Beach walks, bouquets, bridges and philosophical ruminations in comics

Dear Sarah - Day 152 of our daily drawing exchange

June 1, 2025
Hi Nikki,

For reasons that I cannot explain, I have had a strong desire to go to Witty's Lagoon lately, so today Jen and I set forth to hike down through the forest to the beach. I haven't been there for years and it didn't disappoint. The tide was way, way out and we walked and waded in the sunshine, watching herons in the shallows, eagles in treetops. Entirely satisfying.

After that we went in search of cut flowers, hoping to find a roadside stand (no luck), but we did come upon a place I'd been to before: Flower Power U-Pick, an utterly magical flower garden. And by flower garden I don't mean a bunch of manicured beds. I mean a glorious, untidy (in a good way) riot of colour and bees and birds. The gardener (Charles) has been growing flowers on this large lot for 13 years. He provides the secateurs, and tells you the stories behind the flowers as you pick. He (and his garden) are delightful.

I have attached a pic of the bouquet, as well as my first attempt at sketching it. I got the proportions wrong (flowers aren't tall enough) so I'll try again tomorrow. But it sure was a pleasant subject to sketch.

XO S

PS I also fixed up the medical stuff in All She Wrote, if you want to check it out. Thank you, Fabio.

Hi Sarah -

I can’t remember the last time I was at Witty’s Lagoon. Must go there again when I’m next on the coast… I’ve never heard of this Flower Power place… sounds fabulous! I’ll have to tell Dani (and if I forget, you should mention it the next time you two connect for scones). Sounds like it would be right up her alley.

The path to my drawing today was a bit circuitous. I was thinking about bridges, of course, but I was also reading about psychogeography and how one captures emotion on the page/in film/as a dance/in music… That led me to think about the metaphorical potential of bridges… which took me down a path of considering all the many things about which I know nothing. Which led to the question, How does one get from unknowing to knowing? Which then spiralled out of control into a whole lot of other questions and speculation (ending, as it often does, in considering what comes after death). And then, finally, I wondered if there was a way to roll all of that into a drawing.

I also wanted to draw something from an unusual perspective (here, a cartoony me from above). This drawing is meant to be ‘read’ from bottom to top.

Make of all that what you will…

I’ll pass the medical updates on to Fabio when we are both in the same place for long enough to have a conversation.

The flowers are gorgeous - but so complicated to try to draw!! Everything is complicated, when you take the time to carefully consider the subject - bridges, flowers, life, death, how to make a stabbing scene unfold in a believable manner…

See you tomorrow!

Nikki