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mossquail.bsky.social
mossquail
@mossquail.bsky.social
250 followers 46 following 88 posts
ecology 🌿 art
Chelsea - she/her/any
MKE

www.mossquail.com
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mossquail.bsky.social
Hey #milwaukee art appreciators - there are some great markets coming up that I'll be vending at! Come say hi!
Graphic with the mossquail logo featuring upcoming events. 1. Drawing of ice cubes next to the info for Ice Cold Art Pop-up: Saturday August 16, 10am-4pm, Humboldt Park 2. Drawing of leafy vines next to the info for What the Hex - Arbor & Alchemy: Sunday August 17, 12-5pm, Dresden Castle 2. Drawing of crouching red and teal dragon next to the info for Argren Faire: Saturday Sept 13, 12-8pm, Black Husky Brewing 4. Drawing of holly leaves and berries next to the info for What the Hex - Traditions & Tidings - Sunday December 7, 12-5pm, Dresden Castle
August 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
We got hit by the flooding in MKE and the sewer backed up into our basement :') thankfully it was only an inch of water and we didn't lose anything important, but cleanup is such a huge effort. Decompressing by working on salvaging an old friend who got a bit damp and needs a bath
Photo of a deflated cheetah plushie on the ground next to a bag full of stuffing, a seam ripper, and old medicine bottles filled with the plastic nurdles that were in her feet The plushie skin turned inside out, looking rather unfortunate
August 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Undertale memories submission with a pixel depiction of the mossquail icon that reads: "More than anything, the characters of UNDERTALE really meant a lot to me. They're so silly and vibrant, and feel like good friends. -Chelsea"
July 26, 2025 at 5:53 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
That's awesome, they're all such lovely plants and it's so cool that your aunt had so many of them on hand!! "My" swamp milkweed (peeking out through my neighbor's fence line but I keep re-seeding it there) had a visitor earlier this season c:
Swamp milkweed with flower buds starting to form. A monarch caterpillar is tucked in between a few leaves
July 23, 2025 at 3:27 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
Sorry I've been so quiet, it's been busy! Here's something I made for my May bullet journal cover!
Marker drawing of a Snowberry Clearwing moth flying to feed from some Virginia Bluebells. Nearby, some Large Bellwort and Shooting Star flowers add an extra pop of yellow and pink to the scene, which fades off to a very light, desaturated backdrop in the distance
July 21, 2025 at 7:18 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
I'm. I brought this to work on while waiting for a friend's meeting to be done but forgot the markers. very smart
Sketchbook page depicting a half- finished illustration of a snowberry clearwing moth surrounded by shooting star, bellwort, and Virginia bluebell flowers
May 29, 2025 at 11:59 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
The wood poppy (above) Virginia bluebells and Golden Alexander are all in my yard and I'm so thrilled to finally see the native plants getting established and being happy in the space I choose for them :')))
Virginia bluebells - delicate indigo colored bell shaped flowers in large clusters. A few closed buds are tinged with pink Prairie trillium - small burgundy flower with three upwards-pointing petals that come together at the tips. At the base of the flower are three large leaves with a variety of shades of green in a somewhat camo pattern look. Cutleaf toothwort - spike of small white bell-shaped flowers coming up from a base of leaves with many sharp, deep lobes, almost as though the leaf has been deeply cut Heart-leaved Golden Alexander - many stems, each tipped with a cluster of tiny yellow flowers, emerging from a base of many glossy heart-shaped leaves
May 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
I've been a bit too busy to make much lately which is bumming me out but here are some native plants I've seen in the past couple of weeks
Bloodroot - White flower with yellow center framed by a large many-lobed leaf Sharp-lobed hepatica - violet colored flower with white center held on a thin fuzzy stem, blurry somewhat pointed leaves in the background Wood poppy - golden colored flower with four wide, ruffled petals. More flower buds in the background, many green leaves with shallow lobes at the base of the plant Jack-in-the-pulpit - very unusual vase-shaped light green flower made from a single bract (leaf) that wraps around itself to form a tall cylinder coming off of the stem that then opens and flares at the top, the tip of the bract gently folding over the opening of the 'vase.' Peeking over the inner edge of the vase is a single thick green structure called a spadix, which stands against rich burgundy stripes on the inner side of the bract.
May 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
The good thing is that even planting a few native plants really does make a difference, I've seen such a spike in the diversity of insect species I've seen in my yard over the past four years! Anything is better than nothing. Here's a Milwaukee miner bee that visited the other day
May 7, 2025 at 6:50 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Studies for a new stamp design bc you have to know the rules (anatomy) before you can break the rules (stylize) and I didn't think I've ever drawn one of these big silly rodents. Top sketch is a study of Brynn Metheney's work
Sketchbook on a wooden table opened to a page that has four full-body pencil sketches of capybara on it. Two of the poses are basic standing poses, one is sitting, and one is walking at a downward angle.
April 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
I cannot be normal the first of the native perennials are waking up I'm gonna cry (positive)
A single tiny green leaf speckled with a purplish color (trout lily) peeking through the leaves One freshly opened green compound leaf with a fringed appearance (Virginia waterleaf) faces the viewer while a few others blur out in the background amongst the dry leaf litter Little pinky red ramp shoots popping up between some dead leaves. A couple of the shoots are just starting to open and reveal their bright green leaves within the protective outer layer, or coleoptile Another photo of ramp shoots along the forest floor, this time all of them are growing in their signature green leaves
April 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Made some packaging stamps recently~ I really enjoyed stamping these all by hand!
