iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Catching up, I got to day 2 "relic" today. I expected to add colored pencil to get the detail I wanted but I managed to stay patient and layer it on. I actually felt the potential here. #inktober2026 #SciArt

Watercolor painting of a human radius bone on the page of an open watercolor paper pad.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 4h

So it started simple with "apple". I went right ahead and made a soupy mess. Tried to add ink. Not impressed, but not horrible. #inktober2026

Half an apple seen from the sliced face, with two seeds and a stem. Watercolor and black ink.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 20/09/2026

From this morning's hike 🍄

Ground-level view of mushrooms in the forest. Focus is on one in the foreground, with a beautiful , light yellow domed cap with some little creamy crumples and frills. Below the dome, on its slender cream stalk, it seems to be wearing a little frilled collar. These are not botanical terms.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 17/09/2026

I kinda hate tooltips & friends for many reasons (esp. a11y), but they also are kinda gross visually most of the time. There's often a clearer solution if you try a little, e.g.:

"Leave a Comment" form, with input fields for "Name" and "Email" and a text area for "Comment". Below is a solid line, then the text "Somehelpful text about the 'Rewrite' button that describes its function without being hidden away in a tooltip, while simultaneously separating this action from submission" and a "Rewrite" button. Another solid line separates the "Submit" button below.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 13/09/2026

Nice evening paddle at Biidaasige Park.

Cloudy evening. POV looking over the bow of my Oru kayak on the Don River in Biidaasige Park, with some shrubbery along the shore in the foreground and the Toronto skyline beyond.

Selfie on the water, with the Toronto skyline behind me. I'm smiling, wearing an orange and black NRS PFD over a light blue t-shirt, sunglasses, and a blue plaid ball cap.

Wide-angle POV over the bow of my kayak in Biidaasige Park. The river looks wide and quiet, and one of the big white bridges is far ahead.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 11/09/2026

Not the pangram, eh?

NYT Games Spelling Bee UI. The letters are [K] H I E A C D. My first guess is "DICKHEAD" but I got "Not in word list"

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 09/09/2026

Umm, the iconographer(s) never looked up what a coronavirus looks like? Never paid attention during a worldwide pandemic?

Icon is a circle with dots inside, and four dots and small circles on the outside. It is labeled "Covid 19".

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 06/09/2026

Now, if anyone has a good solution for containing boards etc. in an upright position against a wall...

A side view, showing the space behind the table and drawer unit, below the shelves. A portfolio case, some Bristol boards, a wood board, and other such items are stashed there somewhat haphazardly.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 06/09/2026

I also kinda love how the Alex drawers and my AC unit have the same mouths! 😆

A close shot of the drawer unit beneath the table and the AC unit beside it. Both are white and the AC has a little black detail at the top that is the same shape as the cutout grab handles on the drawers.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 06/09/2026

I did it. I finally fucking did it. I simply cannot with the absolute euphoria of finally having storage in my "studio" [space between two windows] finally figured out.

Between curtains of two flanking windows, a number of shelves line the wall, holding various art supplies (paints, pens, brushes, containers), a cork board, a sewing machine, and a desk lamp. Below the shelves is a wooden table, and fitting perfectly underneath it is a wide IKEA Alex drawer unit.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 31/08/2026

That feeling when I'm at my desk wishing someone would hold my heavy head up for me, like I do for her

I'm in my mare's stall, facing away from the camera and to the left. She's standing in front of me, with her neck stretched out and her chin resting on my right shoulder as I brush her left jowl.

A close up view through the bars of the neighboring stall behind me. My mare's big snoot is over my right shoulder, and my head is angled right as I deliver smooches to the side of her face. Her eyes are closed and her ears relaxed softly backward.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 23/08/2026

Cookin' up some limited edition maple leaf pasta while I wait for the Hip concert rebroadcast on the CBC. Shoot, I feel like I should also invite a moose, drink a Canadian, and wear Roots.

A box of Catelli Limited Edition "O Canada" pasta. Through a window on the box, as well as in a little picture on it, you can see the pasta are shaped like little maple leaves.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 18/08/2026

Always feels good to follow through on my salvaging and hoarding of materials/notions! Phew! I made this with a zipper from an old fleece jacket pocket, mesh from a horse fly mask, and nylon binding from a recently-retired camp chair. Y'all, I hate garbage.

