Aster's Cafe Art

Disability cut emergency need ongoing! Hi, my name is Lydia. I’m currently on dialysis after a failed kidney transplant. In the first week of January, I learned my Social Security Disability benefits were cut without warning—the payment I…

Can we help out please?

giveahand.com/fundraiser/d...

Cropped sneak peak image of a painting of 2 Arogos Skippers Sitting on a Purple Cone Flower

A sort of sneak peak of February's VA Endangered Species List Art : Arogos Skipper, a type of butterfly that lives in a small part of south eastern VA. They're so fluffy!!🥰 The digital download is available in my Kofi gallery for monthly supporters!
ko-fi.com/asterscafe
#wildlifeart #butterfly #art

Lomo cards, stickers, and keychains from SKZ DominATE Experience movie freebies

Freebie SKZoo photocards I drew and printed for SKZ DominATE freebies

My migraines and everything flared since I saw the skz movie on the 6th, so I've felt like death😅 there were more people there than I expected for my small town and several people were handing out freebies! There was some screeching, but I still had a lot of fun🥰
#skzfanart #skzdominateexperience

I didn't know you could upload longer videos on here😮
But, this is a short of my Timber Rattlesnake drawing for Kofi. It's part of my VA Endangered Species Series!
#animalart #artist #snakeart #kofi

8 Stray Kids SKZoo character freebie photocards that I drew digitally from my sketchbook.

Finally finished my #dominATEExperience freebies for Friday I'm gonna bring back my DC concert outfit for this😌
#straykids #skzoo #stayartist #skzfreebies

Handmade felt plushies of Leebit and Dwaekki Skzoo characters wearing crochet clothes on the left. On the right, and open sketchbook with sketches of skzoo photocard freebies I'm working on.

A closer-up photo of my skzoo photocard sketches: (from top left to bottom right), Bokkari, Wolf Chan, Jiniret, and Leebit.

Finished the matching #skzoo plushies! Now, I'm working on designing skzoo photocards as freebies to hand out at our #dominATEexperience screening. I need to work on Leebit's perspective since the reference looks much more possessed😹
#straykids #stayartist #skzfanart

A felt plush of Leebit on the right and the cut out pieces for a Dwaekki felt plush on the left

I forgot to attach the picture💀🤦

My friend and I are going to see the skz #dominATEExperience movie in February! I originally made her a #Leebit plush for a care package/ future bday gift but this is the perfect time to make the #Dwaekki for myself so we can match 🥰 i actually get to wear the og outfit I planned for the DC concert!

A photo of a W.I.P digital drawing of a Canebrake Rattlesnake laying on a flat stone in a woodland with a white Cosmo flower on its head

Photo of my first pixel art W.I.P of an OC for a story I was working on before my old laptop deleted everything.

My cat, Cece, napping while wrapped up in my crochet cable cardigan panel I recently finished

Sketch on canvas board of a vase of flowers inspired by the Pantone color of the year choice. The flowers are lily of the valley, petunias and aralias.

I just finished and uploaded the members only art for my Endangered Species series I'm working on! Now I just need to edit the draw with me and script. But for now, here's a lil art/craft dump from this month!
#artist #canebrakerattlesnake #wildlifeconservation #ocart

Eating less/no animal products (especially beef), composting food waste, and demanding your community quickly transition away from fossil fuels are great ways to reduce methane emissions — and therefore help coral reefs because not all hope is lost!!

A sketchbook spread of my new cat, DJ. The page background is a hand drawn grid box. He is drawn in the bottom left, sitting on a metal crescent moon with heart-shaped bolts, a plush bird toy dangling from the top point over his head. There is a large, pink star hovering in the top right corner, more pink lines the right-most side behind it. Another DJ cat is curled up, sleeping, to the left of the star. Ther are 2 blue lined clouds on the other 2 corners of the page.

A sketchbook spread of a Hyunjin Karma teaser photo. Hyunjin's portrait is in a paper star frame over a larger box in the background. Hyunjin's name is spelled out like stamp letters in the top left. The Karma album logo is in the bottom left corner. There are bubbles and more "paper" stars of varying sizes scattered around the page.

Work-in-progress of a painting based on a self-made theme of "platonic love". The painted sketch depicts 2 people wearing (soon to be) yellow rose flower crowns, holding each other while resting their foreheads against the other's.

