“November 21, 1948” As I was creating my graphic novel, Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press 2025), I made a list of sounds corresponding to events that were happening (sounds I imagined happening internally and sounds I knew may be happening externally) on November 21, 1948 when Joseph O’Dwyer walked in a psychotic state across…
Category: Graphic Novel
Shared views of graphic novels in progress
Reclaiming autonomy
For the first time in a long while, the future feels brighter. Scratch that. The present feels brighter and the year ahead feels lighter. Big news: Two of my graphic novel projects have received Canada Council grants for Artistic Creation. The funding will support research and development for both books. The deeper work on those…
Behold the handmaid of the moon…
Hanora (Norah) Morriss O’Dwyer (February 19, 1900 – September 19, 1963 Released in May 2025 with Conundrum Press, Salt Green Death is my 21-year journey into the documented life of Joseph O’Dwyer (1929 – 1963). My graphic novel pieces together patient files, archival fragments, and historical research. While the book is Joseph’s story, today I (re)turn to the…
Notes from the Studio: Projects, Process, and What’s Ahead
I won’t go too deeply into what last year was like. It was an extreme year, marked by both real hardships and real gifts. There were intense highs and lows and moments of scarcity, but also the grounding presence of family, friends, creativity, and a surprising amount of travel. The artist’s struggle is alive and…
Bean Around Books Bookstore Appreciation Day Dec 6 2025
A day of books, coffee, community and joy! What a delight to present Salt Green Death and to listen to incredible readings by local authors at Bean Around Books today in Maple Ridge BC. Huge thank you to my brother, Fredrik Thorsen, for introducing me to this magical place!
“Maybe some day you can write a book about your adventures.” A letter from Pierre Berton, 1973 #potatonose
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) Of his forty-seven books, this was Berton’s personal favourite, partly because the characters were inspired by his own children. The Secret World of Og brought the author more fan mail than anything else he wrote – at least a dozen letters a week from children across…
30 HOURS TO GO — FINAL PUSH #potatonose
As we head into the last stretch of my Kickstarter, a gentle reminder: Kickstarter is all or nothing. If I don’t reach my goal, the project won’t be funded. And yet, whatever happens, I am profoundly grateful! And if I fall short, please know: your encouragement has already carried me so far. I’m honoured to…
Kickstarter Campaign! Potato Nose: 1977
My new Kickstarter Campaign is now live and runs Oct 24 – Nov 20, 2025 Potato Nose: 1977, the graphic novel A tragicomic memoir of pubescent anxiety and ecstatic delusion “If you read someone else’s diary, you get what you deserve.” ― David Sedaris THE PROJECT I am seeking funding for artist subsistence to begin…
THE ARTIST’S HUSTLE: 54 HOURS TO GO #potatonose
As the Kickstarter campaign for Potato Nose: 1977 enters its final hours, I find myself doing the classic artist’s hustle: sharing, posting, reminding, and hoping I’m not annoying everyone in the process. It can feel uncomfortably narcissistic, especially when the project is based on my own teenage diary. But this campaign was never launched because…
My subway card, 1977, Stockholm #potatonose
Mitt älskade Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) 35-kronorskort från 1977. Halva priset jämfört med 70-kronorskortet som vuxna fick betala för. Tjockt lager med månadsklistermärken. Jag hade ett extra kort som jag mekade med för att komma in på klubbar som minderåriga i årskurs 11/12 i Vancouver. Jag pratade bara svenska och de släppte in mig! — —…
Love Letter to M. #potatonose
M. and I shortly before I moved back to Canada: Potato Nose: 1977, the prologue (and eventual graphic novel) will be a love letter to M. and our strange intense mystical world. It will also be an apology to her. I let her down. I would love to create this project for her. And for…
“Potato Nose gets frightfully romantic…”
My new Kickstarter Campaign is now live and runs Oct 24 – Nov 20, 2025!!! Potato Nose: 1977, the graphic novel A tragicomic memoir of pubescent anxiety and ecstatic delusion “If you read someone else’s diary, you get what you deserve.” ― David Sedaris It was a shock to the system for me to move…
I read between the lines… #potatonose
Karin Kristina Thorsen (September 17, 1936 Hudiksvall, Sweden – November 8, 2008 North Vancouver, Canada). Today marks 17 years since my mother died from pancreatic cancer. I had an absolutely extraordinary mother, “Mamma.” My childhood was a typical 1960’s – 70’s middle class life and my brothers and I were lucky to be well-fed and…
Chewing on the importance of diary keeping #potatonose
I was headed to a middle school in New Westminster yesterday on the Skytrain (to facilitate a dialogue session with teachers on their School Growth Plan as they explored creatively – with pens and paper – how to make the plan more engaging and meaningful in the classroom). On the train, I was chewing over…
Developing the image…
Recall: Tonight I am driven to further developing the image I saw in my head (a metaphoric approach for a project in research phase): Journal entry September 22, 2025 (“Potato Nose Diaries” Archive Project): There is danger in hopelessness My path is tangled with more fear than courage More shame than pride More…
Tonight’s diary sketch. “I climb the ladder…”
An image came to mind today as I walked in the park… An image attempting to visualize both my internal weight and a concept for a simmering project. Tonight’s diary sketch captures partly the final image that I want to develop. I let the lines and watercolour be what they needed to be, without thought,…
Chanterelles, Lily of the Valley and daisies were her favourites…
I dedicated my graphic novel, Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press, 2025) to my parents (Karin Thorsen September 17 1936 – November 8 2008. Roar Thorsen August 8, 1930 – October 25 2012). Not only did my parents shape me (sculpting me into the strange rag doll I am today), and not only did their personal …
DRAW-bitch-DRAW!
