Lmst

The Deal

A devil appears in front of a struggling musician. After a lengthy sales pitch trying its hardest to make the musician sell their soul, throwing in all sorts of bonus perks, the musician sends the devil packing empty handed.

"I'll just practice harder. Get there on my own strength, even if it means I'll never make it to the top... and perhaps it's even for the best if I don't make it to the top, because fame tends to lead to all sorts of temptations, and I really don't want to end up where you come from! In fact, I'll devote the rest of my life to becoming the best person there is."

As the devil sank down through the ground the way it'd appeared, the musician couldn't help but notice a twinkle in its eyes —oh so many eyes— and a smile on its face... a bit strange for a demonic being who just failed their task...

"Perhaps it's a glutton for punishment? Or... no, surely that couldn't be? Maybe it was an angel in disguise, sent here to put me back on the right path..?"

The musician returned to music with a new resolve, and spent their life in devotion for all that's good. Their life was long and full of struggles and hardship, and they never made it anywhere near the top, but they found peace knowing they hadn't sold their soul.

One day they woke up, but found themselves standing in front of big pearly gates, and a familiar face standing next to them.

"So good to see you again, my old friend! Thank you so much for setting me back on the right path so many years ago!"

"The right path? You, and everyone else, were always going to end up here anyway," it said with a sincere smile, "follow me."

The musician followed the being as the gates creaked open, slowly revealing a glow that filled you up with warmth throughout.

"You like the pearly gates? I bought them with all the extra points I won by getting you to follow a good life. Souls are worth so much more if you get their hopes up!" it cackled, as the flames and screams suddenly erupted through the opening gates of hell.

#FiXatoWrites #WritingPrompt #microFiction #writing #FiXatoCreative

#BeardGrabber enjoyed watching the northern lights tonight. 💚

#FiXatoFoto #DailyPhoto #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis #aurora #nordlys #noorderlicht #Bodø #FiXatoCreative #FediFoto

A boy with an orange hat and green and black ski suit, sitting on his knees in the snow, watching up at the green band of northern lights in the sky above him.

A quick doodle based on something @vicorva said during their Tiny Bookshop Twitch stream about 'AI' / LLMs trying to appropriate sparkles, and em-dashes and semicolons and the likes being seen as signs of genAI.

#FiXatoCreative #FiXatoDraws #fediArt #mastoArt #sparkles

"They can't have —our— Sparkles; they shan't!" written in a variety of balloon letters, surrounded by a plethora of sparkles and stars. Signed "FiXato 2026" and includes the permalink to the YouTube video of the related Tiny Bookshop stream recording.

If you have some wrapping paper scraps after all the wrapping and unwrapping, why not make some pleated hearts out of them this year?

Basically you cut two fully-rounded rectangles out of two different patterned/coloured pieces of paper, fold both in half so there's a straight end on the fold and the two semi-circles are on top of eachother on the other end, then cut at least three equal-length lines straight up from the fold towards the rounded edge, but no deeper than to where the straight edge starts to turn into a semi circle.
Next you'll have to weave the 'flaps' you created through and around the ones of the opposite piece of paper.
As the linked instructions say:

To get yourself situated, place your two, folded pieces of paper at a right angle to form a heart shape. Then weave the paper, starting with the strips at the top, closest to the rounded side.

More detailed instructions: https://www.instructables.com/Scandinavian-Woven-Heart-Basket/

#mastoArt #fediArt #FiXatoCrafts #FiXatoCreative #wrappingPaper #crafts #handarbeid #christmas #jul #yule #yuletide #decorations #handmade #handmadeOrnament

Two pleated hearts, one large, and one smaller, both made out of two different patterned wrapping papers; one half is red with Scandinavian Christmas gnomes with smow falling, and the other is brown with snow-covered Christmas trees and a small red car with a tree on its roof, and the text "merry Christmas".

The pleated Christmas heart I made years ago at Norwegian language course. This one has a red and green checkered pattern, and has a paper strap so it can hang from my Christmas tree.

I'm still waiting for a Groundhog film where his loop seems to break after he does whatever the hell he wants because he thinks it comes with no consequences.

Maybe first do a bit of fourth wall breaking by having him recognise he's looping "like that guy from Groundhog Day", and then first spends a couple of loops trying to do good things, just for the sake of getting out of the loop, only to not break out of it. (Perhaps because he's not genuinely trying to help others, but rather only does it to help himself.)

After several loops trying to nail the perfect loop, only to wake up disillusioned on Day One again, he cracks and spends the next loop giving in to every intrusive thought, including taking out the groundhog, ending the day in jail.
Only to wake up the next day, Day Two... still in jail. Now his loop is broken and he's forced to face the consequences of his choices.