My work-in-progress Lee Know SKZ pop-up shop plush keychain using felt. It still needs the noodle arms and legs and the bottom skz logo piece.

Working on several projects and getting back into more casual doodling. I just had to make my broke person version of the #Jureomi keychain from that #skz pop-up store😹
I hope to make this "platonic love" painting idea into a series, since I have several other sketches I didn't use for this one.

Thank you! I love flower language, so once I realized they looked like Hyunjin I knew I had to add a flower that means passion. And his skz records are some of my favorite songs ever!!🥰

A grayscale painting of 2 overlapping rectangles: the back one depicts the reflection of blue colored smoke, the 2nd depicts bright magenta Dahlia flowers with grayscale stems in a clear glass vase. A person in simple street fashion stands to the right, infant of both rectangles. Their bag is shiny rainbow colored foil, as well as the 5 stars lined up on the top left of the canvas. The color pallete of the black to white and the gradient of magenta to light pink line either side of the piece as colored circles with shadows, almost like they're floating. A magenta separated yin and yang with dark blue accents and shadows, similar to the Stray Kids Karma album logo, fills the upper right corner.

#WIP of a painting I started while listening to Hyunjin's Quill Pen on repeat for 3 hours straight. I didn't realize until I stopped to wait for a layer of paint to dry that the person looks kinda like Hyunjin, so I added Dahlias which represent passion and some accents from their album photos

A graphic with 8 Stray Kids Stay Week 2025 Photostrips with Loaf drawings on each over a pink and cream colored background. The text over the image reads, "Loaf Stay Week 2025 Photobooth Digital Downloads"

I finally finished my Loaf #stayweek2025 photobooth drawings and they're now free to download on my Kofi for any #skzstay that would like them! You just have to put 0 in the payment amount and you'll be able to download them. Link in bio or below:
ko-fi.com/asterscafe

It's been a while and I got a new phone and went to the #skzdominatedc concert since my last post so here's an art/photo dump, but mostly cuz obviously💜 #straykidsfanart #artist

A polaroid style image of cookie run kingdom inspired stray kids charms. They're are 2 STAY Cookies, both with a magic candy in skz brand colors (black, white, red).

A polaroid style image of a stack of 2 books and over-ear headphones decorated with stickers and a red crochet bow. The books are 'Vultures of The World' (top) and 'Illustrated Atlas of Wildlife' (bottom).

A polaroid style image. A progress photo of a digital character sheet for STAY Cookie with their Nachimbong inspired weapon that has a beaded charm tied to it. The Nachimbong is made to look like a candy globe with an ice cream cone style handle. Stay Cookie is wearing an outfit inspired by the Case 143 performance video (cream, light "denim", pink, red colors).

Been working on some #skzstay shrinky-dink charms and started reading Vultures of The world again. I'm also recreating the charm design digitally. My hyperfixation on birds has awakened from its century long slumber. Also, the april fools event in #crk is better than I could've imagined.
#artist

Beaded keychains, pins, and bracelets for stray kids concert freebies laid out on a plaid blanket.

Making freebies for the #straykids dominATE DC show in June. I've run out of cute beads, but I've had fun working on them. I'm also distressing some jeans for my #Changbin inspired outfit, which is similar to my vtuber outfit
#skzconcert

Image: Illustration of a hand reaching for a glowing heart. Its being pulled back by two others as it reaches out for help. Text: Help Bring Wren Home TW: medical abuse physical/verbal abuse ableism neglect transphobia

Wren is a chronically ill disabled trans man (type 1 diabetes, me/cfs, and more) who's life is in grave danger. Years of chronic neglect, abuse, and transphobia have left him in critical condition both mentally and physically. Two months ago, his father forced him out onto the street, telling him: "maybe being homeless will help you grow up." Without a home and proper support, he will die.

Image: Wren surrounded by people in a colorful little house. Text: We've found him an accessible and supportive home! Moving there will drastically improve his health and quality of life. We'll be giving him the home care, medication, and advocacy he's been deprived of in his abusive household. There's just one final hurdle, and we're going to need your support! You can help us afford: - plane tickets - luggage fees - insulin/medications - wheelchair/shower chari - document fees - moving costs - misc. travel expenses

Text: LINKS AND INFO Fundraiser: https://gofund.me/2987a200 - If donating isn't possible, sharing this post with others also helps immensely! - Updates will be shared on the GoFundMe page and on this post - More information can be found below, along with more ways to share Thank you so much for reading!

