Busy Summer Bee

Doing their best but dying of heat.

Author

Chloé Cashew
August 24, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

BEFORE WE START
A NOTICE FOR MY FELLOW GREATER VANCOUVER AREA FRIENDS

I will be tabling at the Commercial Drive Car-Free day on September 5th!
The event runs from 12pm to 7pm - come say hi!!

Hello friends! This summer has been extremely difficult and long (so so long and bright) and i’m sure i’m not alone in craving the darkness and endless rain Fall soon promises.
Amidst all that sun and sweat and suffering, i’ve been finding some pockets of time to paint with actual physical paint and play with gouache and acrylics. It even smells like gouache at my desk sometimes, and i love it.

Let’s dig into this little painting journey and i’ll see you again at the bottom of this email for a preview of the new pieces i’m working on for this coming market!

PSA: a lot of what i like to focus about and express in my art is about mental health and some of the struggles i’m facing. If you can relate with some of those feelings, please make sure you talk to someone you trust and get support. I am very fortunate to have a great support system in place, so please do not worry about me (though you’re welcome to check-in) !

Highlight

My biggest and most rewarding project so far this year! A custom commission for a friend who’s been incredibly supportive of my art and has commissioned me several times already. This assignment was fairly simple: take a cool sounds mixer and add some designs to it!

Here’s how it turned out:

The tree sticker was already there, and the rest is me!

It was a great opportunity to improve my process and come up with some little mushroom characters 💚 

One of my favourite details is this eye on the red button.

Thanks again Jeremy for your trust!!

A painting journey

Some of you might know that i’ve been trying to get back into painting for a while, and it’s been incredibly hard to realise that, until a couple months ago.

I started with baby steps and things i was comfortable with, and built a lot of confidence working on the mixer, and then i started having fun with paints!

I’d been more or less comfortable with adding washed to existing sketches.

A foray into watercolor that made me realise i’d need to spend some time with it again.

And eventually i started to loosen up and have fun!

Waiting for my bread to toast.

Tooth??

And then i started making cool pieces i was happy with!

An idea i’d been visualizing for a while

A very successful entry into a more grungey style.

“I gave you my heart, and you squandered it.”

Eventually, it became easier to whip out some paints and i started having a lot of ideas that need to be paintings.

Mellow nights

Summer solstice/Canada Day sketch

I’ve been needing to recover some of my energy lately, and i’m looking forward to paint more in the fall! There’s a big canvas behind me that’s waiting for its next steps:

Titled “Tumultuous”

Hot off the press!

Here are some of the designs i’ve been working on in preparation for the market! You’ll be able to see those in sticker format, and some of the previous paintings i shared are currently being printed as postcards. I’m excited to see how they turn out!

Of course, i’m still sketching tons, but we’ll keep the focus on painting for this one (otherwise this will be very lengthy). I may however have a sketchbook or two on display for people to browse at the market!

A little train sketch with a newly discovered color/tool combo

Tool of the month!

I would like to highlight the one tool that has allowed me to become more confident in my painting skills - making a mixing chart! I have been referencing this as my palette quite a bit as well.

My current gouache mixing chart.

This handy reference is sitting right above my desk and has been super helpful to simplify the color choosing/mixing. It’s also been helpful to help prepare a painting and figure out the general palette in advance. Overall it helps break that kind of inertia and wall that sometimes sits between an idea and the paper.

If you’re interested in making your own or learn about it, here’s the page i used to get myself started: Color Mixing Chart for Watercolor I Still Use (it’s watercolor specific but i first applied it with my gouache).

I plan on doing this with more of my paints, and i’m currently trying to reduce my watercolor travel set to a better selection. Watercolor has slowly gone down to be my least favourite paint but i’m hoping to be able to use it a bit more in the future.

Watercolor chart i’m working on.

What else ?

I take a lot of pictures when i wander in the forest, and i’d like to share some of these in a zine format, as well as make paintings inspired by some of my shots!

Inspirations

  • I’ve been listening to Wildlife (La Dispute) and i’ll be okay (sign crushes motorist) quite a lot, but i’ve been told they’re SUPER sad. If you’re not in the mood for something sad, i’ve also been listening to Flower Boy (Tyler, The Creator) quite a lot, along with Plume Valley (Windows96).

  • I just finished reading “Nobody I Ever Missing” and i wanna read it again!

I’ve found this poem i wrote early in July while searching for my notes, and i think it’s pretty good. As a fan of Monsieur Gustave myself, i will put on L’Air de Panache and share it:

Tired of the dark
Waiting for the tears
Like rain in the desert

Even the valiant kni
Needs an (eternal) rest.

I hope you’re staying cool through this scorching summer, and that you enjoyed this newsletter!

See you at the market or in the next one,

Cashew

PS: a lot of what i like to focus about and express in my art is about mental health and some of the struggles i face. If you can relate with some of those feelings, please make sure you talk to someone you trust and get support. I am very fortunate to have a great support system in place, so please do not worry about me (though you’re welcome to check-in) !