Happy Pride month and Indigenous History month! The first Pride was a riot!!! Land Back!!!!
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate that doesn’t involve going to a capitalist, corporate-sponsored event: give some money to a trans person, support your friendly neighbourhood queer artist (I guess now is a good time to remind you that I have art for sale on my website lol), or support an IndigiQueer organization like O:se Kenhionhata:tie (join me as one of their Patreon supporters!).
upcoming events
There’s still time to RSVP for our next creativity club meetup! We’re meeting online on Sunday, June 14 at 2:00 pm Eastern time.
Learn more about Earthshakers & RSVP for an upcoming meetup!
what i’ve been making
I want to get more comfortable creating art in public and outdoor spaces, so that’s what I practiced doing this month!
I took my wax pastels to the climbing gym and sketched one of their features called ‘the island’.
I also brought my portable gouache paint palette to the park for a quick session, and sketched a blossoming tree and some adorable goslings!
The bottom two sketches are what I created at our last in person Earthshakers meetup, using reference photos by adventure artist Mel-Mitchell Jackson.
works in progress
I have been working on this painting for over a year! I did the first preliminary sketches of this idea in March 2025, and started the painting in June 2025. Truthfully, I have been avoiding working on it because I’m scared of fucking it up! The perfectionist in me that wants to make ‘good’ art (whatever that is!) is really having a hard time with this. I am practicing being kind to myself and trusting the process. And trying to frame this as a learning opportunity – whatever comes of this is what was meant to happen, and I will come out on the other side with lessons to apply to future paintings! I hope to share the finished painting with you soon 🙂
I also cut out my pattern pieces for the vest I’m making and have started the meditative, slow, hand-stitching process to piece everything together.
lessons from the land
I went out for my first camping trip of the season with my partner and our dog this month! We visited Long Point Provincial Park – it is such a unique and amazing place!!!
Long Point is covered by Treaty 3 (also known as the Between the Lakes Purchase), which was signed in 1792 between the Principal Chiefs of the Messissague Nation and John Graves Simcoe, a representative of the Province and Crown. It is the traditional territory of the Attiwonderonk/Chonnoton (Neutral), Mississauga, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee).
Long Point is a 40km sandspit (a deposit of sand along a coast or lakeshore) along the north shore of Lake Erie.
It is a really important location for migrating birds in spring and autumn, and we got to see so many different species during our trip. Tons of Tree Swallows, Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Warbling Vireos, Baltimore Orioles, and Red-winged Blackbirds were fluttering around between the trees near our campsite. There were Great Blue Herons fishing in the marshes, and a large group of shorebirds (some type of Sandpipers, I think) on the beach among the sand dunes! We also spotted some turtles soaking up the sun on a rock, and a snake in the grass!
what I’ve been inspired by recently
I’ve pretty much been listening to the same four albums on repeat lately. Here are the albums, accompanied by my favourite music video from each!
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- What Happened To The Heart by AURORA (Music video: Starvation)
- Dancing On The Wall by MUNA (Music video: Eastside Girls)
- Virgin by Lorde (Music video: Hammer)
- Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally by Harry Styles (Music Video: Dance No More)
Thank you for reading 🙂
Nikki
NS | sent via email and posted online June 13, 2026