Issue 0012

Written By G C
From the Editor

This issue will be a little different from the previous ones in format, mainly because it’s been so long since I’ve written one and there is a lot to catch up on. But first, some housekeeping:

💖 Welcome to new members!

As the rest of the social media landscape falls deeper and deeper into derailment, I’ve been leaning heavily on this Patreon as my primary platform for getting my art out there and for connecting with people. Admittedly, there’s a lot more that I can do (and also that Patreon the platform can do!) but one step at a time.

In the meantime, I have to say a huge, HUGE thanks to all the new folks who have joined, both free and paid! This really is a labour of love for me, and my ultimate goal for having this Patreon is to share my art in the hopes that it will make a connection with someone and help them feel less alone on this great blue marble floating in space. The fact that you are here and following along with my journey means that there was something that clicked with you in something that I shared, and that is truly the best thing any creator in the world could ever ask for. So thank you, thank you, and thank you!

📰 Big Personal News

Some of you may know that I’m a Canadian residing in the United Kingdom right now—and if you didn’t, you do now! However that will be changing imminently, because I’m moving back to my home country in a couple of months.

There will likely be a whole long rambling blog post later about all my fEeLiNgS surrounding this decision, but for now I just wanted to talk about how this matters to YOU, my dearest and most spectacular Shining Stars.

First and most importantly, I still plan to continue focusing on my art, including this Patreon. If anything, this move will hopefully open up even bigger and better opportunities for me, but time shall tell. In the meantime, as I prepare to move my life and self across the Atlantic pond, there will likely be a few hitches, especially for those of you on tiers with physical rewards.

I will do my best to make sure that September and October rewards are shipped before my departure. November is still a bit of a question mark what with the moving date and whatnot, but I will likely either delay sending out the Hoppy Mail until I’m settled, OR I may pause the month if it looks like it might be longer. I’m really hoping I won’t have to do the latter, but I also totally understand if you would like to cancel your membership temporarily yourself for that time period.

Speaking of tier rewards, I am taking this Big Life Change™ as an opportunity to also redesign the tiers and rewards that I currently have available. It’s been a long time coming, and if you’ve been around for a while now, you’ll know that I’ve been reticent to increase my prices in order to cover the skyrocketing postage costs, but unfortunately this is just not sustainable.

On the flip side, as I’ll be dealing with a completely new postal service soon, it seems like the right time to review and update the tier pricing as well. Rest assured, this will be done as transparently and clearly as I can make it, with plenty of notice. I’ve got some ideas though, and I hope you’ll find them as exciting as I am feeling about them!

As things progress (way too quickly but such is life, innit??) I’ll be obviously getting busier with non-art stuff, but I’ll still do my best to share with you what I do have because I won’t be stopping creating completely!

tl;dr I'm moving back to Canada, eh? 🇨🇦

There’s so much more for me to say but I’ve already rambled plenty, so I’ll save that for a future issue or blog post. Let’s get onto the fun parts, shall we?

📖 Current Reads

📕 Running On Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect - Jonice Webb
This had been sitting on my shopping list for so long that I honestly don’t remember where I got the recommendation from. It may have even been from one of my therapists in San Francisco… Anyway I finally got around to getting a copy, and furthermore finally got around to taking it off my shelf and starting it. It definitely is what I needed and I can see a lot of things that apply to me, but there are also some parts that are quite dated (my edition was published 2012). As with any self-help books, I’m taking it in with liberal grains of salt regardless.

📗 Vicious - V.E. Schwab
Another clearing-out-the-shelf book. Only just started it but I’m already intrigued.

📚 Recently Finished

📗 The Impossible Fortune - Richard Osman 4/5
The latest in the Thursday Murder Club series, which I have thoroughly enjoyed thus far. This was no different! It was a bit shorter and maybe a little less lacklustre than the previous stories, but still a good time was had and squishy feelings were felt.

