Working for and with printmakers is great, because they teach you about *the good paper* as well as where/how to get it, instead of the cheap stuff you’ve been wrestling with for the past many years. Oh, and I guess they have pretty great stationary too 😉.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWJqy1HQhV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1p6k5a15qneyx
We spent New Year’s Eve in Cowbay eating pizza and cake with lovely pals. I didn’t take a single photo, but I blame it on the engaging conversations. And precious Napo! 💖
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGqVVhHJsl/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=j8uwpyubz0iy
Working on skin tones.
💖💜🧡💛💚💙💖
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsDhbz9HJZK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jv3hjg40lk87
Angry & Suspicious Femmes. A theme I can’t seem to stop pursuing, even in my doodles.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsA8ys8n1rP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zkoz67i840ey
Literally have no idea how I ought to position this warm up. 💖💎⚡💎💖
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br-QFiOHpmW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=55mkxpxhvvi5
I’m pretty proud of this one. A painting of me and my very first farm guardian, Santana, while we napped on the cabin floor after a big day of swimming in the harbour. It was a birthday gift for my mom 💖💎⚡.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br5dl-eHyXr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=jqosemc3w7vb
Calming as heck.
💖💎⚡💎💖
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bru9AoGnji1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=110jwq1sey07n
I’m having a hard time letting go of tension during a time of year wherein we’re all supposed to be forcing ourselves to let go of tension. It’s strange and it means I go back and forth between sitting hunched over my drawing table or lying on my back on the hardwood floor, sighing loudly. It’ll be fine, but I find myself craving an obnoxiously long massage that I’ll never go get because that means leaving my home unneccessarily during the most bonkers time of year, and also I have a deeply rooted fear that all massage therapists talk to you during a massage and paying someone to make small talk at me for an hour and a half is my literal worst nightmare embodied. (This was supposed to be a diary comic but my back hurts too much so I’m lying on the floor again 🙃).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BriY9fcHhzm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=113sujt0brequ
I did it! 2018 was one of the most challenging years of my life, but also the most rewarding! I have new and magnificent acne scars to show for it! But that being said, this really was a crazy benchmark year for me. I taught two art classes for @nscadextendedstudies, with a third coming up in March, I did more facilitating with a remarkable team from @macpheecentre and @centreavalon for some truly spectacular youth, I have illustrations that will be published IN BOOKS!!! by a press and publisher I’ve admired for more than a decade, @gaspereaupress I was on a panel with a series of guests I felt simply overwhelmed to share space with, and I am still making and selling my comics, freelance art and Stray Kitties merch. And then there’s a bunch of personal accomplishments that I will keep to myself and my family because they are private but aw heck am I ever proud of my loved ones as well. 2018 was *really* hard, but I am so immensely heartened to look back at it and yell YOU DIDN’T TAKE US DOWN, IN FACT WE ARE THRIVING NOW. Love y'all.
Ps. It’s totally okay if this was a really hard year for you and you didn’t thrive. That happens! It is a part of life, and that was 2014-2017 for me. I was clinging by my fingertips. So don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve got this. I know, because you’ve made it this far, and that’s no small thing.
Happy Holidays pals!
💖💎⚡💎💖
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrVFazXHHUT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zvym94mhclpw
I spent only about 20 minutes farting around my neighbourhood library last night, and without looking anywhere in particular, but simply wandering the stacks, I found all these fascinating books at random.
While I did this, youth were hanging out doing their homework as they waited for their parents to finish work and pick them up (at a library!!!!), a few commuters hung out in the warmth and read the day’s paper while they waited for their buses, and a group of immigrants were being taught English at various tables by volunteers.
If you don’t use the library, that’s okay! No harm, no foul! But don’t underestimate how critical these spaces are for your fellow neighbours, your fellow Canadians, your fellow human beings.
Support libraries, in every shape and form they take, even if you never use them. They improve your quality of life even when you don’t have a library card, because they improve us as a nation.
💙💚💜📚💜💚💙
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrP_lRwnbA_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=17ot80vojvc8q
