And they are still out there in the midst of them.

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04.16.2021

Here we are, the last illustration for Jack and Sebastian on the blog, at least for now. The timing of launching The Daily Parade, my recent doodling of a man and a rabbit regarding one another and the need to choose a beginning point, led to spending a lot more time exploring how these two might spend their days. It was a good focus to begin with. I am a fairly vulnerable person, and it helped to start with something which I didn’t have a large emotional attachment to. I had no storyline in mind as I started to sketch rabbit ears, and I gave myself the permission to just begin something new. I have a thankful fondness for these two now, and I hope they’ll show up for more adventures in the days to come. 

This mountaintop setting is a reference to a summer trip that we took a few years ago to Norway. We stayed in a farmhouse in roughly the middle of the west coast of the country. We were surrounded by a mix of forests, fjords, mountains, and fields. We spent most of our time hiking, visiting a few small towns in the area, and collecting shells and stones on the shores of the fjords. A short drive around the water from the farmhouse was a row of mountains, the tallest being Heilhornet. I decided that a goal for the month we were there was to climb Heilhornet, and I was thankful to get to climb it twice. The first time, it was incredibly foggy and after summitting, I could see nothing except the twenty feet of rock around me and partial views of the other nearby peaks. The second time, I backpacked up to a chain of lakes and camped the night before continuing up to the summit. The sun never really set while we were there, and I made my camp in an eery light. As I got to the top the next day, it was full sun and the views of the interlaced fjords and surrounding evergreen forests was breathtaking. I plan to do it again someday, though I hope to have a friend along with me to share the experience.