Let's Make a Painting!

July
2025

   Summer arrived like a hammer here in the United States, especially the south. A hammer with a flamethrower. After weeks and weeks of haze from the fires in Canada and quite a lot of rain here in Tennessee, we have had crisp blue skies and every day in the mid 90’s. July can be a hard month, since it starts with a literal bang here in the US which can be incredibly stressful for people and animals. I'm guessing dear pen pal there's a good chance it felt extra offensive this year, since we're not particularly in the mood to celebrate being American right now, especially with traumatizing explosives that damage the environment. The irony, right? I see you, I feel your frustration and your sadness, and you're not alone. I hope everyone survived and was safe. We made it past the most challenging weekend!
   The only thing I’ve done lately that really felt good was sitting with my feet in a chilly creek with a couple of friends and our water bottles. I’ve had a heavy, sleepy haze over me so far this summer, not at all what I’d hoped for. Though I'd achieved my goal of 1 pull up and even managed 3, I now for some reason can't even do one. My body feels weak, no matter how many rest days and how much sleep I give it. This time last summer I was a force to be reckoned with! Solar powered, fully charged, writing a thousand words a day, wrapping up illustrations for a client, just all systems go.
   About all I’ve done this month is consume books. 25 so far this year. In the last month, exclusively candy books. Books with no nutritional content that I eat in one sitting and love, though it’s not very good for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else. My series of choice has been the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs. ZERO nutritional value.
   I have to forgive myself over and over for not being as productive as I’d hoped. I close all the blinds and keep the AC at 77F, while prostrating myself in gratitude for our reliable power grid and the fact that we do have central air. What a miracle. I put ice in my matcha and reapply deodorant 3x daily. This too shall pass, some day I’ll feel productive and inspired again. Until then, I’ll keep identifying bird calls with my Merlin app.

   If you'd like a little something easy you can do that will help, feel good and not scary, here is a LINK to email your representatives about keeping public media via NPR's website. It fills it all in for you, auto sends it to the appropriate party, all you do is input your email and address. You do not have to figure out what to say or who to say it to. I promise this is an easy, practical act, and though small, it makes a difference.
 
   What I have for you this month is a little walk through of a painting I did at a most languorous pace this month. Early June I was a vendor at Nashville Comic Con, and was noticing that people seem most drawn to my paintings of tea parties and my new paintings don’t sell as well. I decided I’d make a new tea party painting! I drew the sketch at the show.

 I usually start with a light pencil sketch in my sketchbook, then I either go over it in darker pencil or ink before using a light pad to transfer it to watercolor paper. (I think next month I’ll walk you through all my materials in detail, so you’ll get to know specific brands!)

 After I’ve got the sketch on paper, I either dive right in or sometimes do a color mock up in Procreate. This time I just went for it. I paint with designer gouache!

   There are always cat interruptions. (Yes, I have a desk I have started to use more often. And yes it is my own fault for painting laying on the floor.)
   It takes me anywhere from 1 to 10+ sittings to get through a painting. Three hours is a quick painting, usually spread out over a few days. The big complex ones take much longer, and I’ve never actually tracked just how long. I don’t sit for long stretches very well, so I’m always up and down and doing maybe an hour at a time before I have to go do something else. This little one took me at least 2 weeks to get through, despite only taking maybe 3-4 hours of actual time.

   I had some cat contributions and some accidents in the white area, not ideal. But for making prints, totally fine! I’ll now scan it and upload it to Procreate.
   I don’t do a ton of editing, just a quick little clean up and then it’s ready to go!

 Definitely my kind of tea party right here. Bring your frog to tea!

 Prints are available on Etsy! Original painting is available as well. Please email me if interested.
 
   I hope you enjoyed seeing my process! You can look forward to a detailed breakdown of the materials I use next month, if that’s something you’re curious about.
   I hope everyone is staying cool, staying well, and finding little things to delight in!
Lara Jean