Hey newbies! You’re all newbies since I started actually posting on Substack two weeks ago. Thanks for showing up. If you haven’t subscribed, here is your hint:
The garden is a bit late in flowering. A late spring followed by cloudy smoky skies from wildfires. However, COSMOS!
Oh you cheerful frilly flower, you! My visual journal took a few errors. So if you are ever feeling like you can’t draw, you make mistakes, and you’ve wasted your time… that’s basically me all week.
First mistake: White blah background. I was going to put words but I freaked out, thinking I would mess it up so I left it white. Snore.
I know. It’s FINE. It’s okay. Painted it a muddy beige. That was mistake 2.
The flowers didn’t pop so I painted others and literally taped them on top. But I liked the light pinky peach cosmos, so ripped them off, cut out the painting and pasted it onto a blue painted background. It felt like the world before Adobe and layers.
I wasn’t going to tell you all my mistakes because I want to seem perfect to you, dear Substacker. But spoiler alert: Not perfect. However, the time lapse video makes me look wildly amazing. This is under a minute but it took an evening of painting and drying and redoing. Also omitted that beige fiasco.
I’m starting to add tutorials to the Paid tiers. Imagine the tutorials as a lifelong course called Everything Janice Knows About Art, Writing, and Business. But that doesn’t REALLY roll off the tongue. So I’ll add wisdom as I go.
Consider being a paid subscriber. You’ll get tutorials, colouring pages, be able to participate in chats, and… well it’s early days, but more stuff, including street cred and my devotion. Thanks to Bekki who was my first paid subscriber. AND to fellow Paris author Lisa Anselmo who was my first subscriber ever.
Okay, back to you and me. Went to a Taco and Cheesecake festival last week.
Drank a vodka sample from this, the cutest cup ever:
And came home to put flowers in it. This time geraniums.
How cute are these tiny little arrangements? My friend Sharon Y (to whom I dedicated A Paris Year) said she wanted to miniaturize herself to sit at a small table that had these as the display. Agreed!
Nature walk nearby yielded this fun Pokeweed, which I discovered is toxic to the touch. I discovered this too late.
But I love the look. Dainty flowers. Bulbous pumpkin-like bits. Pink stems that pair well with the green leaves. Almost as if it knows colour wheel theory.
Now I’m off to figure out paid tier stuff. Wish me luck and hope to see you there.
-Janice
PS If this felt like a letter from an old friend, you’d probably like a real one. Join the Cottage Letters Mail Club and I’ll send one to your mailbox every month.
This was the letter for July:
Oh and also, I’m giving this Substack thing a solid go, and I’d love to have you along. Subscribe. It’s free… but if you want to help support my work and get tutorials, you can do that, too.