Hello, drawing book readers, after a very long pause! I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to update my blog for such a long time. In June, I was busy working, so that I’d have time to travel away from Calgary for the first time in a long time. In July, I have been busy taking a trip to Germany! Today, I’m finally finding some time to get caught up.
First, here’s an update about some of the projects that were keeping me so busy back in June:
An illustrated map of Calgary-Buffalo for MLA Joe Ceci!
Although Joe just announced that he will not be seeking re-election, he is just as active and busy as ever in his position of Shadow Minister for Arts & Culture. Joe wanted to send his constituents an update about the riding he represents, and as a big supporter of the arts, he had quite a creative vision. I worked with Joe’s team and with graphic designer Chris Pecora to make an illustrated map of Calgary Buffalo. I am so pleased with the way it turned out!
A new Curious Calgary zine about the Canada flag!
I worked with editor Jeremy Klaszus to put together a new zine for The Sprawl. This one is about George Stanley, the designer of the Canada flag. You may be surprised to learn that Stanley grew up in Calgary!! Take a look here, on The Sprawl website, to read the whole comic, as well as Jeremy’s deep dive into the Canada flag’s origin story.
Comics from the German drawing book
And now, some comics!
As I’ve written about in past Drawing Book episodes (like this one), I have spent a lot of time in Germany. I wrote many comics about my adventures navigating life as a teenage exchange student, and later as a flight attendant on the Calgary-Frankfurt route. When I last updated this blog, I was sharing some comics from 2003, and I had just reached a spot in the drawing book about my time spent on layovers in Mainz, back when I worked for Air Canada. Here are the next few pages. They are more sketches than comics, really.
This summer, in 2026, I came back to Germany for the first time in a long time! It was great to visit the Mainz cathedral again, which was just as peaceful and beautiful as it’s always been.
Back in this episode of The Drawing Book, I shared a comic strip about a little line of stones in a Mainz sidewalk, that I used to love. I drew this in 1998:
The line of stones is still there!
In Mainz, I used to love going to a Lebanese restaurant. It was still there, too, with the same folks and the same tasty food!
I wrote about it in a 2003 comic, shared in this episode:
And now, in 2026, here is another apology. I’m sorry for neglecting this blog during the past few weeks! Thanks to you subscribers who have stuck with me while I vanished during the past month. My travels in Germany will be continuing for a little while longer, but I promise to get back to sharing comics as soon as I can.
For now, here’s one of my favourite pictures from a 2004 German comic strip, written in a coffee shop in Mainz, where I used to work during my flight attendant layovers.
Wherever you are, I hope that you are having a good summer, and maybe a cafe latte as well!