📗 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 2.5/5
At risk of being a contrarian, let’s just say the Beat Generation is not my cuppa. I’m willing to give it another shot though so I’m keeping an eye out for a copy of Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

📗 Katabasis - R.F. Kuang 3.75/5
I love me some fantastic realism and this definitely hits that sweet spot. The world building is quite well done and has plenty of references to more classical elements as well as modern ones. I did enjoy the parts describing Cambridge, mainly because I live not too far away, and the sense of history. It definitely felt like a “write what you know” book, which was also the same for the previous book I read by the same author, but nothing wrong with that. Hoping to pick up the longer high-fantasy books by her eventually, but the hefty lengths of those are a bit intimidating.

🎧 Podcasts

If I were to list all the podcasts that I want to share since the last issue of this newsletter, we’d probably be here a while, so I’ll do my damn best to pick out the really good ones. The crême de la crême, if you will.

In fact, in order to cut things short, let me just plug the @Ologies with Alie Ward podcast here and recommend every single one. Yes, all of them. Even the ones that the title sounds squicky or weird. (Those are sometimes even low-key favourites.)

Another favourite podcast series of mine is 20Khz. Admittedly, I hadn’t been listening to it for a while because it was just too painful what with losing hearing in one ear earlier in the year, but I’ve been getting back into it because the stories are just too fascinating not to. A couple of the stand-out episodes were actually a little bit meta because they were about the history of podcasts and where podcasting may go in the future. Especially since I’ve been hoping to start a podcast of my own someday, these were very informative and intriguing listens.

And whilst I don’t have a podcast of my own just yet, I actually was a guest on one recently-ish?! 😱 The series is a relatively new one, hosted by friends of a friend, and I highly recommend them. However please do read very carefully as some of the topics may be difficult. Anyway I guess I should be saying you should listen to the episode I’m on, but who am I to tell you what to do? Plus I feel really really vulnerable and I talk about stuff that I have literally only told my therapist before so if you don’t want TMI about me, then please do give it a skip lol.

As I’m going through the listen history on my podcast app (Podcast Addict on Android, highly recommend), it seems I had a period of basically bingeing Hidden Brain after I ran out of Ologies to catch up on. Some titles that I particularly found interesting and may help you as well: “What Art Does For Your Brain”, “Do You Feel Invisible?”, “Stop Spiraling!”, “How to Get Out of a Rut”, “The Paradox of Pleasure”.

Random other episodes from other shows:

🎥 Videos

Some of you may have noticed that Patreon has been really working on improving their discovery feed (holla in the comments with 🪩 if you found me through the discovery!) and it makes me so happy every time I discover a new creator that I never would have found otherwise, but I instantly vibe with their creations!

This issue is featuring Karen Yumi Lusted , an artist whose watercolour paintings are so full of beautiful colours and stories. Truly a new art inspiration for me!

Click to see Karen Yumi Lusted’s Patreon page!

From beautiful florals to shiny swirls, each piece has such an ephemeral touch that really tickles the right brain cells for me. Not to mention, their struggles and journey with getting back into art after being diagnosed with RSI is really inspiring. Please go check them out and show this fantastic artist some love!

Thank You!

This could have been called the Rambler’s Edition but as I said from the start, it was bound to be long because there’s just so much to catch up on! Unfortunately I did have to cut the Art Fundamentals column as a result, but rest assured it’ll be back because I am, after all, here to share my learnings about art with all of you!

I could obviously go on and on here, but really, all that’s there to say (or restate) is that I am so, so grateful to you, dear Shining Stars. Times are hard and finances are a struggle for so many of us, so I totally understand if you are not able to support me on a paid tier, but please know that I appreciate you all so much just for showing that you connect with me in some way, in something that I create. Support doesn’t just mean financial after all, and word of mouth is becoming more and more important these days, so once again, thank you for YOUR support! 💖

G C
Next

Issue 0011 - Editor’s Elocution Edition