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June's Letter

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June's Letter

No. 24

Julia Jane Martens
Jun 1, 2023
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June's Letter

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Hello friends, I hope this little letter, dropped at your virtual doorstep, finds you well.

If you have been here with me for a while, you may notice something different: I’m writing to you directly from Substack instead of my website. This is because my website host only allows me to send to 200 subscribers monthly, and you folks have surpassed that significantly over the past month, and I wanted to find a way to keep you all. So here we are! Now you’ll be able to look back on my monthly newsletters whenever you wish, as they’ll be stored safely here on Substack. So have patience with me as I figure this new site out.

Thanks for reading The Consortium of the Curious Few! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

I have so much to share with you!

Firstly, I posted an April Studio Vlog over on my YouTube in the middle of May. Look out for May’s Vlog sometime next week!

This past month I’m so grateful to have welcomed so many new friends on both Instagram and Tiktok. One of my Tiktoks and Instagram Reels got a lot more attention than I was expecting, which is both an exciting and stressful experience. I still have such a rocky relationship with being perceived to that extreme extent online. Which is funny, I know, as I am literally posting myself all over the internet. Alas.

This month started off with limited art plans on my end, only to work on a personal project. After these videos went viral, I was hit by a colossal amount of orders and have spent my month packing them. It’s been so much fun, I’ve been binging The Art History Babes podcast while I pack orders, and had to cart off a literal hockey bag to the post office.

I am so grateful for all of you that found me over the course of this last month, and have decided to stick around.

In between packing orders, I had the stupidly ambitious idea to create a book in two weeks so I could have it physically in time for my markets in June. I had a sudden spurt of inspiration for a 12 illustration story, and knew I needed to complete it now. Last year I made a Snow White booklet, which was my first attempt at an illustrated story. Now I feel so much more experienced and wanted to create something new to be proud of. And so, I present to you, Those Tricky Hands Of Fate. It has been illustrated, edited, and ordered. I’m just waiting on it to arrive! I can’t wait to share it with you.

Other things I’ve been up to in May:

me and ty put up posters of my art in town.
i got two tattoos.
i shadowed the set designer for a theatre production.

And folks, we’ve reached that exciting time of the year when summer markets are starting to pop up. If you don’t know, every summer and holiday season I sell my illustrations at local markets! So here is this year’s list, I’ll be sure to update it for you as I sign up for more:

Market Dates 2023

June 25th, 10am-2pm - Downtown Chilliwack Market

July 1st, 1-6pm, Canada Day Culture Showcase at Rotary Stadium Abbotsford

July 7th, 5-10pm - Fort Langley Night Market

July 16th, 10am-2pm - Downtown Chilliwack Market

July 28th, 5-10pm - Fort Langley Night Market

August 6th, 10am-2pm - Downtown Chilliwack Market

August 12th, 11am-4pm, Chilliwack Mural Festival

August 19th, 10am-4pm, Chilliwack Pride Festival/Market

August 25th, 5-10pm - Fort Langley Night Market

October 14-15th, 11am-5pm, All Hallows Eve Market

Hope to see you there!

little treasures to share:

  • on my ongoing quest to watch all of Wes Anderson’s movies, I just watched The Darjeeling Limited. I loved the characters, I loved the quiet plot-line. But it doesn’t surpass my favourite so far, The Royal Tenenbaums.

  • I teach art lessons to a few local kids, and I always try to find ambience videos to play in the background. I stumbled upon this one and listened to it ironically at first, but now I actually like it. I listen to it more than I care to admit.

  • I saw Mannequin Pussy live in Vancouver, they were so good.

  • I’m working on making a creepy little goat doll, for no reason other than seeing if I can do it. I’ve sewn her body (with the experience of one grade nine class), and painted her little limbs. I promise I’ll share soon, but in the meantime I need to figure out how to make her head.

Thank you so dearly for reading. Feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading The Consortium of the Curious Few! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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