#inktober day 15, Relax: So, people tell you to go to your "happy place" a lot, a place that you can visit when you need to breathe deep and be anywhere but where you are. For a long time I would imagine a nondescript beach, or some woods or, if I was digging deep, some montage of things I thought were alum creek park. None of it really helped because none of it seemed real, I had a tendency to spend more energy trying conjure something meaningful than actually being relaxed there, y'know? Anyway, a year ago (I think) I made a habit of exploring uptown Chicago every Monday. One day, after having made a solemn promise to myself walk out to the lake, I parked my car, bought some Fritos from a street vender, climbed this weird wall (it might've been a levy?) and ended up on this little dog beach by the big walking path. I could watch waves roll in, people playing with their dogs (who always seemed to be perpetually happy), observe the impossible skyline, and I could just read, listen to music on some shitty headphones, and let myself become a part of the place. It's somewhere I can always summon when I need it, just by shutting my eyes. I try not to tell too many people about how deep a connection I have with it, and I'm not sure what's going to happen to it, now that I've shared the story here. As important as the Something Something Dog Beach has been to me, I never took a picture of it. When I saw the prompt, I knew I had to come here, another place that I find relaxing and sketch it, not as it is, as I imagine it. Maybe life is just a pool of secrets, diminishing one by one as you tell them all. Til;dr Here's a picture of a pretty place in a pretty place. WAKA WAKA! #sketchy #sketch #sketchbook #relax #nature #happyplace #chicago #hiking #storytime #deepbreaths #bullshitrants #doodle #drawing #draweveryday #drawingchallenge #catchup #timeisnonlinear #marker #pen #ink #probablytoopersonalforinstagram #autumn #doglover #nobodyreadsthisshit #pizza #highbanks #seanbeanispunkrock #live2die (at Highbanks Metro Park)