Moved House

New Stardrop and New T&K!

Actually, these early May pages are both a bit overdue. I was.., distracted a touch by the process of moving house.

Interesting observation…

In the process of packing up, hauling and then unpacking everything to put away on new shelves and in new closet spaces and on new table surfaces etc…. Not counting all the many copies of same comics and graphic novels in their stock boxes, but definitely counting everything else… I realized that I had handled and considered the purpose, history and ultimate fate of every single object I own. Just think about that for a sec..!

-From knick-knacks and old photographs of me smiling with friends, a rubber-banded collection of Empire Strikes Back gum cards, pliers, screw drivers, solar panels, favorite spoons, paint brushes and.., well, just everything! I took a total inventory and now have fresh in mind thousands of objects large and small. I can’t recall ever having done this before, not ever so thoroughly. This move was different from other moves. It seemed to go on a lot longer, on both ends. I even at one point, found myself going through, sheet by sheet, every drawing and painting I’ve ever done. I’ve never done that before! It was quite mind and soul expanding, taking up the better part of a day, with many exclamations of, “Oh wow! I remember drawing this! I remember where I was when I drew this, the people who were near…”

Turns out I own a half-dozen little wooden six-sided dice and a collection of miniature rings you can make chain mail out of, but tiny. I also own a small bag of stick-on googley eyes. Or rather, I did. I tossed those. You just have to let some things go…

Owning stuff is a huge responsibility, a weight. I ditched (literally) few hundred items on the side of the road for the Spring Cleanup. It was both sad and liberating at the same time.

Do you own your stuff, or, as you strain and trudge for the hundredth time up and down stairs in the rain, is it the other way around?

Anyway.., I am now nearly all settled into my new place. I’ll have to take some photos and post those soon. It’s a very different environment! I’m surrounded by gardens and country side stillness with thick woods stretching back up a great hillside, up to a hidden and abandoned 100 year old fruit orchard which still, I am told, hangs with fruit and is protected by a wall of thorns.

Some exploring is in order, I think.

But there are comics still to make! And my new digital Dell Canvas ought to be arriving tomorrow morning to adorn my fresh studio. Keen!

Okay. Sleep soon…

Have a great Friday, everybody!

-Mark Oakley

Wolfville, Nova Scotia,
October 11th, 2018