battle-of-alberta

[battle-of-alberta]

i had this comic in mind for the past couple months and only just now got around to executing it haha. edmonton is always covered in gravel and sand left behind after the snow and ice melts in march and april before street sweeping begins, an annual condition that victoria basically never experiences ever. if we're lucky, we might even see a daffodil or two before may!

as always, vic chick belongs to @orcanadian-blog (who will forgive me for accidentally tagging her human name WRONG for months without me even noticing, i hope ;))) )

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: victoria #hapo doodles #digital art #clip studio paint #edward murphy #vivian smith #sorry vivi forgive me! #boab omake

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That time of year again

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #edward murphy #traditional art #hapo doodles #ink #boab illustration

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Updates (and a poll?)

Hi all,

I've been neglecting this blog for a bit because I've been having a rough time. I lost a family member a few weeks ago and even though I was as prepared as I could be, it was still difficult and I found it hard to think much about a lot of things that inspire me with regards to this blog because I look around and have all these memories (and unanswered questions). (however, i also have inherited a bunch of recipes which is an enormous piece of 'berta history. to me, anyway. and i haven't even told you about the oilers cookbook.)

I am still having good days and bad days but I do want to think towards a future when I can start chipping away at those last ten or so asks in the box. And hey, since there's about ten, why don't we prioritize them with another mysterious emoji poll for me to look at when I feel up to it?

no wrong answers here just pick what you're vibing with :)

#boab announcement

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Truth be told I drew this days before the Boopening but it seems relevant :)

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: calgary #or is it projectcatnada #hapo doodles #ink #traditional art #boab doodles #boab omake

[battle-of-alberta]

uh oh the girls are fighting...

I doubt the ads still exist but the website does; instead they have passive aggressively elected to take shots at calgary and to put the current temperature (+22 C vs my -2 C) and sunshiny pictures up, haha.

#boab meta #i am doing work honest i am #hapo rambles #hapo reads canadian history #sweating because i guess 2006 is history....... #lil notes #mac notes

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Who speaks the most languages? Also who has the best French?

well this just might be my most ambitious ask in a while :) shout out to the 1.5 francophones who may or may not follow this blog. And also for those 1.5 francos...

Clause de non-responsabilité

J'ai étudié 6 langues mais je suis toujours monolingue. :'(

Je ne suis pas franco-albertaine et je ne peux pas commenter sur le dialecte.

Mon éditrice @randomoranges n'est pas franco-albertaine, elle est québécoise*. Ah, et elle dit, avec plus d'élegance:

"nous pouvons répondre en français, mais svp demandez-nous pas d'le faire trop souvent, sinon notre pauvre artiste ira en burn out, malgré le fait que ses efforts feront rire sa consultante"

*cependant, selon le Lego, mon éditrice n'est même pas considérée québécoise haha >>;

more info below!

I already expect this piece to get less engagement because it's (mostly) not in English, and I'm afraid I'm still going to be more annoying and not provide a translation. As previously I will lean into making a statement Windex-style by purposefully not translating what I've written above into English just because the point of celebrating Franco-Albertan heritage month is, well, acknowledging the unique status of French in this country and how there is an expectation to conform to English in this province that needs a little challenging. I hope if nothing else, it strikes your curiosity enough to painstakingly type it into google translate so you can get half of the banter.

Another question that languished at the bottom of the box for over a year! This was because I felt I should make a real effort to write in French, of course, but also because I struggled with the wording of the question and ultimately didn't answer it. The "most" or the "best" are very loaded terms, so I avoided answering them entirely particularly because we have several languages that risk losing native speakers and because there's a lot of bs wrapped up in what "good" french is that I'm not skilled enough to unpack (though you can read what Windex wrote on this matter earlier on this blog... And here as well).

I have to strike a balance between representing the gang here as individuals (and immortals to boot) who have a lot of time on their hands and some interest and investment in learning languages on one hand... but also as representations of "average" people on the other. Francophone travellers aren't going to find many French speakers outside of airports, national parks, or government services in this province, but it still might surprise you considering all the "everyone outside of Quebec hates French" rhetoric that politicians like to fling around. It's more complicated than that, obviously, but I can mostly talk about my own personal experience with French here. I tried to represent both the reality that Franco-Alberta exists (represented by Ed) and the stereotypical resistance to French here (represented by Calvin, though clearly he understands enough to respond here. I also just think he tries to play dumb on purpose so that others underestimate him, it's all part of the image!)

