Sketchbook 11: Landed in Vancouver

Sketchbook Chronicles: Vancouver Days

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There's a peculiar alchemy that happens when you transplant an artist to new soil. The familiar tools - pencils, paints, papers - remain the same, but everything they touch transforms. Vancouver has been this kind of transformation for me. Between the towering glass buildings that mirror clouds and the persistent drizzle that makes everything look like a watercolor, I've found my sketchbook becoming both anchor and sail - tethering me to my practice while pushing me into uncharted territories. These pages from my VFS days are as much about unlearning as they are about learning, as much about homesickness as they are about discovery.

First Steps in a New City

There's something about being in a new city that makes every stroke feel like discovery. Vancouver Film School (VFS) has become my new artistic home, complete with its own rhythms and revelations.

Life Drawing: Raw & Unpolished

My first live drawing session at VFS felt like learning to walk again. These scans (or rather, hurried phone captures - the scanner here moves with the urgency of a sleepy tortoise) are rough around the edges. But isn't that what first attempts should be? Raw, uncertain, honest.

Evening Whispers

Late-night doodles carry traces of Otto Schmit's influence. It's fascinating how other artists' work seeps into your subconscious, emerging in unexpected ways when the evening quiet settles in. My new workspace finally saw its first splash of watercolor - christening the desk with possibilities.

Class Chronicles

There's an ironic beauty in sketching classmates who've surrendered to sleep during lectures. Each drooping head and slack expression tells its own story. Fighting my own drowsiness, my pencil captures these moments of collective exhaustion. Some of my best work comes from trying to stay awake in class - perhaps boredom is just inspiration in disguise.

The Melting Point

Some days, the pencil wanders into darker territories. A human figure melting - perhaps a metaphor for how it feels to be in a new country, old identities dissolving into new ones. Sometimes the most honest art comes from these moments of transformation.

Building New Habits

They say it takes 21 days to form a simple habit like drinking water, and 221 for exercise. But what about the habit of daily painting? My latest experiment - a ghost sorcerer emerging from the pages - is part of this quest to understand how long it takes for art to become as natural as breathing.

Echoes of Beginnings

Today I found myself drawing mythological characters, just like in those early college days. Sometimes you need to revisit your artistic roots to understand how far you've come. These figures, emerging from memory and imagination, carry echoes of those first passionate sketches when everything felt possible.

Notes from the Pacific Coast

• Phone cameras make reluctant scanners, but sometimes imperfect documentation tells a truer story
• Sleep-deprived classmates make the best unwitting models
• Boredom and inspiration might be closer cousins than we think
• Old habits die hard; old drawing subjects never really leave us
• Sometimes you need to cross an ocean to rediscover your artistic beginnings

Between homesickness and discovery, between drowsy lectures and midnight inspirations, Vancouver is writing itself into my sketchbook one page at a time.

Until next time, keep your pencils sharp and your eyes open to the unfamiliar. Share your own journeys: Insta and X