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, hope you're doing okay, with apparently insane planetary movements.

As always, June in Hong Kong proved to be a very wet and humid cha-cha dance between rainstorms and hot sunny days that make you want to rip your skin off. I am not enjoying the weather much, being a round girl with a generally warmer than average body temperature, but welcome to monsoon season, baby. 

I hope that those of you who are living in other parts of the world are having a good warm summer, though — what with those European blue skies and cool breezes that keep you company while you nap under a tree. Or something along those lines.

I've recently come to terms with the hard truth that I'm exhausted, burning out, and that I'm getting older much quicker than I would like to -- I'm pretty sure I accidentally freaked out some of my colleagues when I broke down during a few especially stressful mornings. But I'm okay now, am re-learning to take each day on its own, and to reprioritise my work and obligations in my personal and professional life.

Anyway, little updates of what I've been up to: 

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With Pride month, I ended up sketching a cute little drawing of a faun who fell in love with her mountain -- I wanted to write a story for this, and I even have the whole plot in my head, but I haven't found the energy to do this. So I'm plopping that onto my to-do list and saving it for a rainy day. 

On the topic of unfinished/abandoned/rejected projects, I was shortlisted for a mural project in Ireland (Ennis, specifically) but due to logistics, the job was a no-go. I still really liked my proposal for it, and shared the story of it on my Instagram

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I've also been working on a few different series of new paintings as well. One is food-related (another piece from this series can be found here) and is planned out to be a series of 26-27 watercolour, acrylic, and mixed media pieces, while the other series is intimacy and relationship-related watercolour pieces. I have no idea where the pieces will go but I'm hoping to see them exhibited one day.

You don't need to know this, really, but I also like using my newsletters as a notepad to remember what I've been doing each month so here goes haha.

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I've also decided to revive my tarot Instagram and spent the long weekend making July readings for all twelve zodiac signs. You can read them on the tarot-dedicated Instagram account -- sun, moon, and rising signs apply (I use Tropical astrology rather than Sidereal). 

I probably won't be doing three-card pulls for August; maybe just a single card pull but who knows if I have the energy for that.

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Updates on shipping; things are iffy, but I can send out small letters to the US -- just not packages. So if you're looking to purchase small things like postcards and stickers, feel free to purchase them from my shop. 

You can also read more about what's going on with my Gwai Lenormand through the Kickstarter updates, which I update monthly. Right now, those who've backed a copy can also reserve their preferred deck number, which is handwritten and signed on individual certificates of authenticity.

Those who haven't gotten their copy of the Gwai Lenormand yet, can still pre-order on my shop!

L’Œil de L’Âme Tarot is running low on inventory as well but I will not be reprinting this deck (when a project is done, it is done for me haha), so be sure to grab one from my shop before it's gone forever! 

On the other hand, I am embarking on creating an oracle deck, but compared to my two decks, this is a very niche topic so chances are I'm just going to print one for myself. Updates on this later, when I'm ready to share!

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I'm still dreaming of Ireland so I've also been slowly editing the second part of my Ireland vlog. I know no one cares but speaking of youtube, there's been quite a few reviews, silent flip-throughs, and videos in general that feature my tarot deck, L’Œil de L’Âme Tarot! 

It's so lovely to know what people think of something so dear and near to your heart and I'm so grateful to those who've taken the time to go through the deck and even post it on youtube (Editing and talking in front of a camera ain't easy). And I especially want to thank Logan (@larkandlegend) and Martyn (@martyn_and_the_city) for giving such candid and sweet reviews of the deck -- they're not sponsored (I'm a frugal bitch and hate the idea of sponsored reviews, gifted reviews, and paid ads), and it makes my heart so full to know that people like my work. 

Thank YOU for being here, listening to me ramble on from my corner of the internet. I hope you all have a pleasant July and I'll talk to you soon.

Sending lots of love,
Charlotte

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P.S. I nearly forgot to share the things I've been obsessed with: 

• As I've mentioned before, I've been rather burned out lately, and instead found a way to destress by watching mukbang videos by Korean mukbang Tzuyang. Not everyone is into mukbang (a type of ASMR video that features a person eating extreme amounts of food) due to issues with listening to other people chew/slurp.etc and there's also this issue of wasting food, but Tzuyang, at least according to her videos, seems to eat extremely well since she eats almost exclusively at mom & pop shops, donates a portion of her advertising fees to charity, and is genuinely nice to the restauranteurs and other clients she runs into. It's just a very wholesome watch, especially for someone who enjoys food videos in general. My favourite video of hers is her sushi one from a couple of months ago. 

• Virtue Village's first solo exhibition 'Village Porn' at PHD Group: I've gotten lazier about going to exhibitions in person over the years but when I went to this show with my coworkers, I did not expect to still be thinking about it for weeks after. The installations, digital collages and paintings were, frankly, a little disturbing and yet somehow make sense (this is not a legitimate review so I'm just gonna ramble). The show felt like an internet fever dream; as though you've been online for a couple of hours too long, ended up in the darker corners of the web, and find yourself in a melting mess of violence, gore, and porn. Despite that, it somehow captured exactly how I feel about the act of sex in the digital age, it's messy and sometimes makes no logical sense of why you might like certain things but you do and that's okay. It's almost as if the exhibition was carving a space to hold those experiences and desires. I'm probably interpreting this in a completely different way from the intended. But it was very interesting and I came out of that gorgeously raw gallery space feeling refreshed and a little more accepting of myself. My favourite piece was the giant heart-shaped locket buried in the dirt.
  I also realise that most of you reading this are not based in Hong Kong, but I needed a space to talk about this. 

• Impossible City by Karen Cheung: I've mentioned this book in my last newsletter but I have been reading it over and over again this month as I contemplate my relationship with this disintegrating city. 

• Cooking in general; just been making lunchboxes to bring to work which has saved me so much money and I'm losing weight steadily while feeling healthier. My favourite lunchbox is just an air-fried salmon fillet that's been marinated with soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, some blanched veggies and rice.