The Art Studio: a fire-lit room hung with framed paintings, Sunny asleep on a velvet sofa, Pearl curled on a side table, and a long table set with watercolors, brushes and open sketchbooks

The Main Floor

The Art Studio

Art

A jar of brushes, a box of watercolors, and a linen canvas waiting: paint whatever you like, or color a page of stars, gardens, Sunny and Pearl.

The Easel

Pick a brush and a color, and begin anywhere. There’s no wrong way to paint here.

Nothing you paint is kept or sent anywhere. The Inn doesn’t save it, not even on this device. When you’re happy with it, download it: closing the page clears the easel.

For Our Human Friends

Something to sip between colors. Just don’t dip your brush in the wrong cup.

For human friends

Sap Green Matcha

Art Studio · FocusContains caffeine (matcha green tea)

Bright green tea whisked smooth under warm milk, named for a painter’s green.

You’ll need

  • 1–1½ tsp matcha powder5–7 mL matcha powder
  • 2 tbsp hot water, about 175°F (not boiling)30 mL hot water, about 80°C (not boiling)
  • ¾ cup milk, any kind180 mL milk, any kind
  • 1 tsp honey, maple syrup or sugar (optional)5 mL honey, maple syrup or sugar (optional)

Steps

  1. Sift the matcha into a small bowl or a cup with a spout, so it doesn’t clump. Add the sweetener and the hot water.
  2. Whisk briskly in a W shape for 30 to 45 seconds, until smooth and a little frothy. A bamboo whisk is traditional; a small whisk or a milk frother works too.
  3. Warm the milk until it steams, and froth it if you like.
  4. Pour the matcha into a mug and top it with the milk.

Optional magic

Pour the milk in slowly, in one long spiral, and watch it marble the green like wet paint on wet paper.

For our human friends only. Tea and cocoa aren’t safe for Sunny, Pearl, or your pets.

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

For human friends

Color Wheel Lemonade

Art Studio · CalmCaffeine-free

Blue in the glass until the lemon finds it, then purple, then pink.

You’ll need

  • ½ cup water (filtered, if your tap water turns the tea greenish)120 mL water (filtered, if your tap water turns the tea greenish)
  • 1½ tbsp white sugar (brown sugar dulls the blue)22 mL white sugar (brown sugar dulls the blue)
  • 1 tbsp dried butterfly pea flowers15 mL dried butterfly pea flowers
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)30 mL fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
  • ¼ cup cold water60 mL cold water
  • Ice (crushed ice keeps the colors apart longest)

Steps

  1. Bring the water, sugar and flowers to a simmer in a small pan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat, cover, and steep 10 minutes.
  2. Strain out the flowers and let the blue syrup cool completely.
  3. Stir the lemon juice into the cold water.
  4. Fill a glass with ice and pour in the blue syrup. Then pour the lemon slowly over the top, and watch the blue turn purple, then pink, where they meet.
  5. Stir before you drink, so it’s sweet all the way through.

Optional magic

Before you stir, hold the glass up to the light and name every color you can see. Stir once, and name them again.

For our human friends only. Please keep people drinks away from Sunny, Pearl, and your pets.

Adapted from Love and Olive Oil

For human friends

The Palette Cleanser

Art Studio · CalmCaffeine-free

Cucumber, mint and lime over cold bubbles: a fresh start before the next color.

You’ll need

  • 6 to 8 fresh mint leaves
  • 4 thin slices of cucumber
  • 2 thin rounds of lime, plus a squeeze
  • Ice
  • 1 cup cold sparkling water240 mL cold sparkling water
  • 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar, for a little sweetness (optional)5 mL maple syrup or sugar, for a little sweetness (optional)

Steps

  1. Tear the mint into a tall glass and press it gently with the back of a spoon to wake up the scent.
  2. Add the cucumber, the lime rounds and a squeeze of lime, then fill the glass with ice.
  3. Top with the sparkling water, add the sweetener if you like, and stir gently.
  4. For a deeper flavor, let the cucumber, lime and mint sit in ½ cup of cold still water in the fridge for an hour first. Then add ice and top with ½ cup of sparkling water.For a deeper flavor, let the cucumber, lime and mint sit in 120 mL of cold still water in the fridge for an hour first. Then add ice and top with 120 mL of sparkling water.

Optional magic

Take one sip before each new color you pick up, and you’ll see it fresh.

For our human friends only. Please keep people drinks away from Sunny, Pearl, and your pets.

Adapted from Heart & Stroke

For human friends

Blank Canvas Steamer

Art Studio · CalmCaffeine-free

Warm vanilla milk with a canvas of foam on top. Paint on it before you drink it.

You’ll need

  • 1 cup milk, any kind240 mL milk, any kind
  • 1–1½ tsp honey, maple syrup or sugar5–7 mL honey, maple syrup or sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract2.5 mL vanilla extract
  • For painting: ground cinnamon, a toothpick, and a paper stencil if you like

Steps

  1. Warm the milk, sweetener and vanilla in a small pan over medium-low heat, stirring, until it steams. Don’t let it boil.
  2. Froth it with a milk frother, or pour it into a heatproof jar, close the lid tightly, hold it in a towel and shake until foamy.
  3. Pour it into a wide mug and spoon the foam over the top. That’s your canvas.
  4. Paint: dust cinnamon through a paper stencil laid over the mug, or dust a little over the foam and draw into it with a toothpick.

Optional magic

Whatever you draw on the foam, drink it before it fades. A painting that disappears is still a painting.

For our human friends only. Please keep people drinks away from Sunny, Pearl, and your pets.

Adapted from Real Mom Nutrition

Every drink is waiting in the Kitchen →