iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It’s that time of year again… my little station at the neighborhood mural for the Portola Garden Tour. It’s the 20th anniversary this year!

Denim covered card table with plants and sketchbook and various mural process artifacts

A more pulled out view of my lil mural explanation station

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Finished mural- I tried to brighten everything up today. Still needs the clear coat before the rain comes in a week 🌧️

Same 3 poppies as before but brighter! Butterfly has more details and a bit of iridescent blue now

Small little poppy, with orangier oranges, more vibrant yellows and reds than the day before. Subtle leaf and stem changes

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Commissioned mural day 1 painting, and it’s pretty much finished! Will do a quick session tomorrow to fully liven up yellows and oranges and refine some stems. Also! The couple who hired me now want me to do more on the other side of the house, which technically counts as another commission I think…

Right side of staircase small painted poppy coming from the ground on periwinkle-ish background

Right hand side mural scene with 3 poppies and a Red Admiral Butterfly flapping overhead

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Re-vamped lettering on the mural dedication for our neighborhood’s upcoming garden tour 🌼🌻🐛

“Pollinators, Plants, and Propagators in the Portola” mural from last year gets its title and acknowledgements re-lettered. Circus- style font for the title outlined in gold with “in the Portola” a contrasting lava red color.

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

My husband’s 40th birthday present is finished! 🎉 What? He’s 42 now you say?…

A finished acrylic painting waiting to dry and then be varnished. Image from photo husband took of his friends on an backcountry trip some years back.

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Trying to get her to leave a couple of hot spots alone for a bit- she’s not sure how she feels about it…

My cat Bernie, laying in a hallway sun patch with a soft collar made to look like bread around her face. Her curled up tail shows what she is feeling- bothered!

A close up view of my cat’s face in bread collar. I think she looks very annoyed, no?

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Testing designs and enlargements with world’s best assistant 🌼

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Details on a painting that has been waiting to be finished for going on some years now. It feels like I am closing in…

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Taiwanese Pavilion, Shinjuku Gardens, Tokyo. From a few weeks back ❤️🗾🇯🇵

Trying out a new felt-tip pen on watercolor paper. This was the one day I sketched along-side my dad on our trip. He is so much better at doing frequent trip sketching- life goals! The sketch is of an interesting section in the Shinjujuku National Gardens showing a large structure that was gifted to the garden by Taiwan. 🇹🇼

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Potential new mural work- fingers crossed!🤞

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Kintsugi workshop in Kyoto!! Very fun Wabi-sabi activity with the folks.

Finished dark blue bowl with gold in the cracks.

Mom, dad and I showing off our finished “imperfectly perfect” work

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Some exxtra large caterpillars on my neighbor’s Aristolochia! (California Pipevine.) 😍

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Getting closer- still lacking the gold & some quick “smoothing” here & there

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

These things are too nice ($) to not repair.

Big heel basketweave repair in colorful space died sock

Basic basketweave darning in process on smaller holes

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Lil ornamental street poppy has a lot going on inside!!👁️

Tiny poppy growing outside of border and mulch. The petals are just leaving the leaf caps, and it looks like some colorful Venus fly trap

Somewhat demure side pose of random ornamental street poppy

Insanely pollen-filled to bursting interior of pink poppy with dark spots. Perspective with foot in the background makes flower look xtra gigantic

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Mission Blue- round 2. Hoping tomorrow’s third go at it should tie it up. Then on to the “pollen” and the labels

A more filled in painting of the mission blue butterfly on one of the pollinators mural panels

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Spring break means more time to work on mural additions!

Close to finished Fiery Skipper without label, (added in last.)

First round Mission Blue Butterfly mural addition

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Just the first pass- no rush since I only have a few new additions to finish before the end of June.

First paint layer for Fiery Skipper addition on pollinator mural project

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Adding a couple new things to the mural during the sunny season :)

Sharpie outline of mission blue butterfly on turquoise mural background with pipevine winding through

Fiery Skipper sketched in sharpie on turquoise mural with pipevine motif

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸 @rweingarten.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

As one SF resident put it "Instead of blaming San Francisco teachers for wanting a livable wage and benefits, we need to think more broadly about how to make this happen." www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/lett...

sfchronicle.com

Letters: Find a way to offer S.F. teachers the benefits they deserve

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Chronicle readers comment on the strike by San Francisco teachers, redeveloping Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma and high-speed rail to Yosemite.

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

stacycats @stacycats.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

SFUSD, property taxes, and city funding. A thread.

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Happening today!! UESF/ UASF/ family & community will be out picketing in support of our city’s public education ✊

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

First strike in my teaching career tomorrow! Asking for more supports for students and school stability through teacher staffing and retention, cost of living salary increases, (not contingent on increasing class sizes or other benefits,) and fully funded health care for dependents. #UESF

First fruiting of this dwarf citrus tree gifted as a wedding present from now departed grandmother in-law. I’m gardening this morning to calm myself before all the commotion tomorrow.

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

Guy who teaches @teachsf.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

More important would be if you joined UESF members on the picket lines!

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

Doomloop Dispatch @doomloopdispatch.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Ignore the burrito debates and focus on how teachers in San Francisco need your support as they prepare to strike. #sfusd #teachers #unions #budgets

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

Public School Parent @soloparenthood.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

This for any CA public school parent but esp SFUSD parents, to know what to do right now during a time of possible strikes.It gives step by step info to do now while waiting if there is a strike, so if it is, u will be more prepared, & gives u books 4 ur kids to understand about strikes & organizing

solomamihood.medium.com

How as a public school parent to “prepare” for a workers strike at your CA school site.

How as a public school parent to “prepare” for a workers strike at your CA school site Hi! I am a CA current public school parent of a elementary age student and I am creating this guide, because …

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Reposted by Rebecca Sandford-Smith

Tuner of Tiny Violins @violintuner.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Wow poor SFUSD. All they wanted was to hand [REDACTED] to OpenAI as a treat and now people are like "Wouldn't that money be better spent on the living, breathing humans working in your schools???" It's like we think they should focus on children and the people working with children, not rich dudes

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

First daffodils of 2026. I love these stubbornly reliable bulbs so much!

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Lots of great kitties in Taiwan! 😻🇹🇼

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Sketching on the train- headed South in Taiwan 🇹🇼

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

First painting I gave my (now) husband. Acrylic on canvas, 2007/2008 ish.

This painting features different elements from Guatemala: the volcano Agua in the center, the central part of the Guatemalan flag with quetzal, rifles, and swords on the left, and a VW bug coming out of the right side of the panel. We first really chatted at a macadamia nut farm where this cute vw was parked in front.

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Sigh- first tag on the mural. Gonna cover it up ASAP after work 😣

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

#tbt A throwback acrylic painting from 2012ish when we were living in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in SF. My home ground for more than a decade!

Painting of Victorian style houses set against a sky with telephone wires running across. There is a weathervane with a whale on it, some gilded details on the houses, and lots of foliage in the foreground/ bottom right of the scene.

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Largest dahlia of the season so far! Kind of giving 🍳 🤍💛

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Rebecca Sandford-Smith @muddywatersthedog.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

This unfinished painting has just been hanging out since almost last year, when the neighborhood mural project arose and took over all my painting time. I’m finally getting back to it though! Acrylic on canvas- “The Portola, San Francisco”