How Baby

Recently, Momo and I watched The Amazing Digital Circus. When we finished, she turned to me and said – with a great sigh of relief – exactly what she said here, and then proceeded to blow my mind.

Maybe it’s my aged fangirl eye, or maybe it’s being an artist, or maybe it’s just having been in her shoes once, but for the first time, it felt like she was making art. Not just doodles, not just pictures of the characters, but… actual engagement with some of the darker themes of the show, like betrayal and loss of self. She’d watched the show, ruminated on it, and transformed her feelings into art.

It made me so nostalgic for that moment in my life, when every emotion felt so sharp and crisp and you felt them all the time. For when art was everything: an experimentation, a dialogue, an expression, a love, an insecurity, a question, a plea, and sometimes “just” a joke but at the same time completely, utterly real and genuine. Such a strange and pleasant feeling of sonder, almost – watching from the outside as she became suddenly able to express this special relationship with emotion and art that is her own, but also, so much like my own.

As I’ve described it to others, there’s a recognition here, artist to budding artist, that she has the sauce – that je ne sais quoi – that thoughtfulness and internal world where art comes from. Technical skill comes with time, but for the first time I saw her… touch the mirror of her consciousness and discover that it’s not a mirror any more, but a portal.

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Convention stuff! I’m going to be making a lot of convention appearances this month, mostly at free Pride festivals around the GVRD and such! Check out the side panel for an updating list of my convention appearances, like Delta, New West, Langley, and Chilliwack Pride! <3

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TRANSCRIPT

Panel 1 (Lindsay, operating a TV remote, with Momo)
Lindsay: That was a good show! Thanks for recommending it!

Panel 2 (Momo, close up, holding a tablet)
Momo: Now I can finally show you all my fanart!

Panel 3 (open; in silhouette, Lindsay disintegrates into a skeleton at the sheer force exploding from the tablet)
SFX: PURE RAW HIGH-OCTANE UNFILTERED TEENAGE ANGST

Panel 4 (Momo looks at Lindsay, who is slumped down and shell-shocked)
Momo: What did you think?
Lindsay, weakly: I’ve never been more proud.