Photo of three different kinds of kraft paper packaging - print sleeves as well as two sizes of bags with handles. The larger bags and print sleeves are in two stacks that show off the full "mossquail" wordmark logo in a teal ink color. Behind them, the smaller bags are fanned out to show off an icon logo that is just the "q" of the wordmark, which also looks like a very simple bird
April 4, 2025 at 10:58 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
I had the BEST print pulls I've ever managed to achieve yesterday!! Almost all of them were flawless and the ink was the perfect consistency 🥹 I'm LEARNING I'm GROWING
Print setup with black ink rolled out on a plate with the lino plate on a piece of scrap paper to protect the table underneath. The lino plate depicts an American kestrel sitting with his back to the viewer amongst some tall grasses, looking back over his shoulder Photo of prints from the previous setup all clipped up onto a clothesline to dry. The print closest to the viewer is large and clear, and the line of prints quickly blurs and gets smaller as they recede into the background
March 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
One of my friends called them ham chunks 😔
Hand holding a bunch of tiny pink unmounted stamps. They sure do look like little ham chunks Orange cat sniffing a container full of the not ham chunks Photo of the previously unmounted stamps now attached to tiny wooden cubes and arranged stamp side up on a table. Carving tools are visible in the background Stamps arranged by design with the handle/design side up. Designs include two different sizes of paw prints, some mushrooms, acorns, leaves, and feathers, as well as some critters like frogs, snails, snakes, mice, and shrimp.
March 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
when you pass the vibe check
March 23, 2025 at 4:24 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
Sketchbook birds 🪶 American kestrel
Open sketchbook on a wooden surface, the page is full of sketches of American Kestrels in various poses
March 20, 2025 at 7:48 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Yippee c: I'm taking the wins where I can get them rn and I just need to restock like 100 mini stamps and then we're good to go for a while. Excited to be on top of something, for once,
A wide variety of stamp designs in different shapes and sizes, all mounted to either thin wooden disks or smaller, uniform wooden cubes. Designs include skulls, big and little possums, crows, fish, owls, chickens, ferns, and a variety of tiny 1/2 inch stamps
March 14, 2025 at 1:06 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Restocking some stamps today, once I'm done I'm excited to work on some new designs!
Variety of unmounted linoleum block stamps on pink easy-carve style rubber, including designs such as goldfish, screaming possums, chickens, and crows
March 13, 2025 at 9:02 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Finally, enough snow that I was able to take some aesthetic photos of red-osier dogwood on my Friday hike 🥺
Photo of bright red branch in front of a snowy trail Photo of a red-osier dogwood bush in front of a patch of evergreen trees. Its fiery branches contrast boldly against the dark greens and white snow
February 15, 2025 at 12:13 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
My buddy Aran and I went on a hike yesterday and they found the first skunk cabbage of Spring!! They have such a good eye for these I never spot them first 😅 so excited for spring ephemeral season!!
A thick, bright green skunk cabbage spathe just starting to poke out of a muddy bank next to a patch of ice
February 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Hey #Milwaukee! The Snail Mail market at Anodyne coffee in Walker's point is absolutely the place to be today, I'm already selling out of designs in hour 1! Here until 2pm 💕
Photo of table setup with various art offerings Selfie with the table The market crowd!
February 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
mossquail.bsky.social
Restocking some designs before tomorrow's market
Pink linoleum rubber block with various stamped designs on it in the process of being carved, including a barn owl, possums, and ferns. A carving tool lies across the block.
February 8, 2025 at 5:09 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
for quite a few years now I've always finished up my hourlies with a sketch of the girls
sketch of two fluffy cats, one sitting up with wide innocent eyes and lightly indicated stripes (Peach), the other laying down with somewhat sad looking eyes and darker stripes (Juniper) Text: Time for bed. Thanks for joining me for hourly comics 2025!
February 6, 2025 at 6:13 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
it had been a while since we'd seen these guys <3
sketch of a man and a woman in winter jackets standing under a shark head mounted on the wall next to a bar counter with a tropical drink on it. Text: 6pm - Met up with Amanda + Chris! Sketch of Amanda, Chris, Matthew and I sitting around a table with food and talking. Text: 7-8pm - Dinner + catching up with friends similar panel to the 5pm panel, but with a night sky background and the car driving the opposite direction. Two chat bubbles are above the car, one with a distant cross casting a long shadow against a human skull, one with a swirling ribbon of thought coming from a human brain and winding its way towards planets and leaves. The bubbles seem to indicate that the conversations in the car are much deeper and more consequential than before. Text: 9pm - Driving home Sketch of myself on the couch with a cat (Peach) in my lap. Text: 10pm - Winding down on the couch.
February 6, 2025 at 6:08 AM
mossquail.bsky.social
pt 2 ~
Sketch of artist & older man picking up chairs to put them away. Text: 2pm - taking down after the program Sketch of me snuggled up on the couch, eyes closed, covered in a blanket, with a plate of food in my hand. Text: 3pm - chilling + lunch Sketch of me drawing on an ipad, tongue out in concentration. Text: 4pm - hourlies Sketch of a car on a winding road that starts near a sign that says MKE and winds over to an outline of the state of Wisconsin with a star indicating the destination below Lake Winnebago (Fond du Lac.) There's a chat bubble above the car with a bird face in it, indicating that we're talking about the birds on our drive. Text: 5pm - Driving out of town for dinner with some buddies!
February 6, 2025 at 2:58 AM