Tumblr made this post a little funnier

LOOOOL

hiatus til may

Hey everyone,

I’m going to be on hiatus until the end of April. This means that Patreon will be on hold and my store will be in maintenance mode starting at the end of February. All outstanding orders will be shipped when I get the required merch to ship them (still waiting on a pin restock to arrive). After I get the current Patreon content done and shipped, I probably won’t post much art or be too active during this time and any work I am doing will be for outstanding projects.

I’ve been beyond burnt out since the start of the pandemic, correlating with my college graduation and my start as a freelance artist. The expectations I put on myself to succeed during this time were unreasonably high and my fear of failure during COVID was intense. I made it through at the cost of developing an extremely unhealthy attitude towards work and art.

I haven’t talked much about this on any of my socials since I don’t want to be a huge downer but all of this has been affecting my mental health pretty severely. The only break I really allowed myself to take during COVID was when I was forced out of working for a few weeks while recovering from GRS, and even then I was working two weeks later and up and dealing at a convention a month and a half later. I have a second round of GRS coming up in April that I need to mentally prepare for and I was dreading that being my only real break for the past few years. After an amount of convincing, I decided to just take the entire stretch of time off between now and the end of April since the alternative is me stressing myself to death trying to wrap everything up in March.

All of this is to say that I still deeply want to love art. It’s one of my longest standing interests and I attribute a lot of who I am as a person to my art and my ability to express myself. It hurts that my level of burnout has gotten to the point where I can't even engage with art without feeling intense anxiety. I’m hoping that after taking this break I’ll at least be able to shake off the worst of it.

I’m truthfully a bit terrified of taking a break this long as I’ve never really done it before. Thank you all for the support over the past few years – it means the world to me. Seeing all the positive feedback that gets left on my work is one of the big things that kept me afloat. I’ll see you all in a few months.

RAINCAT sticker sheet

by @saltmalkin

Raincoat raincat. Sporting the best wear for wet weather. This sticker sheet is printed and cut by me with fade and weather-resistant vinyl. 

Can’t get enough @saltmalkin art? Good news—use code TUMBLR10 for 10% off any order from their store.

INKBLOT sweater

by @saltmalkin

The void devoid. Inspired by my cat Lily and her never-ending amorphous shapes.

Can’t get enough @saltmalkin art? Good news—use code TUMBLR10 for 10% off any order from their store.

hey look it's me! :D

Laney (@saltmalkin)

Hi, I'm Laney! I'm a queer artist based out of California, painting by day and obsessing over miniatures by night. I create apparel, stationery, and accessories with a heavy feline influence. I also occasionally list my watercolor originals and other limited-run items. My art is inspired by themes of fantasy, animals, and my Asian heritage mixed with vibrant colors and whimsical obsessions.

Can’t get enough @saltmalkin art? Good news—use code TUMBLR10 for 10% off any order from their store.

Is it possible to get a print of your "the sun will rise and you will be warm again" piece? I lost my cat of ten years a year ago, and even now seeing that piece of yours brings me comfort as it did in those earlier days of her loss.

I looked in your store and didn't see it so I thought I'd ask. Thank you for your time!

Hey there! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - was super swamped with cons over the winter. Losing a pet is never easy, I'm really touched to hear that my art helped you through that period. <3

I added the print to my shop for you https://www.saltmalk.in/product/warm-again-print

starstuff

hey! its the noelle kinnie who bought stuff at fc this weekend! im curious if theres a story behind this character? me and my boyfriend independently bought a print and patch and i noticed they were of the same fella

hello!! thanks for stopping by my table <3

his name is briar! he's a werewolf that spawned a long time ago when I was doing IFS work

Hello! I occasionally see your blog on my suggested tab, and I've always kind of read your username as being the name of the little creature in your icon. Like, its name as a species - as in, 'the salt malkin'. I imagined it might be a little guy that scuttles around near salty tide pools, perhaps. I was going to ask if you've given it a more canon name/lore, but I just realized that it's actually a cat! I had been mistakenly envisioning the front legs as mandibles, and hind legs as salamander-type legs. which I guess is quite accurate of black cats; from afar all the shapes meld together in a goofy and mysterious way!

Ahaha you're actually not the first to say this. I like that it looks like a weird lil bug. Black cats are certainly the blobbiest creatures there are

Hey!

I just really wanted to say that your art is absolutely beautiful !! The detail, the colors, it’s all so stunning and I wanted you to know you’ve inspired me to pick up my watercolors again, for the first time in a year or so. I feel bad not asking a question, so…favorite animal?

Thank you so much! Best of luck with your watercolor journey. <3

I feel like it's cheating for me to say cats but, cats for sure

When you do art with both colored pencil and watercolors, which do you do first? And is it always planned or like you realized you needed depth and shading? My grandmother used to do watercolors so I'm curious to know your method. Your art is lovely!

I usually do first two washes, then colored pencil detail, then a wash over, then detail work with colored pencil. Not always the case but usually how it goes!

All set up at FC! Table 30 in the west wing. Come say hi 🐱🧡

bottle of cats

heart

jsut wanted to say that ur art is so so gorgeous!!! it really inspires me to draw as well, and i hope i can soon buy a print or two <33 have a good day!!

thank you so much <3 best of luck with your art as well

Is using your art as icon with credit is ok?

That's fine!

Store open! Got a bunch of originals and new prints for sale alongside the heavily requested sweater restock ahead of the holidays. saltmalk.in