Spring news

Coming out of the (winter) torpor

Chloé Cashew
March 30, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Hello there ~

I’ve been preparing this newsletter for the past month - my initial draft said “this winter is coming to an end, and yet i don’t feel ready for spring”, and in fact, i was not ready. March has been a tough month, but as the month went on, we turned it around and i feel much better!

Winter wasn’t completely idle either as i have a lot of ideas and projects, and i’m now able to lock in to start complete some of them!

Let’s get into it :)

France sketches

Starting off with crispy sketches from my trip to France!

We enjoyed visiting some museums including Paris’ Natural History Museum.

I had the pleasure and joy to hang out with my childhood bestie and watch them play Death Stranding 💖

What i imagine the invisible creatures in DS look like.

A cozy spread from bestie hangs!

The majestic Pork Chop.

More museum stuff!

island time

Later in the season, i visited Bowen Island for the first time, and liked it a lot! I’m very fond of the Gulf Islands, each of them has a particular vibe and they all make me feel at home and childlike.

View from our rental.

Beach sketches and miscellaneous

A beautiful deer hung out outside our room one wet morning.

recharging/introspecting

Most of the winter has been spent working on my healing, being gentle with myself and exploring some other parts of me that needed to rise to the surface.

My body often fights the relaxation it craves.

Sometimes things need to come out, and you just gotta let them.

cats, oldies and gender

Finally, a few other pieces i wanted to include.

Our cat has been very fond of the little fireplace.

What i imagine humans would look like as sphinxes.

An old painting from my concept art mentorships.

Last but not least, a piece that i just finished, and i’m very proud of it! I recently came out as non-binary to our group of friends, and consequently explored what it means to me, and feeling more comfortable in how i express my gender :)

Boy/girl mom/dad they/them

there are two dogs in me

one boy, one girl

and they’re both non-binary

(also one of them is a cat)

Tool of the month!

Unfortunately my favourite coloured pencil has disappeared so i can’t show you my absolute favourite current tool BUT i’ve been enjoying sketching with coloured pencils in general!
I carry a mix of Polychromos from Faber-Castell and Prismacolour Premier which both have a lot of pigments and are very tender and smooth.

Guest appearance from a couple of Holbein pencils.

What else ?

I have a bunch of zine and stories projects that i’m working on putting up online before i make physical versions. You can find my older story Doors in an updated format on itch.io! Feel free to bookmark the page for future additions.
I switched away from my ye olde laptop and started setting up a desktop on which i’ve decided to install Linux Mint (because we ✨ hate ✨ capitalism), and started learning how to use Krita for art! Lots of learning ~

Inspirations

I’m always inspired by Logan/tachyonart’s art - so much so that i started a newsletter because i loved theirs so much.
I read this incredibly heart-wrenching comic by Saige9 - warning, you will cry and hug your pets dearly after.

Playlist

🎶 Cult of the Lamb // Deathcounsciousness // Mezzanine // Kahamalan 🎶

That’s all i have to share for today! Well, i always have way too much to share, but in trying to keep this a little light, this is all i chose. I will be trying to make sketchbook tour videos sometime this year, so you can see more of what i sketch.

What's something new you've learned lately, or will be taking on this spring?

If you've enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend or buying me a coffee!

See you next month(ish),
Chloé