A grey mesh zipper pouch with grey binding sits on a craft table next to a sewing machine.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 10/08/2026

Yesterday was good 😊

POV: Sitting on my paddle board, legs out in front of me. On the nose just beyond my feet sits Billie, a tan lab mix, in a yellow Ruffwear PFD. She looks out onto the open lake ahead of us both, on a gorgeous, sunny summer day.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 31/07/2026

She loves that thing and will volunteer to stand on it any time I pull it out, even when we have other "work" to do. The best girls 🥰 🤎💛

A bay horse on a longe line stands facing the camera with front feet on a small wooden platform in an indoor arena. She appears to be spotlit by an overhead light. Behind her, next to the wall, lies a tan lab mix.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 19/07/2026

She earned her lunch snacks 😁

Lab mix sits and looks up at the open ordering counter of a food truck with pictures of hot dogs and fries on the side.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 19/07/2026

Billie is now officially a kayak dog 😊

POV behind a lab mix in a yellow PFD sitting in the front of the kayak looking out into the open lake ahead.

POV behind a lab mix in a yellow PFD sitting in the front of the kayak looking toward shore in an inlet.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 27/05/2026

Sorry about the quality, I took "screenshot" literally 😁

Photo of the browser open to PJ's blog post, showing the text and image overlap.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 23/03/2026

Awww, memories of Mammalogy study on ADW. 🥰

A two-page spread of my mammalogy sketchbook/notebook. Order names act as headings in blue marker, breaking up the pages; under each are some notes in black pen and some annotated pencil sketches of skulls.

A closer photo of the section labeled "O. Lagomorpha". Notes include "rootless first incisor, chisel-like" and "2nd incisor peg-like, behind 1st". A lateral sketch of a Lepus americanus rostrum points out these details.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 14/11/2025

Design systems, apps, and services need to account for empty states. This is the second bad example I've encountered in an hour. Like anything else in life: if you don't have anything useful for me, keep your mouth* shut! [*UI]

A shopping cart drawer showing 1 items [sic]. Below the selected product is a carousel titled 'You May Also Like' showing a default item called 'Example Product Title' with a placeholder image. Oddly, it's priced at $19.99.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 10/11/2025

Oh, hey, Winter 👋

A wintery scene on a forest trail, where everything is blanketed in fluffy snow, including every branch of the trees overhanging the trail. Billie, a tan lab mix, wearing a teal and black Chilly Dogs winter coat, stands sideways on the trail waiting for me to catch up.

In another section of the forest, Billie is now frolicking away forward down the trail, tail high and ears flapping.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 02/11/2025

The burden of my mental health will now rest upon this fellow I thrifted yesterday and his contents---propagated from a leaf I picked up off the Home Depot floor in the spring---because whimsy.

A lime green ceramic planter in the shape of a hedgehog. From the hole in his back rise a tiny cluster of about a dozen little elongated green-to-brown leaves of a succulent I've yet to identify.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 02/11/2025

Moving slowly and with a heavy heart today. Basking in the warm sun and calling this a transition day.

The sun shines through the mostly denuded branches of a bunch of birch trees, towering over the leaf-blanketed forest floor. It is a beautiful autumn day and the warm glow is healing.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 30/10/2025

So I'm just here basting this replacement hoodie zipper into place thinking this is just like wireframing: a low-fidelity version of the final which seems like more effort than it's worth, but ensures proper alignment and pays off with more speed and a better product later.

On a craft table lies a grey hoodie with a white zipper partly basted into place with long red stitches.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 30/10/2025

Here to party and axolotl questions.

