Each work day, Jack and Sebastian would go together to the lamp shop where they would fix the lamps.
Reflection 03.24.21
If you’ve ever walked into a large hardware store, you’ll know that the lighting section is a special place. To me it’s like walking into my favorite exhibit at a fine art museum. It doesn’t matter whether I am drawn to the individual styles of any of the light fixtures at all. The sheer variety of designs and the collective illumination reminds me that a sense of wonder can be cultivated and shared in the most common settings.
As I thought of what Sebastian and Jack could do in the midst of their daily rhythms, I was charmed by the idea of them fixing lamps in a simple shop and bringing back light to others.
Sebastian and Jack, relaxing in the park.
Reflection 03.23.21
As I drew this, beginning to search for hints of what Jack and Sebastian’s life might look and feel like, I got hung up on the tree and how it should be shaped. I love all different types of trees, but I most often find myself drawing a shape that resembles one particular tree that grew in my front yard when I was a kid. It was the centerpiece for many of the games my siblings and I played. One of my favorite things about it was that it had one excellent, low-hanging branch. I remember leaping up to this branch and then making my way to the top of the tree. There were so many hours spent playing in those branches. Though we moved to other houses, and even now as I’ve stacked up the sightings of so many other trees along the way, that tree holds a special place in my thoughts of childhood and story. Here it is again—the old broccoli shape back at it.
Jack and Sebastian first met while walking in a park, and afterwards decided that their days would be better if spent together.
Reflection 03.22.21
This was the first appearance of the characters, Jack and Sebastian. It came from a doodle that I made while listening to a webinar for work. As I shared it with my daughter that evening, I asked her what she thought the rabbit’s name should be. “Jack” was her confident response, and so he is.
The name Sebastian brings to mind a man I met only once a few years ago. He had immigrated to the U.S. from France and initially worked as a pastry chef before becoming a police officer. When I was introduced to him, he was building custom frames for some artwork being hung at the school where I work. Not knowing much about what Sebastian would be up to with Jack, the possibilities of a renaissance person kept the doors open for the imagination.