Ocean & sky, sparks and fire

Dear Nikki/Dear Sarah--Oh what the hell! Day 386 of our daily drawing exchange.

Dear Nikki,

Another beautiful day here, but only a 20-minute walk. Back is better, but still sore. Today I did another JH assignment: create a colour background and add words. I did simple watercolour wash and added words from “Walls,” one my favourite Tom Petty songs. The song starts out “Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks/ Some doors are open, some roads are blocked.” I heard him sing it in Vancouver a month or so before his death. If I ever got a tattoo, it would say “Half of me is ocean, half of me is sky.” Or “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

Until tomorrow evening.

XO S

Hi Sarah -

oh, what a great quote! And, yes - I could see this as a tattoo.

There’s a scene in The Stronghold where our hero is writing a letter to his mother by lamplight. I wanted to start with colour instead of line, so I roughed in washes of watercolour and then inked in a few key lines with a very fine-tipped pen after the fact. There’s something lovely and warm about the colours of an oil lamp -

Came home this evening buzzing with inspiration after leading part 1 of a 2-part slam poetry workshop. The group was delightful - and even though it was late when I arrived back at my desk, and I still had a couple of emails and phonecalls to take care of, I was eager to sit down and draw. Making something from nothing, filling a blank page - watching others pull words from the ethers and making them come to life when spoken aloud - alchemy. Fire. Yes, I am aglow. That doesn’t bode well for being able to fall asleep, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay.

See you tomorrow evening when, I hope, I still have a bit of spark left for our writing session.

Until then - Adieu
Nikki