Hi, drawing book readers! It took me a while to write this up, because the summer holidays are coming to an end, and there’s so much to do! But, I managed to put something together for this weekend’s episode. Here are today’s comics from my old sketchbook journal series!
I realized that our first page today picks up from the last page of the previous episode. So, I’ll include a bit of that last page here. Here, I’m remembering having my horoscope cast, eight years before…
On this next page, it’s 2001. I’m thinking back to that horoscope… and writing about how much my life has changed, since I moved to Calgary in 1997 to start working as a flight attendant with Air Canada.
On that last page, I mentioned the way things change slowly – “like watching the landscape change from a train.” Not just any train. Back in 1994, I took the train from Thompson, Manitoba up to Churchill on the Hudson’s Bay – an all-night ride that started in a pine forest and ended on the tundra. I’ll never forget it!!
And as for those clothes: wow! My mom was a pretty stylish dresser. Her closet was always full of evening gowns and fancy things that were fun to try on, but that I was never brave enough to wear in public!
Next, a conversation with myself…
This next page: well, non-linear storytelling is really cool, but it might be a bit tricky to see on a screen. There’s lots of small text – sorry! But it was fun to draw it (at a late-night coffee shop just off 1st Street SW in Calgary’s Beltline district, I still remember). There are a few movie references in here: A Room with a View, Flash Gordon, and Serpico… not to mention a nod to Goscinny & Uderzo. And an instance of shameless name-dropping (T. S. Eliot).
And on this last page: Once again, I’m wearing the cozy coat I bought in New York City a few episodes before – forget about those crazy evening gowns from my mom’s closet! I drew this at Thai Sa-On restaurant, which was a lovely place to go back then. It’s still around! You should try that pad thai!
As for the bath music: yes, Annie Lennox’s “Diva” album was my go-to bath music back then… in later years, it became my standard music for cutting out the giant sheets of paper I used for graphic recording gigs. It’s just such peaceful, calming music!
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is pretty lovely, too. (I remember hearing it on my radio while lying in bed, in my late teens… I listened and listened, until the DJ announced the name of the track. I wrote it down on with a pencil on a piece of scrap paper and carried it around to a few record stores until I could find it for myself! Those were the days.)
This summer, it rained a lot in Calgary. It’s sunny now, which is nice. But honestly, I really loved the rain. After a few years of drought, we really needed it. I’ve been doing a lot of gardening for the first time in a couple of years, and the rainy days were perfect. Actually, I really wanted to write about gardening this week, instead of posting comics… but I just didn’t have time to write it all down. Maybe that will be the next episode!
I might skip next week – there’s a lot to get done before school starts! But I’ll be back the following week. Thanks for reading along, and hope your days are full of peaceful music, comforting clothes, and illuminating internal monologues with yourself!