G'day From My Garden
Newsletter 75
Hello wonderful humans, I hope you’re well and enjoying the start of Spring (if you happen to be in the southern hemisphere). We’ve had a few little glimpses into the wonders of Spring this September, but generally it’s been quite cold (especially the nights)! Instead of typing my email introduction this month, I’ve decided to send you a little hand-written note… I hope you like it! See more about what’s going on in my garden here.
VLOG
Art Classes
I’m running lots of workshops this week as it happens to be the School Holidays and Nature Festival. It would be especially lovely if you could attend this very special animal painting workshop at The Joinery this coming Wednesday October 2 (2-4pm). This community art workshop is free and fantastic for both Adults and Children. Your artwork will be scanned and included in 3 large-scale paintings that will be able to be viewed at the Nature Forum on the 12th of October. How utterly delightful, I hope to see you there!
You can see all of my other upcoming classes here too. I’ve even listed the upcoming free online classes on my website so you can see what’s coming up.
If you happen to be an Adelaide local, you might like to come along to paint birds and sip on tea at The Cedars (in Hahndorf). Step-by-step drawing sheets are provided if you’re nervous about drawing, so all you have to do is sit back and relax. The next class is October 13, Check it out here.
New Books and a Cheeky Discount
The new book feeling is pretty special, opening a box to see your art in print form is a great achievement. This month, I finished and got printed two new books I’ve been collaborating on for a good while now.
Archie the Archer Fish - a little book for young readers about an Archer Fish and his unique way of catching food. Written by Kathryn Bellette.
Puddle Jumpers - a book for Adults and Children about the importance of retaining the childhood sense of play as an Adult. Written by Mel Scherwitzel.
To celebrate the release of these new books, I’m offering a discount of 15% off of the online price of these books with code NEWBOOKS. This code will also work for my Australian Animal A-Z book of which I’m still donating $5 from every sale to the Bob Brown Foundation. I’ll continue to offer free shipping Australia wide until the end of the year too, so why not stock up and support local for (dare I say it) Christmas?!
My focus animal from the Australian Animal A-Z book book this month was the Greater Glider. These animals can glide on the wind from tree to tree some very impressive distances indeed. Check out my blog post here:
G is for Greater Glider
Hello beautiful people and welcome to Lesson 7 of ‘Aussie Animals’ - Greater Glider! I’m often shocked by how little people know about Australia’s animals. Of course, everyone knows about Kangaroos and Koalas… but what about an Antechinus or Dunnart
2025 Calendar
That’s right! I was actually organised enough this month to get a bunch of 2025 calendars printed. I decided not to include any public holidays this time so that you can happily gift it to friends and family living abroad to remind them of home. Check it out here, the printing came out wonderfully.
What I’ve Been Up To
Since the last newsletter I’ve been busy designing more collectable tins for Classica and enjoying painting landscapes every day to improve my skills. See more of my creations in my Mid-Monthly Dose of Whimsy blog post.
Your Mid-Monthly Dose of Whimsy
Hello my dears, I just thought I’d check in with a little dose of whimsy for your letterbox. I’ve had many ideas floating around my head this month of lovely things to gift you in the mail (physical and virtual) and decided that a regular little zine would be a treat!
Blog Bits
This month, I’ve had lots of thoughts on what I can offer through Substack and I how I can make it more cohesive/affordable. Every month, I’ll do four blog posts. Follow the links to example posts from this month.
My Monthly Newsletter (this one) will always be free and contain insights of what I’ve been up to, art classes, sneaky discounts and occasional freebies.
At least one Art Class (possibly more) with step-by-step drawing sheets and other useful resources.
Your Mid-Monthly Dose of Whimsy - a round up of all the fun art experiments from my month. This post will often also contain zine and sketchbook tours / downloads.
Australian Animal Focus - a look at some interesting facts about Australian Animals with insights into how I created the artworks. I voice-record these posts so you can even listen and learn while you do the dishes! Colouring-in sheets and dot-to-dot sheets will be included for paid subscribers.
On the subject of ‘paid subscribers’; all of these posts will be free but you can choose to upgrade for just $5 a month or $50 for the year. Paid subscribers will receive bonus content at the end of each post like colouring pages, PDF prints, zines, sketchbooks and other lovely things. Paid subscribers will also receive a code for 15% off in my shop every month and go in the draw to win a monthly little prize pack in the real mail.
Having a regular income every month is tricky for an artist and even just $5 (buying me a coffee) every now and then would mean the world to me and allow me to keep doing what I do.
If you’re feeling extra generous, you can choose the ‘Letterbox Legends’ option and receive a special gift pack (prints/zines/stickers/magnets) in the real mail every month along with everything else. This October I’ll be sending out a mini-print of this lovely Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo plus a physical G’day from my Garden letter and a wombat greeting card to my legends. All general $5 subscribers will go in the draw to win one too. I’ll announce the winner in my Mid-Monthly Dose of Whimsy post on the 16th of October so make sure you’re subscribed before then to go in the draw.
With love and a dose of whimsy,
Zinia