A newspaper, a magazine, and a newsletter combined

1. Austin Kleon announced his next book "Don't Call It Art" . He wrote "Steal Like An Artist", "Show Your Work" and "Keep Going", all some of my favorite books on creativity and cultivating any form of art in your life. The new book, in his words: "Is designed to put you back in touch with that wild and fearless 4-year-old kid that still lives inside you and wants to come out and play. Kids don’t call it art when they’re throwing things around, drawing—they’re just doing stuff.”

Some of my favorite quotes from him:

"The only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow."

"You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life."

2. I've been so curious to bake with black sesame seeds! I'm really inspired by asian snacks and all the beautiful videos I've watched from Atori Cafe. This month, I made some black sesame rolls with a praline icing. I used a base of milk bread (Tangzhong) like she did in the video! I wish I could have you smell them. ❤️

So... I'll let you laugh at me with this little story... I usually let my bread rise inside the oven with the light on, because it's a lot warmer than the house in winter. I cover my bowl with a reusable plastic cover to prevent drying it out; a very cheap one that looks like a shower cap. Works perfectly. The thing is... Twice now I have forgotten the bowl was in the oven, and started pre heating the oven to start baking, without taking it out 🤡 which means the flipping thing completely MELTED and made a hot (hehe) mess, plus rendered my poor 16 hours old baby inedible. I won't show pictures, it's too sad lol. Also quite the definition of aesthetically UNpleasant!!

3. If you live in Montreal - did you know you could visit a mushroom farm in the middle of the city? I didn't! My friend took me to a lovely tour of 400 Pieds de Champignons, and I felt like a kid in a candy store. Except they were not sweet, and they're live creatures, and it's not exactly a store. 😂 But you can buy some of their products made with dried or fresh mushrooms, which is pretty cool!

4. March's theme of my Mail Club is "Snack Break" - the funny in-between - not really winter, not really spring. We still want our warm mugs on the cold mornings, so we might as well open the cupboards and make it a little more special.

The way we've been choosing to make it special at home: taking the long road to make coffee! I don't drink coffee, but my hubby loves it, so we got a manual coffee grinder and beans from a dear friend's special blends. Adding steps to our little rituals will remove the convenience aspect, but this exact act brings back the slower pace that helps us connect to whatever we're doing. Plus it's so satisfying to CRACK CRACK CROK.

My take of this slowing down is making matcha with all the special accessories: chawan (bowl), chasen (bamboo whisk), chashaku (bamboo scoop), furui (sifter). I naturally don't drink it often, because I'm sensitive to caffeine, so I have to think twice before drinking yummy stimulants lol, but when I do, it feels like a sweet little experience!

5. It's been a few months I've been inundated with videos featuring extremely tiny palettes and sketchbooks. I didn't really think much of it (other than find it adorable of course), as I don't do much plein air painting. But... the tiny factor won. I just a baby 🐤. So I watched a few videos comparing several brands to see which one I wanted to try, and learned that 99% of them are cheaper copies of the original product, from a russian illustrator that goes by godraw on instagram. The website was a little funky with me, it confirmed my order but didn't send me any email, so after a month, I ended up placing a second order since I wasn't really charged for the first one. 2 months pass, and I receive both orders out of nowhere 🤡 so now I have a gang of tiny palettes. They feel really nice, and the wells are made of ceramic/porcelain, which is very important to me - anything plastic/acrylic will stain and also bead the paint, making it harder to mix the colors into one big blob (they'll be separating into smaller ones instead).

• Have you seen this color-matching game called "dialed."? "Humans can't reliably recall colors. This is a simple game to see how good (or bad) you are at it."
• "I bought a homestead three years ago with the goal of managing the land to attract as many animals as possible. This is what happened in year three on The Wildlife Homestead."

See you next month!

With love,

Ivna x