Billie, a tan lab mix, wears a fetching baby pink turtleneck hiked up to cover her ears. From her collar, three bands with little frills of red yarn radiate from either side of her neck. She smiles knowing she is the cutest canine axolotl.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 29/10/2025

Um, no. 1. I'm on a phone, not clicking 2. It's below, not on the right 3. The disclosure trigger is a block-level element, so there's a whole bunch of unmarked clickable area. 4. Why the disclosure pattern, anyway? I'm on this page to view Women's Fashion Apparel (per page title and heading)

Screenshot of MLB site with the heading "Women's Fashion Apparel" on a mobile/narrow screen. The text below says "Click the + sign on the right to view Women's Fashion Apparel". Below that is a bold "+" sign and then a stack of block-styled links.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 28/10/2025

Above skeet brought to you by Reinhart's Red Apple Cider, from Stayner, ON: Semi-dry, starts very round & open, middle, red with wide yellow shoulders (idk!?), short breath. Flattens rather quickly. 🫠

My hand holding a can of Reinhart's Red Apple Cider. Can is black with decorative gold tree-like shapes with gold leaves and red circles.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 28/10/2025

Also, check out the size of this fabulous gentleman I encountered:

A large shelf fungus on the side of a tree, as I saw it from below (it was just above me)

A more elevated view of the same fungus, with my hand near it for scale: it's about three times as wide as my hand and maybe the same depth? Hard to tell exactly, but it was big!

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 27/10/2025

It's been disappointing to discover that so many adults could not recognize what a fine specimen she was at either of her Halloween parties this weekend! [Nor did they know what I was talking about when I told them.] I bet kids who see her Friday night will know. They get the whimsy of nature.

A lab mix wearing a baby-pink turtleneck costume covering her ears. Three bands of red frills of yarn radiate from either side of her collar.

Same pup, different angle, same big smile. She is the cutest canine axolotl anyone ever did see!

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 26/10/2025

Sneak peek of Billie's costume for this afternooooon 😁

On a craft table is a clear plastic glow collar. Six sets of pink and purple pipe cleaners radiate from it, each set braided with many pieces of red yarn held perpendicular to the braid.... Hmm... what could it be?

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 21/10/2025

Kidding. I promised the boys in the 6th that if they could turn things around, I would get my act back together this week.

Part of a Github contributions chart, showing lots of activity in September and nothing in the last 2 and a half weeks of October

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 14/10/2025

Celebrating this kid's third gotcha day today! 💙🧡 #AdoptDontShop #RescueDog

A tan lab mix sits on a bed of dried crunchy leaves in the forest as sun filters through the glowing red, orange, and green canopy.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 14/10/2025

Really need to get my portfolio up and get myself hired, so naturally I made a blade guard for my hatchet and darned a sock.

On a workshop table: a small axe with a brown leather blade guard that has orange stitching and a metal snap, and a pink and blue sock with a square of pink and blue darling in a gingham pattern.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 13/10/2025

Ummmm, nothing, just honing my axe while I watch this ball game. #ALCS

Holding the blade of my hatchet in my left hand, showing royal blue nail polish on the thumb. A honing stone lies on the tray below, next to a decorative wood turtle.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 04/10/2025

She's a little concerned about my sudden outbursts.

A tan lab mix sitting by the front door, watching me intently with ears slightly back.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 03/10/2025

Fun random word search :) [& if backwards counts, 'lean' in the top row]

Screenshot of scrambled letter grid with the following words circled: pound, eon, sit, rue, tie, woo, dew, wit.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 30/09/2025

Clipped my girlie this weekend. Tried to add the mallard speculum, but it was an afterthought and got muddled with the other lines I had, but at least you can tell it's a duck, yeah?

A bay horse with a fresh hunt clip (no saddle patch) and a shiny coat stands eating hay in a clean stall.

The horse's left hindquarters with some hair clipped into the shape of a duck

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 27/09/2025

My car is from another country and uses these weird units. Gonna take some getting used to.

Partial view of the dashboard, showing the odometer in miles and speedometer in mph. In the top right is the center dash, which shows 80°F.

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 27/09/2025

She's home! First things first: @weratedogs.com

Rear windshield of a pearly white Subaru Crosstrek with a fresh decal in the top right corner that reads "tell your dog i said hi"

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sylvia @svillegas.com · 21/09/2025

Ontario lakes be like:

Sunset over a quiet lake, with trees reflecting on the water. In the foreground in a long dock, alongside which are some lily pads.

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