May 2024
Current Read & Monthly Favorites:
Currently Reading: Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
Listening to: “Les Fleurs” by Minnie Riperton
Tea: Ginger Peach tea from Mountain Rose Herbs
Film: Emma (2020)
App: Merlin Bird ID
Hi friends,
I hope you’re all doing well!
This month’s comic includes my cat, Peach, and she’s getting herself some orchids. Just a small reminder to buy yourself some flowers. :)
I love sharing a comic each month because it’s good practice, but sometimes I have no idea what to draw. This time around it was tough for me to decide, even with a list of ideas. And when I go through my list, I have running thoughts like…
“I’m not ready to draw that.”
“Is that too weird?”
“Should all comics be funny?”
“It’s not the right season.” (I do have a funny one planned for October, though I worry I’m the only one who would find it funny.)
Going forward, I think that I’m going to make things a little easier for myself. To do that, I thought that it would be nice to have one common character, one that makes me happy. And drawing Peach makes me happy! I hope you don’t mind too terribly if she’s the main character for a few months!
It’s funny, because once I started drawing Peach, I felt like I had much more creative space to breathe compared to working on this month’s postcard illustration. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed both processes, if a bit differently and I don’t necessarily like one more over the other. I love both clean and scratchy line work, bright bold colors and soft neutral colors, detailed and spacious backgrounds. It can be hard to find the balance between all of these different elements… but I guess it’s nice to take a break from one style of work and try something completely different right after… maybe that’s the balance? Haha!
Speaking of trying something different, I picked up my paintbrush this month! I’m usually comfortable working digitally… but I do love traditional art more. It’s hard for me to capture the same texture with digital brushes. (Though I’ve seen other artists do it so well!)
Now, I do have a fear of working traditionally because I make so many mistakes and I change my mind A LOT. Fortunately, the acryla gouache I was using is really forgiving and I really should practice more. (Maybe I’ll work on something traditional once a month?)
Anyway, I recorded the process and hopefully I can share that in next month’s video. You’ll be able to see how many times I change my mind, haha.
If you couldn’t tell, I love birds, haha. Here’s a video from last month where I share a little of my work process as well as breaks and walks in between. A friend recommended a bird app to me recently and it’s called Merlin Bird ID. I’ve been loving it so much during my walks. It’s a similar idea to the Shazam app and it can identify a bird based on its call/singing.
It’s nice seeing the face behind every sound and I’ve now been consciously listening to the different bird calls. I love how the Warbling Vireo sounds like it’s singing in cursive and how the Mourning Dove sounds like an owl (or how I thought all owls sound like based on movies I’ve seen, haha). The Mourning Dove call is softer though and probably my favorite bird sound at the moment.
THIS MONTH’S SNAIL MAIL
The sticker for this month is a mushroom forager bird and the postcard is a flower shop treehouse featuring a patron’s two dogs.
If you’re interested in this month’s snail mail, I’ll send them out to any new patrons that sign up for the $10 tier between now and the end of the month.
That’s all for now! Thank you for listening/reading my rambling. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Justine 💛