We travelled by train from Glasgow to Manchester to hang out with Graphic Medicine site founder and pal Ian Williams. Enjoyed the unique architecture of Manchester.
We visited Chorlton, the Northern Quarter, and the John Rylands Library. Had a bit of a spa day in addition to working on our upcoming conference presentations. Also heard for the first time about hen parties.
Unfortunately, when leaving Manchester for Bristol, my traveling companion Mita had a fall and sprained her ankle. I’ll let her tell you about that.
We managed to safely arrive in Bristol, into the home and care of Katie Green and Luke, with assistance from Paula Knight. Perhaps doing a bit much on Mita’s tender ankle, we took a day trip to Bath, which was absolutely lovely. Where the architecture in Manchester seemed red, Bath’s is yellow owing to Bath stone.
Many lovely shops, and a few items were purchased. Also, in Bath I had my first proper cream tea.
Back in Bristol, Katie and I walked up to a nearby city farm and visited some friendly animals.
We also were fortunate enough to spend some time in Katie’s attic studio. Her recently completed, over 500 page, graphic novel, Lighter Than My Shadow, will be released in October to a very eager public. We were able to look at a sneak preview, and it is a stunningly beautiful and important work. You can read a 24 page excerpt at the link above.
Katie’s new project is illustrating of a book of stories, The Crystal Mirror. Some painting from the book were on display in the studio, but I’m sworn to keep them under wraps… trust me that they are amazing! Here’s a safe image from the studio, Katie’s special pencils for coloring the cover image of her Green Bean Zine.
It was fantastic to be in England when the poppies were in bloom. On my next stop, Brighton, I’ll see an enormous field of them – but until that post next week, in which I will report on the 2013 Comics & Medicine conference, here are just a few.
