Have you heard of TCAF? I hadn’t until I discovered the comic book world. It’s the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) and it is like THE gathering place for Canadian cartoonists/illustrators and publishers… maybe even North America. Especially, for Indie comics. I would have been SO INTIMIDATED to sign up to table in person but COVID has brought me some silver linings in access to events like this because of the festival going digital.

SO I’M GOING TO BE AT TCAF! Please check it out between May 8-15, 2021.

Some of my all-time favourite comic book artists and publishers will be there. If you are new to comics, you will SURELY find something that appeals to you at this online festival.

What will be at my vendor page?

Sober Summer Comic

I wrote this comic in the summer of 2019 and in doing so reset my relationship to alcohol. I used to worry that I may have addition issues and have THE WORST guilty hangover. A lot of people are examining their relationship with booze during the pandemic; I hope that my experience can lessen the anxiety of asking these emotional questions of oneself and normalize the process of re-examining and changing your habits.

Postcard Set – Rocky Mountain Series 2021

During our first pandemic summer, I would daydream and freeform watercolour paint scenes in my memory of our hikes in the Rocky Mountains. No photo references, just mental images and memories. I just went with the flow and went where the blobs took me. It was very therapeutic. I used the beautiful BEAM paints for all of these paintings, which felt fitting as Anong Beam hand creates these paints from the LaCloche mountain range near her home in M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island.

Locations featured on the 6 paintings:

• Baker Creek, Lake Louise
• Elbow Lake, Kananaskis
• Giant Steps, Lake Louise
• Takakkaw Falls, Yoho
• Three Sisters Mountains, Canmore
• Valley of the Waterfalls, Kananaskis

Museo De San Ildefonso is a cultural centre of Mexico and considered to be the birthplace of Mexican Muralism. Say what? Yes!

I’ve been slowly trying to improve my drawing using the techniques of perspective. It’s tough but worth it. I’d love to be able to draw pieces that “pop!” off the page. The architecture in Mexico is amazing and complex for a beginner learning perspective. The only way is to learn by doing.

Here is a study of a romantic corner in Guanajuato, a city full of colour and warmth.

This is still janky. And a bit of a strange mix of my abstract style and my comic style. So, I tried again and went minimal to see if I could get a sharper perspective.

I kinda like it! It has more pop but less character than my version with my ‘comic style’. Which one do you like?

I’m relieved that the province is taking firm measures. It’s also interesting that this lockdown experience is quite different for me compared to the first one in March 2020.

Back in the spring, I felt relieved. No longer rushing. Time for exercise outdoors. More time to focus on health and wellness. Hugs from my partner in the middle of the day. Working from home. I definitely miss seeing my family and friends in person. But I also appreciate that we have found new ways to connect.

Time has marched on and the effects of COVID have been .. well you know, enormous. My feelings this winter are a mix of exhaustion, adjustment, hope, sadness, and inspiration. There’s been some long periods of fretting too after reading the news online. The highs and lows of 2020 twist and turn like a roller coaster.

Well, dear reader, I hope you are doing OK. Take care of yourself.

I took the plunge and I’m participating in my first zine fair – Canzine by Broken Pencil Magazine with my Sober Summer comic that I created last year!

Find my ‘booth’ at at RiotGrrrl River and be sure to fill your cart with all the hella rad zines from across the country.

Visit canzine.ca and the fair starts the morning of October 24 and goes until the 26th.

It was also oddly familiar to my childhood in the village (but with less hand sanitizer and more family). We got our gardening on. Billy played guitar. I painted, read, and wrote. We road-tripped. We hiked. We focused on keeping healthy and our spirits up.

This is our beloved tree that shades our patio. I usually spend every evening reading or painting on the patio in the summer.

We made luxurious breakfasts – sometimes even on weekdays – since we are both working from home.

I babied our patio plants and it is lush out there. I think I’ve turned into one of those plant moms.

