Letters from Austin Lan

Love you can hold

Issue #5 Stay Soft little frog (and worm) : Some playful details on my new postcards I've always loved snail mail. There's something very special about seeing something in your mailbox that was clearly handled with care. Even when it's expected, it always feels like a surprise. I love the feeling of curling up in a chair to unwrap the treasures inside — an act of love packaged in physical form. Since the little drawings I shared in last month's letter, the idea of starting a mail club hasn't...

3 days ago • 2 min read

Staying Soft

Issue #4 Trying to stay soft despite it all The weeks have been passing in a flash. I've had construction happening at my apartment, so my home studio has been more than a little interrupted. I also recently passed the one-year anniversary of my studio practice being reborn, which has given me plenty to think about. And, as usual, I've been having a lot of feelings. What I've been making instead Each day, I've been making a small drawing, like the frog above: sometimes just something I...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

A woman with goat horns, clutching another horn, painted in soft watercolor washes

A Goat, a Goddess, and New Mythology

Issue #3 Come Fate or Highwater, 16x20 This month I started thinking about goats. Next year is the Year of the Goat, and the year I was born. One superstition claims that only one in ten children born under its sign will live happy lives — a belief that has literally shifted birth rates in China. As someone who's always been drawn to myth and folklore, I've struggled with my relationship to it. I turned to other cultures and found more stories: the ritual scapegoat sent into the wilderness...

3 months ago • 1 min read

Small Moments of Abundance

Issue #2 Tomatoes, 11x14 (2026) This month I went home to California for the first time in a while. I called it my "artist retreat." Away from my studio and my normal routines, I tried to reconnect with the images that make me stop and pay attention. I came home with dozens of photographs of what I'm beginning to think of as small moments of abundanceTomatoes showing off at a summer market, light filtering through trees, and cats lazing in the afternoon sun. I'm excited to see what they...

4 months ago • 2 min read

I thought I'd be staring at the sky more

Issue #1 Letters from Austin Lan Skinny Dip (2026) I’ve been busy. When I first stepped away from full-time work, I imagined my life as a full-time artist would be full of quiet artist moments—staring up at the sky, long pauses, stillness. While there are moments of peace, there is also a lot of movement -- making, experimenting, connecting, and wondering. Read on for snapshots: Year of the Horse Year of the Horse art prints. Signed and numbered edition of 75, $25 A large part of my attention...

5 months ago • 1 min read