🚨LIFE OR DEATH EMERGENCY🚨

@wren-d.bsky.social was forced onto the street by his transphobic parents and desperately needs insulin and shelter. Help us relocate him to a safe home before its too late.

More info below, updates to follow:

gofund.me/f2afa587

#disability | #trans | #art | #vtuber

photo of my Vtuber model that I'm working on. The have short, messy brown hair; thick eyebrows; blue eyes with white flower shaped pupils; a sort of realistic nose; sketchy blush marks, and a beaded necklace with a guitar pick that says "they/them". They also have dangle earrings of my old dog and cat that passed a couple years ago with purple hearts.

I haven't shared progress photos in a bit, but I finally started shading everything and doing a bit more detail for the hair🤗 I kinda wat to change the eyelids to be more down but I don't want to redraw them😅
#artist #vtubermodel #queerartist

Sketches for new skz sticker designs

Skz concert (Sungmin + PuppyM Ultra) inspired Loaf sticker sketch that says "be kind to yourself or else"

Sketches of My cat as a hot dog and Loaf in a Winnie the Pooh onesie

My cat wrapped in a ball with her arms out, napping

I'm working on more #skz and #lgbtq designs. I hope to have some of these as stickers for freebies at the DC show in June >:3
#sketchbook #straykids #artist #queerartist

SUNDAY SELF-CARE CHECKLIST: DO ACTIVITIES YOU LOVE LOOK AFTER YOUR MIND & BODY AVOID BAD HABITS LIMIT YOUR SCREEN TIME EAT HEALTHY FOOD

Here is your self-care checklist for today and every day! 💚 💙 🩵 💜 🧡 💛 ❤️

A digital collage of a Strawberry themed Eastern Screech Owl drawing, a Loaf Pride Flag sticker Sketch, and a colored sketchbook spread with sticker ideas

I'm having fun drawing more animals again! Also working on a new Loaf Pride Flag Sticker design and have 7 flags at this point. I live in a red state. My wholesome lil guy shall be a form of protest.
#prideflags #queerartist #easternscreechowl #sketchbook #artshop

Draw With Me | Virginia Big-Eared Bat | VA Endangered Species Art Series YouTube video by Aster's Café

I just made a yt video about Virginia Big-Eared Bats to go with a painting time lapse
youtu.be/qkn6c4dxGIA?...
I plan on posting the script and resources I used in a pdf on my patreon in a bit. I love animal research
#wildlife #artist #Bats #queerartist #wildlifeart

ALT TEXT oops:
An in-progress watercolor painting of a Tiger swallowtail butterfly on a butterfly flower with clover and the base of a large tree in the background

I forgot to tape down the paper before I started... oops

#watercolor #tigerswallowtail #butterflyflower #natureart #artist

A work in progress of my MHA OC Briar. They are posed ready to slash mid-air with feather blades and they have flame wings that go from coral to a darkish cyan. Their hair is black with a coral pink dyed fringe. They wear a dark magenta crop top with matching boots and black pants that are detachable at the knee with buckles. They have silver arm sleeves as a special support item.

Microsoft sucks. I am now writing my #mhaoc story on my notes app on my phone. My thumbs hurt. But here's a WIP of Briar #mha #fanart #oc

Noaa imposes limits on scientists, sparking concerns over global forecasts ‘Crackdown on climate’ predicted as oversight enacted over agency staffers’ email and meetings with foreign nationals

The current attempts to gut NOAA will have global -- and most likely fatal -- consequences.

Establishing Progressive Media Apparatus | Imani Barbarin Get more from Imani Barbarin on Patreon

There needs to be a shift in public discourse and messaging if any real, lasting progress is going to be made.
@imanibarbarin.bsky.social explains in detail how that can be accomplished. Not only can her content be viewed with a free patreon account, it is accessible!
www.patreon.com/posts/121218...

Screenshot of a Thread post that says, “Those who are still advocating for leaving red states behind need to take some time to learn about the demographics, history, and activism in red states because we can’t effectively fight fascism if we continue to practice collective punishment that disproportionately impacts the very marginalized communities y’all claim to want to protect.”

Just going to leave this here..

FDA Recall Roundup and ongoing measles outbreak (2/9/2025) What has been recalled? What is going on in Texas?

There is a measles outbreak in Texas and a food recall announced recently that I summarize on my Substack

drrubin.substack.com/p/fda-recall...