Not quite sure how to end it though...
Perhaps that at first he thinks it's because he took out the ground hog, but eventually he realises it's because he only did the good things with the intention to get out of the loop. A bit like how The Good Place explored Immanuel Kant's deontological philosophical concept of "good without qualification"; doing good because you should, and not because of the reward you are expecting because of it.

And once he truly realises that, perhaps sacrificing himself to save someone else, he wakes up on Day Two again, but this time that day continues on from how the very first Day One would've ended.

Alternatively maybe play with the idea that all this time he's been in Purgatory, and having finally realised the mistakes of his life, he's finally ready to move on to the next stage of his afterlife.

Or a combination of the two, and having to carry on with his life, never being sure if he's still stuck in a longer loop, doomed to repeat at some point as a Purgatorial punishment loop, similar to those from some episodes of #Lucifer.

#FiXatoCommentsOn The Italian Groundhog Day You Didn't Know Existed in the Goodnight Rita - A Groundhog Day Deep Dive podcast series

#FiXatoWrites #FiXatoCreative #FilmsFiXatoWatches #YouTubeComments #GoodNightRita #GroundhogDay #Timeloop

I just love these patterns. At first they look like cracks, but they are just black lines running through the wood.

#FiXatoCreative #FiXatoWorksWood #woodWorking #staff #walkingStick #wood

closeup of the wooden walking stick, showing long black veins that look like cracks, as well as dark brown/grey rings.

Another close-up of black crack-like lines running through the wood of the staff.

Made myself a lovely walking staff that will join me on hiking trips from now on.
Last night while taking a walk through a local park/forest, I found a nice sturdy branch that helped support me while traversinf the uneven terrain.
When I got home, I stripped it off its bark, and this afternoon I sanded it by hand with sandpaper. Couldn't find the mineral oil I thought I still had, so instead I gave it a light coat of 'green soap' for now.

Very satisfied with the result. 💚

#FiXatoCreative

a hand holding a hand-sanded walking stick made from a tree branch.

A painting I did for @Siiw's birthday while our son was working on his drawing for her. 💚

#FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative #painting
#mastoArt #fediArt #artShare #creativeToot #creativeToots
#aquarelle #aquarel #akvarell #waterColour #waterColours #waterColor #OilPastel #sakura #cherryBlossom

A cherry blossom tree standing in a patch of grass. Behind it is a river and a field of hay, while pink blossom is falling down.
The thick spots of oil pastels create a distinct texture in the flowers atop the branches of the tree.
It's signed in the bottom right with FiXato 2025 (though the 'ato' of the name are missing their ink, making the name stand out as FiX).

Very happy with how this northern lights photo of myself turned out. 💚

#FiXatoFoto #FiXatoCreative #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis #Aurora #dailyPhoto #photography #FediArt #mastoArt #DescribedMedia #ImageDescriptions

A man, @FiXato, dressed in black wearing a wide-rimmed black hat, standing with his hands in his pockets, on top of a hilly surface with patches of snow which are brightly lit up by the light coming from a window of a house that's out of frame to the left.
He's looking up at the sky where the aurora borealis are painting swirls of green lights across the sky's blank dark blue canvas. If you look closely, you can see distant stars speckled across the sky as well.
A single bare tree stands tall in between the man and the northern lights filled sky; its wiry light brown branches providing a nice contrast.
A house with bright yellow-white light beaming from a window, and a small no longer used dog shed behind a wire fence can also be seen, but these man-made objects feel insignificant in contrast to nature's spectacle.

Experimental #babiKetjap (pork in sweet soy sauce) inspired dish simmering in the #CrockPot Express.

#food #FiXatoCooks #meat #pork #FiXatoCreative #curry

Pork, finely chopped onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, sliced aubergine squash, tomato, ketjap manis sweet soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, simmered down to a reddish-brown curry in a Crock Pot Express slow cooker.

@koko I didn't see this batch till after I'd quickly whipped up my own "Let's get N-Gage'd" one, since that Gizmondo one reminded me of the N-Gage xD

(Made it in DeviantArt's Muro on the phone, which is less than ideal for drawing on mobile 😅 but I'm satisfied with the result 😂)

#FiXatoDoodles #FiXatoCreative

A Nokia N-Gage handheld on top of a cloudy and bubbly blue on black background, with the blue caption "Let's get engaged", where "engaged" is spelled like the device's name.

Last night I wanted to explore the world of #Mana a bit more in watercolours, so I decided to paint a scene I had in mind to celebrate a Dutch Discord friend getting a new job.

#FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative #SecretOfMana #GreatForest #spring #springForest #Primm #Purim #Purimu #rabite #rabites #SNES #gameArt #SuperNintendo #gaming #Mana #WorldOfMana
#painting
#mastoArt #fediArt #artShare #creativeToot #creativeToots
#aquarelle #aquarel #akvarell #waterColour #waterColours #waterColor

A5-sized aquarelle watercolour painting inspired by the Great Forest from Secret of Mana for the Super Nintendo.
Purim / Primm, the female deuteragonist of the story, is sitting against a cherry blossom tree along side a sandy path in the Spring section of the Great Forest, waving a Dutch flag. Resting against her legs is a yellow fluffy Rabite, wide-eyed and curious, perhaps waiting for a snack to HROMP!
On the left side is a forest clearing with two grey statues with mischieveous facesand hands engraved in them, as well as some rocks that are strewn around. In between the rocks, flowers and shrubs, a pair of rabites can be seen; a pink one ready to pounce, and a yellow one hiding its eyes behind its paws. Behind the statues another cherry blossom tree full of pink leafs can be spotted.
The painting is signed "FiXato, 2025".

Atlas stood on the hill
Atlas shrugged
and as the Earth rolled down towards him,
Sisyphus thought:
"here I go again..."

#microFiction #FiXatoWrites #FiXatoCreative #Atlas #Sisyphus #mythology

Painted this in half an hour or so based on some hypnagogic imagery from this morning.

#FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative #painting
#mastoArt #fediArt #artShare #creativeToot #creativeToots
#aquarelle #aquarel #akvarell #waterColour #waterColours #waterColor #hypnagogicImagery #hypnagogia

A dark figure based on a butterfly-like Rorschach splotch in a dark and mid-blue and purple universe with star splatters.
It's painted on A5 paper, and the wooden table it's on is covered in paint splatters.

Mine has dried up now, so I removed the tape. It's gotten quite a bit duller. Can't say I'm very satisfied with my own, but it was fun painting this side by side with kiddo. :)

#fediArt #mastoArt #FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative

Same picture as before, but the colours are duller, and some of the details are lost. It now looks more like an abstract bouquet under a starry sky.

It's long overdue, but I'm attempting to paint the #ManaTree from #SecretOfMana for the #SNES again, this time in portrait mode to get more of the tree in.

It's quite likely gonna take a while to finish this. I want to put more detail in it than in the previous version, and take more time layering it.

Once I have this version done, I also suspect doing another one right away, since I'll have a better idea of how all the objects come together on the smaller paper size.

#FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative #aquarelle #aquarellePainting #waterColours #waterColorPaint #fediArt #mastoArt #WorkInProgress

Start of an aquarelle water colour painting of the Mana Tree. So far part of the big tree trunk has been painted, along with some of the river, shrubs, branches and flowers, as well as the three protagonists and two pink birds in flight. Some other branches are also sketched in.

For reference, this is the #photograph I used as reference.

#FiXatoFoto #FiXatoCreative #Bodø

Photograph of the aforementioned winter scene of a sunrise behind snow-covered mountains, distant city lights and trees, and plenty of snow in the foreground.
In the photo there's more to see of the snow in the foreground, and the sky more of a light grey blue towards the horizon and dark blue clouds towards the top, with less orange pink clouds diagonally from the left towards the sunrise.

Slowly getting back into aquarelle painting again.
Two evenings ago I painted this wintery scene based on a photograph I took in #Bodø just under 3 years ago, around 9 in the morning.
Quite satisfied with how it turned out, especially the sun coming up from behind the mountains, though less so with the recognisability of the mountains.

Paper: 230 grams A5 paper from Søstrene Grene, 100% paper.
Paint: a mix of Panduro Watercolour Set Basic, Van Gogh Water Colour, Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Light, and some white gouache.

An aquarelle painting of a winter scene; snow-covered mountains in the distance to the right, and a burning yellow, orange, and pink sunrise to the left. In front of that are distant trees and city lights, and more snow in the foreground.
The sky is a mix of dark blues, purples, orange and pinks.

Happy #NewYearsEve2025 folks

#photography #FiXatoFoto #FiXatoCreative #fireworks #Norway #NYE #NYE2025

There are four, no, five lights! With purple, orange, yellow, white, and link streaks of fireworks spreading from the bright white centres, in a starburst pattern, in the sky above several snow-covered Norwegian homes.

Did a quick #aquarelle #painting this evening on some #A5 #watercolour paper from #SøstreneGrene.
Some cauliflower blooms from overworking it, but overall I'm satisfied with the end results.
A bit of a warmer image to contrast the cold winter weather that's prevalent on these short dark December days.

#FiXatoPaints #FiXatoCreative #aquarellePainting #waterColourArt #fediArt #mastoArt #artShare #creativeToot #creativeToots #aquarel #akvarell #waterColours #waterColor

#FiXatoCreative

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