Finally, I don't speak any of the languages (Michif, Tagalog, Punjabi, Cree) represented here so I hope they pass muster for the purpose of this little comic! ;~;b I have also represented Calvin speaking Mandarin previously on this blog!

oh yeah, and that "english and business" quote is from kevin o'leary who is from montreal so make of that what you will.

#Anonymous #projectcanada cities #boab ask #pc: edmonton #pc: jasper #pc: grande prairie #pc: calgary #pc: strathcona #edward murphy #calvin mccall #jasper swift #josephine cardinal #edith garneau #hapo art #digital art #clip studio paint #i had to handwrite all the diacritics so i apologize if they've moved accidentally #this font doesnt come with accents so i decided to just manually add them

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jeez i thought aligning text in speech bubbles in ENGLISH was hard...

#previews of things to come? :3c hoho

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Who had the happiest childhood ?

well over a year later i finally tackle this question! it was at the bottom of the box because one of my weaknesses is drawing children, and another one is the necessary historical research to draw their childhoods :' ) but i really wanted to start imagining them because it's very important to the overall story i'm trying to tell here.

here's the main gang, who were children at one end of the 19th century or another. I don't really know how to answer the question (they all lived through some very rough times, even if they didn't know as much) but I can give a little bit of an explanation for the times they grew up in...

[but most importantly, who do you think was the cutest?]

Ed and Jas were kids in the early decades of the 19th century (the regency era). They didn't really have a sense of the outside world much at all (Ed in particular had a very inflated sense of self importance he has since lost) and moved around a lot to follow the fur bearing animals (typically beavers). I feel like they were often getting into scrapes like this!

Cal and Lil grew up in the 1870s when the Northwest Mounted Police were establishing the Canada-US border. Calvin doesn't realize that his childhood enemy Fort Whoop Up and Lilith are the same person, so he tends to think of Lilith as younger than him. Lilith knows better, of course, but I guess she wanted a fresh start. In some ways, they were both only a bit spoiled as kids, though Lilith was less sheltered.

Jo and Mac didn't really interact much as they were isolated for most of their childhoods and didn't really hit their first growth spurts until the 20th century. It's hard to imagine their childhoods (or that Mac was ever a child haha) but they must have been quite lonely, so I figure they had to have pretty big imaginations to cope during the times Ed wasn't around.

Nor, Red and Maddie grew up in the railroad era of the 1880s-90s, although Nor and Maddie were the railroad resort and energy princesses respectively. Red depended far more on carriages and later vehicles passing through on their way between Ed and Cal's places. [also, do not attempt to cuddle bear cubs or feed them chocolate biscuits!!]

#Anonymous #projectcanada cities #historical hetalia #hetalia oc #pc: edmonton #pc: calgary #pc: jasper #pc: lethbridge #pc: grande prairie #pc: fort mcmurray #pc: banff #pc: red deer #pc: medicine hat #hapo art #clip studio paint #digital art #boab ask #edward murphy #jasper swift #calvin mccall #lilith sheran #josephine cardinal #reginald buffalo #eleanor crandell #elaine hartley #madeline hargrave

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there's two alberta cities in the strongest town contest (match up 2 with med hat and 4 with edmonton) so why not vote for them (all you need is an email address) :3

both are making awesome efforts towards moving away from automobile-centric infrastructure and affordable housing that you can read more about there

bonus

calgary is still allergic to density

#boab omake #projectcanada cities #pc: calgary #pc: edmonton #pc: medicine hat #hapo doodles #clip studio paint #calvin mccall #edward murphy #madeline hargrave

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im so close to finishing this ask i didnt intend to get this ambitious with it but here is a preview in case i don't get it all done tonight aaaa

#wip #boab bts #hapo art #its not happening tonight i gotta sleep on the background

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if you follow my main blog you likely already know we had to cancel the red deer trip due to the snow warning. when will we have the opportunity for red deer redemption? when???

anyway she'll have to get along without us for a little longer, but the good news is I am back on the ground in the wild rose province and I can finally set aside some time to start tackling the asks in the box I wanted done months ago. Hooray! Ideally, I'd like to post something once a week, but I have a major project I'm piecing together for work that may get in my way. A lot of the asks that sunk to the bottom of the box are also somewhat research-heavy compared to the lighter ones I tried to knock out earlier, so they may take more time than I anticipate.

