Packing Up My Heart (and Art Supplies) for a Cross-Canada Adventure
I’m about to do something that makes me feel equal parts like a kid on the last day of school and a squirrel hoarding acorns for winter. I’m packing for a trip across Canada—and by “packing,” I mean cramming every conceivable art supply I own into my bags and hoping gravity will forgive me. Clothes? Minimal. Socks? a few mismatched ones. Sketchbooks, pens, paints, brushes, markers, and some mysterious doodads I don’t even remember buying? Absolutely essential. It’s the same thrill I had as a kid when I’d pack all my toys for a trip, leaving my socks and underwear to fend for themselves. Only now it’s a chaotic army of pencils, pens, and paints. I may not have enough shirts, but I will have enough markers to cover a small country in colour. The plan—or lack thereof—is just as messy as my packing. I don’t really have one. Not a solid itinerary, not a strict timeline. Just a general direction: westward first, the rest will follow. The prairies, Calgary, Whitehorse, and beyond—each city an...