Tag Archives: Mississauga

42,2 km – Part II

94 MarathonB_Finish.jpg

So this was my first ever marathon, completed in a whopping 5h45min! (See my finish video and some pictures here, the exact personal time is 5h42:52)

I haven’t decided yet if I want run another full one. As you can see I got stiff knees for a few days post-race. But I was fairly better at the Sudbury French bookfair!

However, half-marathons are perfect for me: I completed the first part of the race in a fairly good 2h20!

The training (with a half-marathon group as there was no full training instructor available last January) took long hours from my writing and comics creation. I’d love to run a full 42,2 k under a more favorable weather!

My next race is this Sunday, a 15-km at the Bread and Honey Festival, of Streetsville.

42,2 km

The first part was super-easy! my best time ever for a half! The weather was perfesct and the rain abated. But my legs rebelled after the 26th kilometer, and the part near the lake Ontario was a freezing, damp, runninghell!

To be continued…

A marathon is like two half-marathons, one after the other, right?

Well, my legs did not agree with this optimist assessment!

 

Training and Drawing

93SeriousRunning

It seems that my marathon training is getting in the way of drawing!

The event is in three weeks…

Street Apples

StreetApples

 

This apple tree was there long before the neighbourhood was built, a remnant of the farmstead that once occupied this strip of land.

It was a small wonder to have trees like this, belonging to no one, and giving away its fruits. It was a small, gnarled tree that had been ill for some years, and his fruits spotted, acid, imperfect. I knew the city would remove it eventually, but never forgot to offer my thanks.

The poem did rhyme in its French form, but I endeavoured to keep the rythm alive.

 

My Resolution Run

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85NightRunResolution

Yes, we do watch the X-Files !

The Resolution Run is an annual event by organized by the Running Room. They hold bi-weekly runs open to every one, and in winter it is better to run in a group, because of the danger of falling on ice.

There was not much snow at the 2015 RR, but half-melted, darkened snowpacks were abundant. Despite what the comic may let you think, there were crews presents, cheering us at various points on the 5-km route, so no “dark” places. 

It was a good run with the moon peeking through the branches, ominous and magnificent.

The 2011 Mississauga 24-24 challenge

Last October 2nd and 3rd , the Mississauga Bookfest was celebrating the Central Library’s 20thanniversary. As I was among the guests, I attended, meeting with fine local authors : writers, historians, poets… and even a robot (what an occasion for a SF author!)

A robot was even present!

The robot is on the left.

Local Authors signing tables at the Central Library

Even our mayor Hazel visited! The writers were supposed to be outside, but the harsh winds forced the organizers to set our tables inside.

Image Collections table at the Mississauga Bookfest

Local bookshops like Image Collections were present, too. We can see Todd, the manager (long hair) at the table. Next to his was the Celtic Shaman table.

On to the 24-24 at the Image Collections comic shop of Streetsville!

In the evening, I packed my boxes and went to the Image Collections shop, to partake of the 24-24 challenge under way since midday! I goThe artists on Saturday evening, 8 hours into the challenge. t there around 18h.

The artists at 20h Saturday, eating pizza and pondering their stories. Todd always feeds us well! The challenge is to produce 24 comic pages in 24 hours, and is done everywhere in the world on that week-end.

A 18h20, I sat at the table, « for a few minutes  of doodling», telling myself that if I got too tired (after my full day at the Mississauga library), my husband could drive me home from the shop.

I eventually found a story corresponding to the « Species Change » theme, set in my own Science-fiction universe. At ten o’clock, I was confident enough to tell my husband: I stay here for the night!

Then, I worked all night, one page every 50 minutes, with my blue pencils. Had some trouble with the 0.7 mm blue mechanical pencil, always breaking, so I switched for a more classic pencil.

The morning after

The artists at seven the next morning. Tiffany have given herself totally to the challenge… note the superb coloured pages she managed to produce!

Of course, as I was late, this was a 24-18 rather than a 24-24 for me. So I opted out of a fully completed comic, as I did last year. I manage the full night with only two coffees (meaning, a brisk walk to the Tim Horton at 4 am) and one chocolate milk carton.

Todd did play some awful or bizarre music to keep us awake!

A nice pencilled page

Here is one page pencilled in my trusty bleu pencil. In the notebook under it, some rough break-ins and sketches. I am still working my personal manga style.

I made the thumbnails and draw some lay outs of my story, then worked hard to realize a good pencilling of 22 pages, detailed enough to make the inking part easier. I kept an eye to the overall balance, so that the panels flow smoothly. Todd took pictures of all our pages at the end.

Triumphal Trio

The triumph : Sunday Artist, Paul and Carolyn (Tiff had to leave earlier).  Paul is a pure amator who never did a comic before. Carolyn is an accomplished artist who had fun scenarizing her first comic. This is the fun of the 24-24 challenge!

Tiff has a strong talent, and you may glimpse part of her work in last year 24-24. To see my first impressions of the  24-24  in 2009, go here!

24-24 in Streetsville

Here are some pics of this global event, 24 hours of continuous creation at the Image Collection Comic Shop in Streetsville, October 2-3 . We started at noon this year. It took us an hour to decide what to draw, so it was around 1:30 that we got started!


An idea of the atmosphere at 9:30 PM.

Left, Daniel Oshino, our hero of last year, made a visit with her small daughter, hopefully as talented as him! Behind at the right, our fourth member and the only guy of 24-24 this year, Mike, 14.