Overall, it's good to be back and I'm looking forward to experiencing my second spring of this year now that I've escaped Vancouver Island :)

#boab announcement #boab omake #boab meta #hapo doodles #projectcanada cities #pc: red deer #elaine hartley #digital art #clip studio paint

[battle-of-alberta]

guess who's back at the tablet

what, me? be biased? in support of an edmonton franchise? why ever would you think that. calgarians go get your cookie beer doughnuts since for some reason they were only available on the yyc menu and none of ours at the time of posting, tsk tsk. (personal dp faves of mine are the bernadette and the vancouver fog - and i brought their fritters to my parents and they loooved them even though they got totally squished by airplane travel)

i went to krispy kreme in the early aughts when i lived in the states- we drove all the way to another city to try them because nowhere near us had good doughnuts. When those are the only doughnuts you have access to and they're hot, they're fine, and watching the big machine pumping them out is great entertainment, but honestly I do not care for them and i WARNED quatsch in toronto that they weren't that good.

but calvin of course LOVES soulless corporations, especially american ones :)

anyway the yyc dp logo is so cute i can't.

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: calgary #hapo art #hapo doodles #boab omake #edward murphy #calvin mccall #clip studio paint #one of my big motivations for setting up my bike to carry things #is so that i can pick up doughnuts from DP among other things #ed also loves soulless american corporations though #he just loves being vindicated more #and also he is a pastry snob #but you will still see the hypocrit at tims first thing in the morning

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Opus Daily Practice 27

didn’t use a prompt for these doodles, I was just thinking about red and her clothing style. I think of her a lot in 70s athletic wear, but i also started tossing around ideas of 30s-40s fashion for her to fulfill my promise on the ol ask blog earlier. I always say that yes she would wear skirts, and then whenever I draw her she’s always in pants or shorts…

Red Deerios! I will be in your city next week for some R&R (after my long time away on island time, I know) and everyone is like “but why though”. listen. I’m gonna give it a real chance and not just treat it like a pit stop, honest!

#projectcanada cities #opusdailypractice #pc: red deer #elaine hartley #ink #hapo doodles #traditional art

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ok i didnt watch last game against calgary but i was informed that not only did we lose miserably but they wore The Pants again. ...am i still under oath...

one thing about being at home with family is i have no choice about whether the hockey is on

no one in this household is a fan of the mustardy khaki oilers shorts U_U

anyone want a friendly wager? if i (and ed) win i dont have to draw the shorts and if i lose i do U_U;;;

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and another west coast comic for you

sometimes you just hear an inquisitive AAAAH? from the bushes and every time it's a spotted towhee.

Victoria, of course, belongs to @orcanadian-blog (thanks for your continued tolerance and support as i continually put Vic in Situations <3)

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: victoria #edward murphy #victoria smith #hapo doodles #ink #pencil crayon #mixed media #boab omake #vivian smith

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more stories from the west coast best coast

(some context: Eby is the current BC premier and LNG stands for Liquid Natural Gas.)

I find it so jarring to see environmental/political ads on the sides of BC transit buses. I come from a petroarchy where the ads tend to be reminders to play the government sponsored lotteries so, I mean... I recognize my skewed perspective.

(It reminds me of a story where Greek orators visited republican Rome and impressed all the Romans by arguing a brilliant case... and then refuted the case the next day much to their scorn and ire.)

Also related but I saw a dead rat at a bus stop this morning and had to keep it together and be normal and pretend like rats are a thing that I totally normally encounter.

As always, Victoria belongs to my good pal @orcanadian-blog

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: victoria #edward murphy #victoria smith #hapo doodles #boab omake #in other news i return to alberta next week! see you again soon :) #vivian smith

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"Family" - Opus Daily Practice 19

Happy Family Day from our @battle-of-alberta family to yours :)

Family Day is an Alberta invention, proclaimed by then Lieutenant Governor Helen Hunley on suggestion from then Premier Don Getty to promote family values and spending time with each other. It has since spread to many other provinces, but is not a federal holiday. And yes, it's the same day as President's Day on purpose!

#opusdailypractice #projectcanada cities #projectcanada #iammatthewian #iamp: alberta #pc: alberta #pc: edmonton #pc: calgary #pc: red deer #ralph campbell #elaine hartley #calvin mccall #edward murphy #and yeah bert cheers for the oilers because i said so mwah