A similar mantra was on repeat the final months when I was completing my debut graphic novel, Salt Green Death. The second graphic novel is now in full swing. It is a collaboration. (Stay tuned!) The visual narrative script was completed by the spectacular author whose short story the new book is based on. The…
Fredrik Strömberg: journalist, author and academic
In English: Journal sketch of Fredrik Strömberg [drawn from his selfie as he stands in the Comics Archives – Seriearkivet in Malmö, Sweden.] As I reflect on this wild rollercoaster ride of the past year since Summer 2024, I pause at the extraordinary experience of attending STOCKHOLMS INTERNATIONELLA SERIEFESTIVAL 2025 (SIS25) back on May 24-25,…
Nature Moves Through Carcasses Embroidered Drawing
Nature Moves Through Carcasses (Embroidered Drawing) (Video and Music by Julian Bowers) Nature Moves Through Carcasses pays tribute to Molly O’Dwyer—a young woman whose life and memory became the emotional and narrative catalyst for my graphic novel Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press, 2025). The embroidered drawing process is one of my most personal approaches to…
Conveying information through different drawing techniques
The main character in my graphic novel, Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press, 2025), is Joseph O’Dwyer. My book is a true story centred on a Joseph’s patient records of his treatments for schizophrenia between 1948 – 1963. Joseph’s story and family saga is based on 21 years of research. — TODAY’S SAMPLE PAGE: — On…
With not being able. No. Never. A dream…
I am friends with my neighbourhood crows. They visit my window. They say hello when I go for a walk. Once they met me at the False Creek Ferry at the Aquatic Centre and followed me home, west along the seawall, to my apartment close to Stanley Park. The other day I came across a…
Today – June 12 – holds personal significance for me
Today holds personal significance for me. June 12th marks the birthday of Joseph O’Dwyer, the main character in my graphic novel, Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press, 2025). His patient file is the main source for the project. Joseph was born on June 12, 1926 (99 years ago) in Cashel, Ireland. The journey of bringing this…
Creative process: Girl in a Wetsuit Study
Girl in a Wetsuit (1972) is a life-size bronze sculpture by Elek Imredy of a woman in a wetsuit, located on a rock in the water along the north side of Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada This study is part of the development phase for my second book, Full Bleed, a graphic novel…
Evolving portrait of my Norwegian grandfather.
A larger project is in development: arts-based inquiry as a deeper approach to ethnographic methodology. As I process and develop a proof of concept for one component of the larger project – a graphic novel about my stoic Norwegian grandfather, Gunnar Thorsen and the generational effects of his POW experiences in WWII – I need…
June 16, 1904. The eyes of Joyce…
June 16, 1904. Lá Bloom (Bloom’s Day, in Irish). 120 years! Reading Ulysses for the past couple of years (in English and in Swedish) while working on my current book is both magical and integral to my creative process. I am in the final month of completing my graphic novel. It’s a glorious, terrifying and…
Following the thread…
JOSEPH (working title) is an experimental graphic novel series (in process). It is an Irish immigrant, Vancouver-based, family saga spanning 1924 – 1963. I use primary sources and creativity to build the true story. This is a work of creative nonfiction born out of historical research. I attempt to stick to the facts and avoid…
How it starts… How it ends. Visualizing archival research.
Exposed old wallpaper, interior wall, bottom of the stairs, at the side entrance of my 92 year old building. (Sketch in progress)