At the end of last week (just a few days ago now) something in my readings and research for my projects led me to pull out my first edition copy of Arthur Quiller-Couch: a biographical study of Q by F. Brittain (Cambridge at the University Press, 1947). I have no memory of when and where…
Category: Journal
Journal/Image Idea File of the month from private collection.
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…
“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…
Graphic Medicine. Drawing it out releases me… #potatonose
Potato Nose: 1977, the graphic novel What is graphic medicine? ‘The intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare’. — 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…
“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…
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,…
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,…
… the silken ever-expanding balloon kept me upright.
Journal entry August 9 2025 James Bowers December 30, 1950 – August 6, 2025. “Daddy” ❤️ When we met, I was the dancer, you the musician. And we became parents and creative partners. We navigated life chapters as best we could with our two spectacular children. Our homes were always FILLED with music, books, films,…
HOW MAPPING THE GENOME OF A FRUIT FLY CHANGED MY LIFE – aka how I learned to love mind mapping
HOW MAPPING THE GENOME OF A FRUIT FLY CHANGED MY LIFE aka how I learned to love mind mapping School always made me anxious. I was doubled over with stomach aches, headaches, mouth ulcers, anxiety. From kindergarten to university, I fretted about tests and grades. Even though I had been drawing and painting all my life,…
“You can’t rescue all of them…”
“You can’t rescue all of them but you rescued me.” – Reina, my cat, to me. “You can’t rescue all of them but you rescued me.” – Me to Reina, my cat.
Journal entry… “Fell into…”
June 21, 2023 6:30 PM Fell into a post-work nap (that desperate 15 min kind), then did a lagoon lap, listening to Górecki – Symphony No. 3 Final Movement twice as I visualized the choreography I have been working on. When I got home, I got a strange feeling – standing on the precipice, moving into something…
Sometimes, if I angle things just right…
Sometimes, if I angle things just right… at just the right time, I can pretend I am the only human in the park. The bird songs and gentle breeze in the trees can then seem louder than the seaplanes and distant traffic… And racing thoughts and complicated to-do lists fall away… Perhaps now and then…
I lie face up. Journal entry.
I walk east along the seawall. I look down at the ocean water. It laps gently against the rock wall. It is a hot day. I think about how long it has been since I went swimming. In the ocean, in a lake, in a pool. I imagine myself undressing, walking down the stone steps…
Yard Gone Wild #fanart #doodles
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Being steered… this way? No, that way. Ok. Got it.
A powerful time of invites, yes’s and important no’s that steer me in the direction I know I need to go. Got a bit overwhelmed from the relief and excitement, I had to soak, think and do a therapeutic bathtub doodle to get perspective. “I heard this really great quote not too long ago that…
But lately, the snaps undo too easily…
I can come into a room and lead a group through facilitation and wear the mask of confidence – and indeed I do feel a great real joy doing the work – but inside, inside I am crumbling. I wish I didn’t feel guilty for taking up space. At the grocery store cashier lineup, the…
Something amiss.
I am tired. So tired. But strangely energized. I am sad. So sad. But I lie here with a tearful smile of contentment. I am achy. So achy. But walk with a spring in my step. I feel something amiss, but I am fulfilled. I could burst into tears. My cat pokes my belly that’s…
There is an intoxicating self-indulgence in allowing myself to whine here.
July 22, 2021 Dear me, This is my S.A.D. time. Seasonal Affective Disorder is not about winter and sun lamps for me. I struggle in the summer with sunshine and these inevitable depressions. The low mood cycle has been particularly hard this past while. I am finding it hard to focus. There is energy,…
Alone time in my “backyard.”
My social anxiety is at a great height these days as I navigate all-sorts in my life. So I savour alone time and nature in my “backyard.” Today’s lagoon walk sightings and sounds included: Starlings, Crows, Sparrows, Pigeons, Herons, Wrens, Squirrels, Ducks and ducklings- mallards, wood ducks, Canada geese and goslings, Raccoons, Thrush songs, Robin songs, Eagle songs, Bugs, Dragonflies- so many! Skimmers, darners, damsel flies. Red, white tail,…
What’s the question?
I wrote in my journal this morning- “At the end of the weekend – if I stay quiet – an answer will come.” But I’m not sure what the question is! What we’re really afraid of is to be in life, in step with it and not a step ahead of it, trying to control…