About the Creator

I mean me, not like, you know...

How's it goin'?

I'm Toren. Nice to meet you... again! 🙃

Strisorean, or sometimes Strisorean Creations, are the umbrellas I've created to showcase my various works of art, be they visual, text based, video or audio. It keeps it seperate from my personal socials, so I'm not innundating folk with stuff I make without them having signed up for it specifically.

Over the years, I've been getting out the sketchbook or the art markers and drawing things when inspiration hits, albeing intermittently (mostly birds, tbh). I've tried a number of different styles and media, finished a few pieces, and I'd like to show off a little.

You know, for morale.

I think morale could be higher, don't you?

You'll have to wait a bit longer for the short stories though, or the novel.

Is this a business?

No, no it's not. 🙁

I'm keeping my creative workings separate from my personal account because

I like organising things, and
I don't want to inundate y'all with dog photos, or vice-versa with the dog photo fans and a deluge of bird art.

So, unless this sort of thing becomes hella financially viable as if by magic, it's just a hobby held aloft by vanity and .

That said, I did "rebrand" just recently-- I used to use the handle "Bird Occurred" for my art, but as time went on I felt that suited my collections less and less.

But that's a different story you probably don't want to read, and yet, despite that very fact, is readily available to peruse on another page.

So why now?

I've thought a lot about that, seeing as I've been making art for so long and doing absolutely nothing with it... I've got folders full of things I've drawn or written, never showing anyone, and my creativity is one of the few skills I'm relatively proud of.

So yeah, why now?

Well, I took a night course in experimental illustration that really boosted my confidence, and made me realise that if I waited until I felt my stuff was "good enough" it'd never see the light of day ever, just like it always has, and that's just silly.

The dumb thing about life is that you're almost never ready for the thing. And if you wait to feel ready, the opportunity will have passed you by, or you just never get there and the doing never happens. And all the while, life keeps happening to you.

So really, why not now?

Why "Strisorean"?

Strisorean means "of Strisores", which is in relation to the bird clade:

"Strisores, sometimes called nightbirds, is a clade of birds that includes the living families and orders Caprimulgidae (nightjars, nighthawks and allies), Nyctibiidae (potoos), Steatornithidae (oilbirds), Podargidae (frogmouths), Apodiformes (swifts and hummingbirds), as well as the Aegotheliformes (owlet-nightjars) whose distinctness was only recently realized. The Apodiformes (which include the "Trochiliformes" of the Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy) and the Aegotheliformes form the Daedalornithes."

-- Wikipedia.org

So strisores is a clade of birds that includes owls, potoos and nightjars. I love all those birds. You ever see a potoo?

Too late, now you have! Check out all that majesty.

Also hummingbirds are cool af.

The majestic potoo, camoflaging in broad daylight. Photo source unknown (sorry).

The unfortunate part:

I have a few chronic conditions that limit my mobility and general executive function. I'm still in the process of navigating these issues, but this is a hobby I can still do while in bed.💕 (in fact, my therapist recommends I keep up with it, so... lol)

I'm alright, don't worry.

I mean, I'm not, but for the sake of conversation, I'm alright. There's good days, bad days, and in between days.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the future. There's new studies happening all the time, and in the mean time, hey, art in bed! 🙃

The cool part:

Independent of all that noise, I've got like 6 or 7 projects at various stages of completion pretty much all the time, meaning stuff is coming, y'all!

I'm also trying out new tools to make art (and life) more accessible, because a cane only does so much. Even if I bling it out.

I seriously didn't realise how much was in the works until I ended up sending my friend a list of all the pieces I have lined up. And I tend to procrastinate on one project by picking up another, so it all works out eventually. 🙂

TL;DR

I'm disabled with a variety of chronic conditions, but I'm still gonna do new pieces of art and show them off, because

It makes me feel accomplished, and a feeling of accomplishment is hard to come by these days, so you're gonna hear about my creative wins.
It keeps me "busy", which is good.
My therapist approves.
It makes me smile.

Hopefully it makes you smile. 🙂

So...

The future holds, in theory:

Birds, flowers, lighthouses and probably trees
"Making of" posts where you get to see my art as a process
Ridiculous attempts at creating art with materials I've never tried before
Grumps and raves about new art materials I get my hands on
Articles about accessibility tools, because we don't gatekeep here
Maybe bears? I kinda want to draw a bear.
Et cetera

I hope you enjoy what you see.

I don't tend to do commissions anymore, but I've decided to open them up in November (or later, don't quote me on that, I'll deny it to the end. And I can do that, I'm real good at the denial stage of grief, as my therapist).

I might do a lot of really cool things in the future! 😀

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