This is an archive copy of a tinyletter from 2022, for the complete newsletter with images and links, please view the original archive.

Hello friends, 

Happy June! Hope you've had a wonderful April and May, welcoming in the summer wherever you are. 

I've had a rather pleasant, though hectic (and stressful at many moments) two months experiencing a lot of new things, and wrapping up the projects I've mentioned in the last newsletter, handling small day to day stresses while I was gearing up for the trip, as well as physically packing up the library I currently work in for renovations. I've also been taking my time regaining momentum for work and just getting my bearings again after a very lovely trip to Ireland, and saying goodbyes.

However, I do have some bad news. Despite the increasingly relaxing covid restrictions on Hong Kong, it seems that airmail to USA and Canada is still on standby, according to the latest press release from the Hong Kong Post Office. There is a vantage courier option for US so I'm currently looking into how much the cost will increase with it. But despite that, I've reopened my shop for orders for my tarot deck and pre-orders for the Lenormand deck -- it'll just continue to be a slow wait to get them mailed out. 

And now, just a quick lil' update on things I've been working on these past two months: 
 

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The Gwai Lenormand -- making things & back and forth with the manufacturer
 

I am still immensely grateful and celebrating the fact that we had raised over HKD$120,000 for the project and it's all thanks to you who've continuously supported it. 

Now that I am back to working mode, I've been communicating endlessly with the manufacturers on getting the designs just perfect while also making extra things on the side to thank everyone who backed and supported this non-traditional Lenormand deck -- you can read up on the updates I have for this deck over at the Kickstarter page! 

As I've mentioned earlier, I've also reopened my shop for pre-orders, in case anyone has missed the Kickstarter and would still like to support it. 
 

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HKwalls Mentorship Programme Mural at Hong Kong Observatory Wheel: The Star 
 

Speaking of the Lenormand, as mentioned last time, I was rushing to finish up the mural of the Star right before I had to leave for Ireland -- and I hit my deadline! The entire 2m x 5.6m mural was completed in sheer panic in a little over 6 days laid out across three weeks. It is now up outside the perimeter of Hong Kong Observation Wheel (the big Ferris wheel at the central harbourfront) for public viewing, alongside four other amazing artists (Celine Setiadi, Rida Nisar, Carson Wong, and Sin Chun Hin) who've I had the pleasure of working next to over the weeks. 

You can also watch the process of creating this mural on my youtube channel.

Speaking of painting processes, I've also been making reels on my Instagram both as a way to try and fight the ever-changing algorithm but also I found it really fun to look back on my painting processes and watch the very minuscule changes day by day.
 

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Ireland - visiting my partner

It's a bit strange to be putting this in my newsletter, especially after many friends have also noted how they feel like they "already know all about [my] trip since [I] blasted it all on social media" which is true, but actually, I'm still kind of processing the two and a half week-long trip, as well as my two-week hotel quarantine after. That is literally a whole month dedicated to the trip alone.

It was the best trip I've been on, because not only was it just wonderful to be stuck to my partner like glue after so long, meet his friends and family, and just see where he grew up, but it was also a confirmation that I would also love to one day live there.

But it was also simultaneously the most stressful trip I've ever been on due to travel restrictions and quarantine *surprise* rules (imposed by Hong Kong, thanks). In a sense, everything that could go wrong on this trip went wrong -- and I had to spend most of the second week stressing and fixing the issues. But I've been lucky that my job, family, and partner have been the most ridiculously understanding people during these times and I'm so thankful for them.

So yeah, I'm still figuring out how to fully record everything -- from catching covid (the way I had predicted, sort of) to somehow getting the chance to travel, to actually travelling and then having to deal with all the crap that came with it. But if you're not sick of my Instagram blasts yet, I made a part 1 video of the trip as well as lil postcards to remember it by.
 

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Things on my to-do list

I currently have 86 items on my to-do list; most of which is the Gwai Lenormand related. But I also have a couple of projects parked since before my trip, so I'm hoping I can get around to them soon but I don't want to announce them prematurely. 

I am also currently working on a series of paintings that I personally find very exciting and hope I'll be able to find a place to exhibit them or make an artist book out of them at some point. Fingers crossed! 

In other words, I am still painting, writing, and working, while still feeling like I'm not doing enough.

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Things I've been obsessed with these two months

• Barry's Tea: An Irish tea brand found in Cork -- I picked up this habit of drinking a mug of hot Barry's tea with milk and sugar while I was staying with my boyfriend's family. It tastes like a less silky version of Hong Kong milk tea but it has the same familiarity, comfort, and less guilt (HK milk tea has so much condensed milk it'll give me diabetes).
   

• Brady's Barrel Aged Irish Whiskey Coffee: So I got these during my trip as souvenirs for my coworkers, and my coffee-obsessed uncle and I gotta say these are ridiculously yummy. Smells so strongly of alcohol from afar but after you add milk and sugar, it just tastes like a home-brewed Irish coffee -- and it doesn't contain alcohol!
   

• Baymax and Mochi is a series of three 1-minute episodes showing Baymax and Mochi's daily lives and it is the cutest thing ever while also being so pretty with watercoloured backgrounds and animation. I can't stop watching it. 
   

• Bullet Train Bistro: 
   

• So many Bs, but I'm gonna break it up! It was art week last week, which is the time when Hong Kong hosts two art fairs; Art Basel and Art Central, and Jacky Tao's gongbi scenes of cha chaan teng have not left my mind. It's been a couple of years since I last wrote about art (work stuff doesn't count) and this makes me want to do so again. Cha chaan tengs are like the greasy spoons of Hong Kong, but much grittier with better food.
   

• Obviously, the silver-and-wood decoration my possible father-in-law made me. In the middle is a medallion featuring the etching of a drawing I made for my partner on our one-year anniversary. I bawled my eyes out when he gave this to me an hour before I had to leave for the airport.

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Anyway, I hope you're doing well, and that you have a good day or night wherever you are. 

Sending lots of blessings and love,
Charlotte