Long Days, Slow Evenings

The days are long. So… long.

As an early riser, they feel even longer. And that’s funny to me. Maybe how long a day feels has nothing to do with how many hours we are awake. Maybe it has more to do with how much sunshine we get. This summer in Vancouver and British Columbia is extreme, as you may have heard. Day after day of uninterrupted sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky. It’s been weeks since it last rained. The odd overcast morning feels like a blessing.

I wake up by 6am most days, without the need for an alarm. I like to do so. Most people do not understand this sentiment. It’s so popular to want to sleep in for as long as possible. But I … like being awake. I like being alive, in that sense. I like to get my day started. Not that my days are all productive. I even love to kill time. I love to recline on the couch, and spend hours scrolling on my phone or flicking through Netflix shows without committing to watch anything.

In these long days of summer, I feel my energy levels plummet sometime around 3pm. Even as I type this sentence, I just yawned loudly. I glance at the clock. It reads 2:32pm. The time is nigh. If I push through, or distract myself sufficiently, I can ignore the fatigue until 6 or 7pm. But then again my energy drops.

Maybe this is because of how early I wake up, and how early I switch on to begin working. But none of it would matter if I didn’t feel like I was wasting my evenings. The evening is when the sun finally begins to relent. The shadows grow longer, the air becomes cooler, and more and more people are out and about. It is finally time for a sneaky artist to go outside too.

But I hesitate. I am lethargic. I yawn. And I often decide against it. This is not good.

We were fighting our collective lethargy earlier this week when we decided to step out for dinner in North Vancouver. We decided to drive up to Waterfront Park, going over the Lionsgate Bridge for the first time since moving here. We picked up pizza from a Boston Pizza near the park, and settled down to enjoy the soft grass, the cool air, and to watch the shadows lengthen along the ground. The sky changed color as we watched, and people traipsed about, meeting other people, laughing, throwing frisbees, reading books.

I was captivated by the wavy lines of the sculpture in the park.

To our left, there were other groups, also picnicking.

In both these drawings, I wanted to use the trees for framing, but didn’t want to go into their unique features. I needed them to not draw attention. So this is an approximation I often use, sketching the outer shape of the trees, and hatching the insides.

I hope to see more of North Vancouver soon. There are so many beautiful places in this city, and so many places from where to regard the downtown skyline.

By the way, the pizza was great!