in to the Diamine Inkvent Calendar temptation and the first two colors dilute into a magical iridescent purple, so have a happy purple day, everyone.
Visiting Boston and this is what I have to say about East Coast cities
November 12, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Visiting Boston and this is what I have to say about East Coast cities
Really wish Portland Fire and Rescue had an account here but this is from this morning.
(Cautiously hopeful that the backpack was not at any point attached to a human in the river.)
#pdx
(Cautiously hopeful that the backpack was not at any point attached to a human in the river.)
#pdx
November 10, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Really wish Portland Fire and Rescue had an account here but this is from this morning.
(Cautiously hopeful that the backpack was not at any point attached to a human in the river.)
#pdx
(Cautiously hopeful that the backpack was not at any point attached to a human in the river.)
#pdx
Reposted by Lli Wilburn
When a large-scale restoration effort was halted by feds, history could not be forced back into the archives.
The first film made in Idaho was headed back to the big screen. Then DOGE intervened - High Country News
When a large-scale restoration effort was halted by feds, history could not be forced back into the archives.
buff.ly
November 2, 2025 at 11:01 PM
When a large-scale restoration effort was halted by feds, history could not be forced back into the archives.
And one of the best gem and mineral museums in the country is in a small town in Maine. mainemineralmuseum.org
November 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
And one of the best gem and mineral museums in the country is in a small town in Maine. mainemineralmuseum.org
Hodgson's "The Voice in the Night" but it's a cautionary tale about shitposts
October 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Hodgson's "The Voice in the Night" but it's a cautionary tale about shitposts
This whole thread, and why I love these materials
Feast your eyes...
This is a detail of a braided pattern decoration in a Christian Arabic codex from the 9th/10th century CE (Sinai Ar. 461, f. 25br). I only recently noticed that the scribe used five differently coloured inks for this. It's just stunning how vibrant they still are after more than a millennium.
October 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
This whole thread, and why I love these materials
1. Ewww me too
2. yeah probably (we could have done so much better. sorry, kids.)
3. Fuuuuuuck
4. The consolation of snark: I prefer to get my lead poisoning through my art supplies and vintage glassware. It's still horrible but at least I have something pretty to look at
2. yeah probably (we could have done so much better. sorry, kids.)
3. Fuuuuuuck
4. The consolation of snark: I prefer to get my lead poisoning through my art supplies and vintage glassware. It's still horrible but at least I have something pretty to look at
1. I hate this
2. Oh wow this really really really explains some stuff going on in our culture.
2. Fuck I really hate this
2. Oh wow this really really really explains some stuff going on in our culture.
2. Fuck I really hate this
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
October 14, 2025 at 7:33 PM
1. Ewww me too
2. yeah probably (we could have done so much better. sorry, kids.)
3. Fuuuuuuck
4. The consolation of snark: I prefer to get my lead poisoning through my art supplies and vintage glassware. It's still horrible but at least I have something pretty to look at
2. yeah probably (we could have done so much better. sorry, kids.)
3. Fuuuuuuck
4. The consolation of snark: I prefer to get my lead poisoning through my art supplies and vintage glassware. It's still horrible but at least I have something pretty to look at
Subtly downgrade a band
Pudgy Dog
Pudgy Dog
Subtly downgrade a band
Damp leg
Damp leg
Subtly downgrade a band
Aluminiumy Dan
Aluminiumy Dan
September 27, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Subtly downgrade a band
Pudgy Dog
Pudgy Dog
That latest dodgy health statement is an anagram of "some nutty causal lies" just so ya know.
September 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
That latest dodgy health statement is an anagram of "some nutty causal lies" just so ya know.