Have You Met Rest?

Is Rest a Gemini? Meteor shower chromolithograph, and personal work.

Rest is a tricky partner, changing faces depending on their mood. Fickle and hard to pin down, Rest has always been a wild child. A consummate Gemini—curious and filled with passions, adaptable yet impulsive. Easily losing patience, Rest will change their mind about plans last minute and, with a witty quip, have you thinking it was the plan all along.

Rest thrives in movement. You’ll find them on a forest path as your feet stomp in a hypnotic rhythm, arms swinging, blood pooling heavy in your fingers. Many think they are lazy, but this is untrue. Rest knows these trails lead to long silences, where only heavy breathing interrupts the air. The mind turns off as the body propels forward.

Under the shade of cedars, Rest reminds us that our silly little emails and meetings only exist so we can get away from them.

When Rest is done with the forest, you can find them in the scalding water of a bath, skin turning pink under salted water. Or tucked under a heavy duvet with a book in hand.

In the early afternoons, between a light lunch and the stirrings of dinner plans, Rest drifts through the local thrift bookshop, running fingers along spines and studying titles with a tilted head, dreaming themselves into the lives promised in the summaries.

Mercurial as ever, when their fire dims, you'll find Rest curled up on the couch in silence. Behind a closed door, they need no one. Instead, they steep in solitude, drained from a day of clever conversation.

And when the world quiets, Rest finds solace beneath a star-pinned sky. No witty quip now, no need to fill the silence. Here, they remember their smallness, and it is a relief.

The November meteors: As observed between midnight and 5 o'clock A.M. on the night of November 13-14 1868.

Thanks for reading! This year, I’m exploring slow creativity—what it means to work with time instead of against it. If that resonates, consider subscribing for free.

On a personal note, thank you to everyone who has recommended my writing. Your support may seem like a small gesture, but I notice it—and it truly makes a difference. Thank you.

Paid Subscribers

When I started writing on Substack, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Your faith in me to write every week really pushed me to keep going—you’ve been my subtle cheerleaders.

Thank you.

I’ve been thinking about how I can return the favour, and since I'm working on a year-long project, I’m toying with the idea of offering a zine or print for “free” with a code. If that tickles your fancy, let me know!

Personal Work

With the rain back and the snow melted on Vancouver Island, the streams are flowing again—perfect for chasing those waterfalls that often vanish in the summer heat. This weekend, we took a different path and may have discovered an ideal training loop for our hiking goals—complete with plenty of vert and nestled in a lush forest covered moss.

You made it to the end! Well, I’ve got a little secret for you. Over the past couple of years, I’ve quietly started stripping a lot from my website. You might be thinking, "Why does this even matter?" Well, here’s the thing—since leaving university, I’ve been working hard for clients, and I’m genuinely grateful for that. But it also meant showcasing client work and prioritizing 'pay the bills' over 'show your art.' This week, though, I sat down and just hit delete on a bunch of things. It’s starting to reflect where I want to head in the coming years, and honestly, it was a bit scary. But I had to remind myself: client work is migrating to Behance—I'm good, I'm safe. And this is a step I need to take. Hitting delete to make space for my dreams has been as scary as it has been freeing.

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Further Reading

The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings (1882) – Public Domain Review:

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-trouvelot-astronomical-drawings-1882/

Trouvelot on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_L%C3%A9opold_Trouvelot