I ran three times per week. My connection with the neighbourhood is deeper; I wave to neighbours I see regularly on my route, I see repeat magpies. I marvel at the river valley in all its different weather conditions.

More childhood vibes – private BBQ parties at homes or at the lake. Bocci and yard game tournaments. Good friends who become like family. Driving on quiet rural highways, slow and easy.

Now, I know that there are lots of people who are struggling with body dysmophia and disordered eating during this time. So my potato comment is pretty insensitive. My main concerns are for health – I enjoy going to my Dr once a year and him confirming that I’m uber healthy. This year, I had luckily managed to see my Dr. for a check-up 4 days before covid blew up here in Alberta. And, he told me that I need to be careful about my yearly body weight increase.

The first month of quarantine was comfort food, snacks, special recipes… OK, ok… Easter was downright decadent. After my ‘I’m a potato” meltdown, I had a deep chat with my partner about my habits and then created a list of how I really felt about food.

• What flavours and foods do I really enjoy?
• What foods make me feel great?
• What foods do I currently eat but I don’t truly enjoy?
• What foods should I avoid?
• What ‘special treats’ are really worth it?

There were some surprises (like I don’t like doughnuts, wtf?). Anyways, with Sober Summer, I found out that creating stuff helps me make new habits. So here’s my mini-zine of my new ‘food rules’ that I intend to live by.

Some background, Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus guided me back to drawing and painting. It gave me the freedom, support, and tools I needed to teach myself. One day, my coworker forwarded me an Instagram post about her being in Calgary! I HAD NO IDEA. So I hemmed and hawed about jumping out of work to drive 3 hours down to Calgary to see her. I emailed the organizers and they hooked me up with a ticket, which I am so, sooooo grateful for.

I went, listened, sketched, talked to strangers, met Lynda Barry, cried, gave her my comic, we hugged, and I drove back to Edmonton.

It was magical.

1. didn’t know about,
2. completely loved, and
3. opened up my intellectual world a little more.

So while I was prepared for Little Women to feel old-fashioned, I gave it an open-minded approach. And I was blown away!

The Book Review

First, I found it very comforting – a family of interesting women who are both strong and soft and are also appreciated for their talents and personalities by their community. Halfway through the book, I had a revelation that it was very modern and reflected parts of my current reality.

Originally published in 1868, Alcott addresses some of the struggles and contradictions of life that women contemplate today. I found the discussion of married life, artistic endeavours balanced with family, and meditations of grief and death to be particularly relevant and Alcott shared much wisdom.

I feel that conversations of current events, like climate change, used to have a vibe of “humanity has never experienced anything like this” and this narrative makes us feel that we are alone and left to figure out the great unknown. But I, more than ever, am looking to history and seeing that this is not true and there is much to learn from the experiences of previous periods of history. We have to listen and learn better. And Little Women is a great example of learning from history in the form of literature.

Our Book Club discussion was fantastic. Louisa May Alcott’s personal history also came into the mix, which was fascinating.

The Movie Review

I enjoyed the movie directed by Greta Gerwig. It was great fun to compare the 1994 movie to the 2019 version and how the book was approached differently depending on the historical moment.

I sketched this comic in the movie theatre and then painted it the next day. It was my first solo movie date and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

After this experience, I’m suddenly into Jane Austen movie adaptations too. What is happening to me?!

I also went on a shopping spree of local artists. I felt a little silly about it later but Billy said, “If that’s your coping mechanism, that’s fine. It could be way worse.”

Billy and I got a custom portrait illustrated of us over Zoom by local artist Hamburger Hands. And I’m picking up a new hobby – embroidery! and picked up a kit from a local Edmonton artist, Florals and Floss Embroidery.

But, here’s what I created for Week 3.

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A post shared by Emily Chu (@heyemilychu) on Mar 29, 2020 at 7:08pm PDT

This song from Gene of Bob’s Burgers made me cry laugh on Monday night.

After this, I went to a play with my friend Alison at the Citadel. It was a great day.