Letters from the Forest
You’ll receive art in progress, musings, and stories from the forest every two weeks.
Cold mornings in my forest studio
It's getting cold in Friburgo and the heater is on for quite a few hours every day. Yuki, the cat, loves it! He sleeps by the foot of the heater whenever it's on. Another noticeable change as winter approaches is the short amount of daylight. To be honest, I miss the sunlight coming through the studio window in the afternoons. On the other hand, our oranges are almost ready to be picked. 😋 Work In Progress I'm currently working on sketches for my next piece. I want to continue exploring the...
Help me write my next video
Hello from my studio in the mountains! Painting a white flower on a white background is considered one of the trickiest things in watercolor, but is it really? That's what I'll talk about in my next video, and I'll use this white African iris watercolor painting as an example. Is there anything you'd like to know about it? Reply to this letter, there's still time to include your questions! 🤍 From the heart of my forest studio, Lia 🌿 Letters from the Forest, by Lia CaldasP.O. Box 96871, Nova...
A painting for a hundred years
Dear forest friend, Last Sunday was Mother's Day. After spending the morning with my husband's mother in Rio, we picked up my aunt at the airport and went to Saquarema, another city, to celebrate with my mom. While moving from one place to the other, I called my grandma to wish her a happy Mother's Day and asked her what she thought of the video about her. She can't understand English, but she loved watching the painting process. In the video, I'm sharing the process from choosing the...
Between the garden and the editing desk
Hello from the forest! Recently we planted two types of mandevillas in our garden and they are both blooming. It's autumn in Brazil and they are expected to bloom until the end of the season. This one bloomed yesterday and I captured all the angles to use it in a botanical study: In my last video, where I talk about losing momentum, I mentioned that I was going to paint something special for my grandma who was going to be 100 years old in March. I did it! Now I'm finishing the video with the...
One name, three meanings
Great News! 🎉 I'm sipping my coffee looking out the studio window as I write you this letter. It's been a while, I know, but I have news to share. My art community now has a new name: Drawing Nature. I've decided to use it because of its beautiful triple meaning and I'd love to tell you about them. Visit the Drawing Nature page #1. Drawing as mark-making on surfaces "Drawing nature" can refer to the act of sketching, drawing, and painting elements of a landscape, or different species of...
A strange beginning to the year
It’s hot and rainy here in the forest, and I’m having a hard time keeping my hands dry enough not to smudge graphite on the paper while drawing. Still, the work continues. The year started full of surprises At the beginning of January, my grandmother fell and broke three ribs. She’s 99 years old and will turn 100 in March. She lives in a different state, São Paulo, and I’ll be visiting her soon. At the same time, my mom also fell and broke her arm, so I spent some time with her in Saquarema,...
An invitation to individual art sessions
Hello! I have great news to share! I’m opening 5 spots for individual art sessions. These sessions are focused on conversation, looking at your work, and talking about process. We can talk about drawing, painting, art materials, visual language, choices, and direction. They’re for artists who already work with drawing or painting and feel the need for an external eye, or feel a bit stuck or scattered, and want some direction in their work. Each session is one hour, online, and it can be in...
One Year of Showing Up
It’s 9 PM where I live, and finally there’s some relief from the heat that has been punishing people in Rio for the last few weeks. It’s the hottest summer in many years! Considering how hot it is here in the mountains, I can only imagine what people are going through in the city. I hear that some are even spending the night at the beach. I'm lucky to live at a higher altitude! 🙏✨ 'Day and Night', pencil drawing, 2023. First Year Anniversary 🎉 January 2025 was when I started taking YouTube...
A Small Gift to Help You Plan the New Year
I like New Year’s Eve. It’s my favorite holiday! 🌟 It’s an opportunity to revisit everything I’ve done during the year and make plans for the next one. I love it! Sunset at Saquarema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while visiting my mom for Christmas. A few weeks ago, while I was starting to review my year and think about what I’d like to happen in 2026, one of the things that caught my attention was that I’d like to be more consistent with what I post. When I created Letters from the Forest,...
My Christmas Watercolor Tutorial Is Live
It’s Sunday evening and I’m writing you this letter as I watch the new moon smiling at me over the eucalyptus trees. I can’t believe the year is almost finished! 2025 is the year I finally started publishing art videos on my YouTube channel, after putting it off for so many years. I’m even pondering if I have enough time to put a retrospective video together before New Year’s Eve. We’ll see… This weekend I published my first watercolor tutorial with a comprehensive step-by-step process video...
You’ll receive art in progress, musings, and stories from the forest every two weeks.