Debra Styer Illustration

#hannaharendt #portraitpainting

#simoneweil #portraitpainting

In my attempt to understand the world today, I have been inspired by the voices of the past.

Here's my portrait of French Philosopher, Mystic and Political Activist, Simone Weil (1909-1943).

"Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling."

Portrait of philosopher and activist, Hannah Arendt.

New Writers Portrait...activist and philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

"The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any."

I've decided to create a series of portraits that may help me understand the insanity of the world today.

It's all so gross.

February 19, 2026 INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY As survivors and descendants of the mass removals, detention, deportation, and family separation targeting our community during WWII, we refuse to stand by idly while our friends and neighbors are violently disappeared, forcibly removed, mass incarcerated, and separated from family members. We decry the murders of community members and at least 37 people in ICE custody and enforcement in 2025. We reject false narratives that state violence is "unavoidable," a "justifiable military action," necessary for "national security"—the same arguments used as they forced our parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles into U.S. concentration camps in 1942. On this Day of Remembrance, we call on Japanese Americans and all people who believe in "Never Again" to demand justice for those we have lost—on the streets and hidden away in ICE detention centers. To break this cycle of state violence. To rise up and resist, together. We bravely commit to being the allies our familes needed during WWII. STOP REPEATING HISTORY. #TsuruForSolidarity #FreeFamilies #FreeThemAll

84 years ago today, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering the removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, about two-thirds of whom were US citizens. The Day of Remembrance this year comes as we see DHS buying land and warehouses for more camps now.

It was all really gross, wasn't it?

Ha...I really needed this.

I'm glad they are publicly saying something, but is there anything they could actually do to stop the way things are going?

Thousands of protesters shut down parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Friday as hundreds of businesses closed their doors. David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

genuinely stunning image

🔵 This week's Tom the Dancing Bug
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A BUSY, BUSY ICE ENFORCEMENT OPERATION
with apologies to Richard Scarry
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Brought to you by the rough and ready Inner Hive, including long-time member Brady Marsh and new member SquirrelSaver7. ( bit.ly/theInnerHive )
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READ IT RIGHT HERE👇

Congratulations! It's going to be gorgeous!

Bari Weiss’s A Charlie Brown Christmas Sixty years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas made its debut on CBS. Today, as part of CBS’s new initiative to modernize content, CBS Editor-in-Chief ...

LINUS: Charlie Brown, you are the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy is right. Maybe it is because of woke.
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/bar...

Check out Kerry's amazing experimental films...

For the morning crowd:

I wish I could be there. Have a great open studio!

#folktaleweek2025
Day 5: Charm
#folktaleweekcharm

Today's illustration was inspired by the Brothers Grimm, The Children of Hamelin". (Aka "The Pied Piper").

#Folktaleweek2025
Day 4: Book
#folktaleweekbook

This was inspired by the dark Irish folktale, "The Crooked Back". It is a story about a gifted storyteller who enjoys scaring kids with the "true" story of how her back became crooked.

The story may contain monsters ...

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's, "The Princess and the Pea." Illustration by Debra Styer.

#folktaleweek2025
Day 3: Rain

For today's illustration, I was inspired by the opening rainy scene in Hans Christian Andersen's folktale, The Princess and the Pea".

I’m excited for Folktale Week 2025! ✨We need some magic right about now…
#folktaleweeknight #night #folktaleweek2025 #folktaleweek

Thank you to the hosts: @debrastyer.bsky.social @jellystation.bsky.social @matejalukezic.bsky.social @folktaleweek.bsky.social

#kidlitart #illustration #illustrator

First prompt of #folktaleweek2025 is #folktaleweeknight Little Red Riding Hood nears Grandma’s house. Thank you to the hosts: @debrastyer.bsky.social @louve.draws @matejalukezic.bsky.social
#folktaleweek #childrensillustrations #fairytales #picturebookartist #artchallenges

#folktaleweek2025 #folktaleweeknight
Here is an Icelandic tale of a housekeeper, who every Christmas Eve casts a spell on a farmhand to fly her home to her elfland castle. Thank you:
@folktaleweek.bsky.social
@debrastyer.bsky.social
@matejalukezic.bsky.social
@jellystation.bsky.social #kidlitart

Day 2 of #folktaleweek.
Echo. This is one of my own stories.
#folktaleweek2025
#folktaleweekecho2025
#folktaleweekecho
Thank you to
@folktaleweek.bsky.social
@debrastyer.bsky.social
@matejalukezic.bsky.social
@jellystation.bsky.social
#kidlitart

#folktaleweek Night: Let the night be yours… #folktaleweek2025 #folktaleweeknight @folktaleweek.bsky.social
A bit sporadic this year, so rushed and starting late!
Thank you to the hosts:
@debrastyer.bsky.social
@louve.draws
@matejalukezic.bsky.social
#childrensillustration #kidlit #fairytales

Meanwhile...Echo's friends pray to Nemesis to curse the awful Narcissus with a love equally not reciprocated. The curse caused him to fall in love with his own reflection. Narcissus became so obsessed with himself he died because he couldn't look away from his own perceived greatness...

(cont.)Sometime after Echo loses her "voice", she notices the handsome Narcissus, and like many others, she falls deeply in love with him. Of course, when they actually meet, Narcissus cruelly rejects her, (maybe because of the weird repeating his words thing), and she runs away.

Day 2: Echo
#folktaleweekecho
This is inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses. Echo, a talkative young nymph known for her voice, starts talking a little bit too much to the goddess Juno's hubby, Jupiter. Juno curses Echo by taking away her voice and only letting her repeat the last few words she hears...

<ECHO>
A woman hiking in the mountains listening to the echos in the valley.

Hosted by:

@debrastyer.bsky.social
@matejalukezic.bsky.social
@louve.draws.bsky.social
@folktaleweek.bsky.social

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2025 #folktaleweekecho #folktaleweek2025echo

Wow...so much crazy.

I’m having so much fun with this. I needed it. And I love connecting with everyone! #folktaleweekecho #echo
#folktaleweek2025 #folktaleweek
Thank you:
@debrastyer.bsky.social @jellystation.bsky.social @matejalukezic.bsky.social @folktaleweek.bsky.social

#kidlitart #12x12pb #SCBWI #illustration