August + September in Ragonia (2020)

Hello Patrons and friends, and a very happy Monday to you! I hope this finds you stable, safe, and secure, with the changing of the seasons hanging in the fresh and clean air. I’m writing to you in my new temporary studio space: with the sun streaming in from a window onto my legs, and Pumpkin enjoying a special Kitty Sun Meditation at my feet. I’m very happy to finally be settled enough to be able to share this update with you, to tell you about this big, beneficial upheaval to my personal and work life this past two months.

So, August and September have been a crazy two months in an already weird and crazy year. As I’ve mentioned in a few places, my partner and I decided at the beginning of August to move from Seattle to live with my parents in Virginia for a while. 

The living room and studio of our apartment in Seattle; our first apartment and where I started Ragonia.

There were lots of circumstances leading up to this decision: our lease was ending at the end of August and we had been planning on moving somewhere else anyway, my parents were taking the pandemic as seriously and isolating themselves as much as we were (so we felt comfortable adding them to our bubble), their house has a separate apartment in the basement so we wouldn’t have to take much space away from them, and my partner Zach, who lost his job in March, is working hard on applying to Concept Art jobs that may take us somewhere else in the country anyway. 

A socially-distanced picnic to say good bye to our friends (and patron) Kaila Elders and her husband Ian and greyhound Greer.

We were also finding it hard to justify paying the big city price tag without most of the benefits of living in the city. All of our conventions, markets, and meet ups for the year were cancelled. The majority of time we spent with friends was online, even with those in the city. Technically bars, shops, art supply stores, restaurants, hiking trails and camping spots were open, but we were too nervous about the virus to go to any of them. And we felt confident it would be at least another six months until we would have these benefits back. Our finances were stable, but without knowing what the next six months were going to look like, we decided to take any advantage we could, and move in with my parents.

The craziness of packing up to move.

If you’re not from the US this might seem like an odd thing to make a big deal about, but there’s a definite social stigma here about young adults living with their parents.  It can be viewed as a sign of failure or lack of motivation on the part of the individual, even during a recession or international pandemic. It’s definitely a stigma my partner and I are trying to fight back within ourselves as we make this choice. But it helps to know that we’re not alone in this decision; a recent Pew Research study found that in July 2020 52% of 18-29-year-olds were living with their parent(s), numbers not seen since the Great Depression.

These are extraordinary times.

Pumpkin enjoying the window in our hotel room on our drive across the country.

So we closed my online shop, ended our lease, put everything that we didn’t sell, give, or throw away into a storage unit, packed everything else (and our cat Pumpkin!) in our car, said goodbye to our friends, first apartment, and city, and drove across the country to Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

The beautiful view from my parent's backyard: imagine the piping whoops of bald eagles, rattling of cicadas, and harsh, dinosaur-like caw of herons.

We drove in four days, with all our food packed in a cooler so we wouldn’t have to go into restaurants or gas stations, stopping only for gas and to sleep at a cat-friendly hotel (La Quinta!). We arrived in Virginia through heavy thunderstorms, to the loudest sounds of cicadas and the thickest, soupiest humidity. It truly felt like we were across the country from the PNW. 

We quarantined ourselves for two weeks, and spent a month setting ourselves up in this new living and working space in a time where you can’t just casually go to any store you need to. (We needed Internet! Packaging Materials so I could open my shop! Groceries! Everywhere online was sold out of any kind of office furniture! So much to do!)

Helping my parents create their first D&D characters!

But now, finally, everything is settling, the cool fall air is arriving, and the lovely benefits of making this choice are truly apparent. Since we’ve quarantined and then added my parents to our “bubble”, we’ve been able to watch movies together, drink wine and talk around a fire, kayak on the creek, hike at the nature preserve across the creek, and even teach them how to play Dungeons & Dragons. Every day, just by stepping outside or looking out the window I get to see and hear bald eagles, toads,  bright green frogs, herons, woodpeckers, bats, box turtles, squirrels, a red fox, and a northern black racer snake and northern ring-necked snake. The latter was less lovely, as it arrived in our apartment during dinner and scared our cat. We had to capture with a broom and take it outside in a plastic box! That's living in the woods for you!

Our new studio set-up, so similar to Seattle! I painted the walls teal when I was a teenager and was planning on repainting it, but I've gotten so many compliments online that I'm starting to appreciate it again!

We’ve also been able to set up special studio room for the first time, with a desk area for both me and Zach, and a separate desk just for packaging my Etsy orders! 

My half of the studio, with a computer and drawing area on the left and packaging area on the right. It is so lovely to have more room for my business.

I was also FINALLY able to buy and build my very first ever PC! A lot of you know I’d been using only an iPad since my laptop died in 2018. I would borrow Zach’s computer for things like live-streaming, doing my taxes, writing Patreon articles, etc. but since he’s been home during the pandemic and using his computer for his own work things, it became very clear I needed one for myself. I also think working full-time on an iPad for two years wasn’t very healthy for my body! I’m so excited to be able to work more comfortably, live-stream on Twitch again, and play PC games like The Witcher 3 and Dishonored.

My first computer in my new work space!

I'm certainly not an expert on building computers, but it went unbelievable smoothly for me, so if anyone is interested in hearing exactly how, why, and with what I built this PC I'd be happy to make a Making It article next month on my process! Let me know if that's be something you like!

The packaging side of my studio (peep Pumpkin!) Any other artists like to hang up their own work to hype themselves up and encourage themselves to  keep creating?

There’s still lots to get done here to get back to work. I still don't know how I feel about Inktober in a few days, I don't know if I'm going to offer any custom portraits this year, what (if any) new prints or products I want to make for the holidays... Everything feels up in the air. But being able to live with my parents for a while gives me some space to slow down if I need to, and I think this update’s been long enough. Thank you for being patient with me while I uprooted and re-planted myself on a different shore.

One last thing before I wrap up: I want to share a big welcome to the new Ragonia patrons from the past two months. Welcome to Marissa, Keeter, Capra, Somhusbands, Allie, Emily, Maria, Hardemi, Cesia, Miriam, Sami, Matt, Mia, Cecilia, Kate, Rachieface, Hannah, Yetitia, and Jessiym! Thank you so so much for your patronage and support, I’m so happy to have you here. I hope you love the content that I share, and always feel free to let me know any requests or suggestions you might have. If you pledged the Sage tier or higher in August, your thank you cards are running a little behind due to the move but will absolutely be on their way to you very soon!

Thank you again, all patrons, old and new, for your continued support during this hard year for all of us. I hope this posts give you as much inspiration and sense of community as your support gives to me. We’re in this together, my friends. We've got this.

Have a wonderful end to September.

Xoxo,

Ragon