The themes this year, (at least one):

– Conflict, internal or external

– Growth of an idea

– I do not remember the other themes!

I took the characters who were in the Japanese Brush, and developed a science fiction adventure. I planned eight pages before plunging into the production.

Also, we had friends visiting, to chat and draw!

at 9h30 PM

We tease, at 9h30. The two guys are visiting; the left one guy has passed the first 24-24 complete (he inked his 24 pages) three years ago. We see Todd, the manager of the shop, back with long hair, he has grown a beard since last year.

Kim started strong, deciding that she would produce more written pages, a bold approach. She left around 11 am. Mike and Tiff, being minors, are returning home to sleep around 11:30, planning to return in the morning. This means that I had sometime alone in the night with my drawings. It helped me because the drawing is not fast when we gossip!

This time we worked on a smaller paper format, like manga, so this helped!

TiffPage

A page very red by Tiffany

Tiff’s work: here is an artist to watch for! She was just 15 years, and she looks inspired by Tim Burton in its atmosphere. Her full story covers eight to ten pages. Mike produced a funny story of zombies, with 4 small panels per page, which allowed him to complete his 24 pages and even put some red on it.

Me, I let go of the color, those who know me know why! I was a little stressed around 4:00 AM because I  suddenly realized I had a chance to finish my ink, but only if I worked non stop!

Last Minute ditch

Page Last MinuteAt 11:40 AM, I finished my blanket, when, at 15 minutes remaining, Daniel, who came back to haunt us, told me about an unfinished page!

Needless to say I worked harder to finish on time!

3 Authors with their Comics

The three authors (Kim is not back yet) pose with their pages! Besides me, Mike and Tiff  rose to the challenge!

My 24h comic book!

My 24-page new comic, inked!

My inking is not perfect, but it surpasses what I did last year. A new adventure of the Otaku Ladies!

Random bag of kindness

a Mississauga bus

Waiting for the bus under a pelting rain is not always conducive to happy thoughts. Moreover, this morning of september 16th, I was en route to a Press conference of Ecole Polytechnique alumni in Toronto ( about the long-gun registry). When I took the 89 bus in Mississauga (not the no 1 on this post, taken from the Wikipedia creative commons), I would be different…

I sat my drenched weary self on the second bench from the front. An African Canadian  lady was seated in the first row.

A young Asiatic girl got on the bus, with an overload of lunch, a big plate, other trinklets and smaller bags escaping her hands. She flashed an apologetic smile around as she recaptures a trinklet.

The black lady foraged in her handbag and offered a reusable shopping bag. She helped the girl to put all her things inside. Until this time, I thought the two of them knew each other. The young girl thanked the lady and walked farther back to sit by herself.

reusable shopping bags; the lady had the blue one with a green leaf on it

How nice! I though with a sunny smile inside. (A reusable grocery bag sells one or two bucks a piece.) But it was not over yet.

A minute later, the girl came back to the front, with the empty bag. She thanked the lady, telling that she managed to reorganize one of her bag to get the rest in it, and she returned the bag.

There are many sad things occurring in our lives, but this one random act of kindness brightens this rainy day.

The older woman got out at her stop a few minutes later. From my angle, I never saw her face.

Must have been a guardian angel.

24-24

Images from my first experience of the 24-24 challenge, to draw 24 pages in 24 hours, at the Image Collections comic shop.

Todd giving the themes

Todd, Image Collections shop manager, giving us the challenge themes

Visitors: in the afternoon, visitors participated, contributing one or two pages.

2009_24hVisiteurs17h

Juliette (seated, on the photo), near my SIP mug. Also presents : Chris McQuaid from McHozer comics, and Aubry who came later and stayed until the end.

I thought I would be  falling over by midnight, but the ambiance, the oppportunity of creating without interruption, and the mad creepy music provided by Todd kept us awake (and laughing). I didn’t have to use my bed roll.

2009_24hMicheleEtConfreresMatin

How we remained awake all night. (Dan, Aubry, Kyle, Michèle).

2009_24hMatinZombies

8 o’clock morning saw the four of us working hard to complete the challenge (photo taken by Todd)

After midday, Sunday. We did it!

2009_24hLeResultatFinal

From left to right: Kyle, Michèle, Daniel, Aubry, all slightly zombified but proud! (Most of us did rise around 8h00 am on Saturday morning!)

I produced “Wind mistress” (Maitresse des vents) a new story, improvised, set in my SF world. Technically, I managed to ink four of the 22 pages of this comic book, plus a cover and back-cover and 22 pages.

And for me? It was paradise. Cartooning without interruption!

The Sunday artist on the Sunday Morning

The Sunday artist on the Sunday Morning.

A nice letter from the Mayor

This morning I received a nice letter from Mississauga’s Mayor Hazel McCallion, congratulating me for my Aurora Award, and the fact that I helped to promote literacy and a love of reading among young adults. A recent Mississauga News story was published last week.

An extract from the letter:

Your science background certainly comes in handy and has enabled you to combine your knowledge and experience in the field with your wonderful imagination and creativity. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best: “Men love to wonder and that is the seed of science,” and your book have certainly created a world of wonders for readers, transporting them into another realm of endless possibilities.

Our Mayor is a very special and determined woman, who played hockey in a professionnal women’s team in Montréal. She never could attend university, and took a secretarial course, but by determination and perseverance, and a keen interest for the no-nonsense politics, she managed to get elected Councillor in the town of Streetsville, then in 1978, she became mayor of the new merged city of Mississauga.

It is a very nice touch coming from someone I admire.