Little Gardens for Invalids

So, this “tiny hiatus” might become less-than-tiny. It’s nothing to worry about - at least, not yet - but my health is getting a little worse, and I need to spend every not-working minute practicing intense self-care. Basically, there is something wrong with my spine/spinal cord, and unfortunately the first run of tests haven’t given my medical team any answers. I’m still waiting for an MRI which will hopefully point me towards recovery. For now, here’s a little picture i made last night. I think it’s the most accurate self-portrait I’ve ever done.

Day Seventeen: Your Favourite Holiday.

Passover, duuuuh.

I mean, I friggin love all things leavened, don’t get me wrong, but I also love the excitement of preparing the house and the event-of-the-year-like mentality that goes into seders. Hours and hours of discussion, debate, song, reclining on pillows, and EATING - what’s not to love? Bonus: It’s just days away! TIMELY. RELEVANT.

Here’s a very poor quality photo of a drawing I did tonight of a seder plate.  You’ll have to forgive my Hebrew script, which looks like it was written by a not-particularly-skilled child. YEAH!

Day Sixteen: Something That Represents Your Favourite Song.

I don’t know if Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants is my -favourite- song, per se, but I do really love it, and I’ve wanted to do a lil painting of this for awhile. 

Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch! Who watches over yooooou! 

Funny story: for the longest time, A. thought the song went “You can hear him in the oven by the lightswitch/who watches over you”. 

Eventually I’ll make a rill nice version of this to tattoo on my right thigh. Aw yiss! 

Day Fourteen: A Character from Your Favourite Board Game (or Video Game).

I hate fun.

Not actually, but I do really, really dislike board games. Like, maybe in a too-intense way. My partner  makes fun of me for this all the time, saying “You hate fun!”

I don’t, though! Board games just bring out a really hideous side of me. A really hideously competitive side of me. I once (years ago) stood up on a table after winning Settlers of Catan, screaming “In your FACE! In your FAAAACE!” to the losers. 

The losers were my employees. 

So yeah, I usually avoid board games at all cost. They make my heart rate race like whoa. It’s actually hilarious except that it gives me major anxiety!

Also, I didn’t grow up with any sort of gaming console, so I have only once in my life played a video game. My friend Alison tried to teach me how to play Super Mario. After hours, I could not even clear the first level. YIPES. 

I do like playing scrabble on my phone, though. Perhaps because it’s drawn out over the course of days, my competitiveness eases up a bit.  

Day Thirteen  Twelve: A Group Picture.

I have nothing to say about this, except that I wish I was at this birthday party right now.

I’ll post today’s drawing (Day Fourteen) later today, before sundown in my time zone.

xo. 

Day Twelve  Thirteen: A Character from Your Favourite Book.

Full disclosure: today is actually Day Twelve (“A Group Picture”). I spent a couple hours (!!) on a painting of the kids from BBC’s Misfits, but it just turned out…bad. Real bad. You know those days where your pen is just not connecting to your heart, or vice versa? Today was that kinda day. 

But I really, really didn’t want to miss a day of the drawing challenge, so here’s the consolation prize: a quick doodle of Rosa Saks Clay from one of my favourite books, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,  by Michael Chabon. 

I recommend reading the book if you’re interested in:

-comics

-Houdini (and magic and picking locks)

-Judaism

-sad but beautiful prose that makes your heart hurt a lil bit

-Antarctica

These are actually ALL my favourite things. Like, I’m kinda amazed an author put all of those things in a book and I got to read it! What a world we liiiiive in.

P.S. I will do a new, awesome, and totally-worth-the-delay Group Picture tomorrow. Yeah! 

Day Eleven: Your Favourite Food.

Are there words for how much I love sammiches? No. Or at least, I sincerely doubt it. The sandwich is pretty much the most ingenious food idea I’ve ever friggin heard, and  it’s so versatile!

Above is my staple sammich: brown bread with seeds, collard greens, avocado, cheese, tomato, and mayo. But my all-time favourite is BBQ tempeh and avocado with rapini and lemony tahina on pumpernickel. YUM. 

EDIT: Holy sheeeeyut! More than 1/3 of the way through the 30 Day Drawing Challenge! 

Day Ten: Something You Couldn’t Live Without.

I puzzled over this one for awhile. Umm…sammiches? Homemade lemonade? A place to live?

But I guess what this day’s challenge is really about is this: What keeps you going? What makes your life worth living?

(COOOORNBALLAH)

And for me, it’s making things. With pens, with paper and glue. With a needle and thread or a sheet of felt. That’s what I friggin love to do!

By the way, A. & I were dog-sittin’ for the past week, so we’ve had precious little time back at our apartment for scanner-fiddlin’. Working on it! For now, you gotta take these shitty phone pictures! So sorry.

Day Nine: Your Favourite Cartoon Character.

Dudes! I’m so sorry that this post is coming a day late. I don’t use the internet on saturdays, and the days are extra long now that it’s spring, so I didn’t make this until last night and then was too tired to do a post. Wah-wah.

Here’s Huey Freeman from Aaron McGruder’s comic-turned-tv-show, The Boondocks. Obviously, it’s a controversial strip/series, and I find some of it pretty problematic. How I consume McGruder’s work as a white person is also tricky, but that’s something I could write an essay or four about, so if you have a question or would like to call me out, please do so!

All that said, I think Huey Freeman is an amazing character. Obviously, since it’s a comic strip/tv show, he’s ridiculously intelligent and hyper-conscious of racial politics for a 10-year-old-kid, but I think there’s definite truth to him, too. Kids of colour of course will have a heightened awareness of race dynamics, because duh, they deal with them daily. He’s a good big brother, a smart and sharp student, a brilliant creative mind, and super-critical and analytical of pretty much every aspect of American cultures - the ones he participates in, and the ones he rejects wholesale. Oh, and he can speak and understand Mandarin. Pretty badass.

I decided to sort of pay homage to McGruder’s style, which is super blocky with lots of thick lines, but made it my own. And I drew him more as a teenager, because he’s the kind of kid I wish I had known in high school.

Today’s drawing will go up later tonight!

Day Eight: Something with your favourite colour.

You’ve probably already guessed that this vintage-y teal-ish mint-like bluegreen hue is my favourite colour, since I put it in eeeeeverything. I have a lovely typewriter this colour that I paid too much for in Kensington Market BUT STILL LOVE, as well as the most amazing vintage breadbox in the exact same shade that I found at Goodwill for $7. I literally dove over several old ladies to grab it and almost fell on my face.

Anyway. This is a quick little illo ‘cause between medical appointments, preparations for Shabbat, and working a half day today, I wasn’t rollin’ in time. Xo!