Martin McCoy and Ellie Livingston at The Convent

On November 29, the Convent in Philadelphia was flush with the amazing artwork of Martin McCoy and Ellie (Jo) Livingston.

The Convent is one of the coolest art galleries I have ever visited, situated in a repurposed nun convent in the Fishtown neighborhood of northeast central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Jeremy Hush (jeremyhush), an incredibly talented artist and carpenter himself. Over the years, I have visited The Convent a number of times to see Cadabra Records live performances and to see the artwork of artists that Jeremy admires. On November 29th, artists Martin McCoy (martin.mccoy.art) and Ellie (Jo) Livingston (elliejoliv) had some of their fantasy artwork on display at the gallery. Beyond just having their art on display, they were both there in person to meet and talk with people about their work. Anyone who has followed Between the Bolter and Me for a while knows about our extreme fondness for Martin and his work, having commissioned him to create artwork for some of our own projects. My brothers and I have also been fans of Ellie’s work for awhile, from her work creating fantastic creatures for RPG sessions in Ekphrastic Beasts (which Jeremy Hush also contributed) and her more recent work illustrating amphibians and reptiles for the Magic: the Gathering set Bloomburrow. With Philadelphia just a 1.5-hour drive from my home, I cleared my calendar and drove to The Convent to see the artwork and talk with both Martin and Ellie.

Vastarian: Houston 2024 Day 3

With immense mental fortitude, Saint Voskhodh - the Voice of the Outer Dark, clawed their way back from the brink of doom, escaping the damning clutches of the Empyrean, intent on activating the lighthouse at Ravachol.

It is hard to fathom, but it has been over a year since we, with the help of Bill Ford, hosted our first Inq28 narrative event: Vastarian - Dreams of the Pious! While we covered the first two days of the event (see here and here), life intervened, and we did not share what happened on the final day. We wanted to rectify this and start sharing how the event concluded! On the final day, all the participants played multiple simultaneous games, culminating in the final confrontation at the hyperradiant lighthouse in Ravachol, Vastarian. We plan to post numerous updates documenting the chaos of these games, aiming to give readers a glimpse into the multiple narratives unfolding. Hopefully, this time it will not take an entire year to finish!

Season's Greetings 2025

Vivere est pati.  (Nikon F3; Tmax 100).

Between the Bolter and Me is about to advance into its 14th year as a blog! It was a slow year, but we were able to attend Under the Dice Fest and our first NOVA Open! As the year comes to a close, we want to extend our best wishes to everyone this holiday season, especially those who helped make this year so successful for the three of us!

Dragged into Turbolasers 125: Miniature Photography in 2025

We used speedlights more this year for our photography.

In this final episode of 2025, we reflect on our collective experience with miniature photography and discuss what we would like to do in the future!