Listening to the Late-Summer Air
Between the cicadas, the crickets, and my air conditioner, I'm trying to enjoy the late-summer symphony while it lasts.
When I was a kid, my mom and I called cicadas "the heat bug" because we would always seem to hear them during the hottest parts of the summer. Hearing them buzz across the treetops takes me back to those endless childhood summers.
I'm incredibly midwestern when it comes to season changes. I love it in a cheesy way that's tied to my childhood, but also veiled in some strange midwestern adult guilt. I know it's silly, but I feel guilty every year when I’m ready to move on to fall. I'm ready for crispy fall air, and yet I feel compelled to soak up every last bit of summer before it ends. So that’s exactly what this comic is about.
I’ve come to realize I’m sort of obsessed with nostalgia while working on this newsletter over the past 15 weeks. It’s a theme that keeps coming up again and again!
Side note: I’m pretty proud I’ve been consistently sharing this newsletter every week since May now! I’m truly enjoying it, and it’s because this doesn’t feel like a one-way street of shouting into the void like so much social media does. And that’s because of YOU and your thoughtful responses! Thank you for your comments, and direct email replies, and encouraging words along the way. It really means a lot.
New Design: Lumpy Horse
A couple weeks ago, a work friend hilariously used the term “lumpy horse” in reference to a camel. I can’t even remember the full context around why she said it, but after I laughed like crazy, I asked, “Can I steal that?! I want to draw that!” She replied with an enthusiastic, “Yeah! Steal it!” So I did, and now it’s a t-shirt design that’s outside my usual illustration style, but is exactly the style I wanted it to be: simple and a little crappy on purpose—all in service to the joke.
I drew it on a post-it note during the meeting we were in because I didn’t want to forget how amazing it was. This turned out to be handy reference for later. For the final art I took a photo of my post-it, traced it a little nicer and reworked the lettering.
Maybe I’m the only oddball who thinks this is hilarious, but it brings me joy, and I hope this lumpy horse brings you some joy as well. If you want to bestow the joy of lumpy horse on yourself or others, you can find the design on Cotton Bureau and in my online store.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for your kind messages in response to last week’s post Making Space for Grief. If you missed it, you can check it out here.
Next month I’m going to share my process for creating my zine Mind the Gap. Each week, I’ll explore different aspects of the process, complete with failures and problem solving (spoiler alert: my initial plan did not work at all!). At the end of the month, I’ll share the entire zine digitally to subscribers. So if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe! And make sure these emails are going to your primary inbox and not tucked away in promotions or spam! I can’t wait to share this zine with you.