Frog in my Throat

Woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat. Probably just pay back for the picture I painted Saturday afternoon...

It all started innocently enough: A bunch of us got together to paint at a friend's house. I found this amazing picture of a kingfisher with a fish in his mouth. The colors were so vivid I just had to try and create it with my acrylic paints and brushes. I sketched it out and took my canvas with me to my friend's house.


As I was working on the bird someone said, "That fish should really be a frog." I thought the fish was pretty funny looking so I said "OK, I'll work on it" and went on to finish the bird. As I got ready to paint the frog in the bird's mouth, the cartoonist in me came out and I sketched out a comical looking frog. As I started painting the frog I realized I was in trouble - my frog was not going to look like a frog from the real world but, rather, a frog from the funny pages.


Now this picture has me thinking of an entire series of Predator / Prey combinations: Blue Heron with a cartoon fish, Cat with a cartoon mouse, etc.

Can you think of any other funny pairings?

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Robots Don't Dive!

Last night I was finishing a drawing of a robot and I remembered this week's theme for Illustration Friday. I thought to myself, "This guy shows incredible poise for his first time under water."

"Robots don't dive"
5x7 marker with Photoshop enhanced background

OK, actually he looks terrified and the little oil can at his side does not look much happier. I'm sure they build robots that are meant to go deep sea diving but this guy looks like he'd rather stay on the boat.

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Trapping Cats in the Rain

Trapping feral cats in the rain is a little like fishing during a hurricane - you're gonna get really wet and you're probably not going to catch anything.

That was our morning - Lots of rain, no cats. We gave up at 11am and went home for some dry clothes and a hot lunch.

As Volunteers for a Non-Profit group (see previous post) we're trying to get all of the cats in this area to the vet so they can have all of their shots and get spayed or neutered so they don't make more kitties. At the moment, we're still on the lookout for these sneaky suspects:

A very funny video came into my inbox today that seemed appropriate for this post - A good lesson to not judge things too quickly...


Killing The Cat - it's not what you think...

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Feline Friends

Charles and I spent most of this morning trapping feral cats in our local community so they can be brought under our local TNR program. Feral cats are those animals born in the wild or abandoned that cannot be domesticated. The TNR program (Trap - Neuter - Release) is a humane method of monitoring and controlling the feral cat population.
Here's how the TNR program works:
We catch the kitties, take them to the vet to be checked out and while there they get all of the important shots, they get spayed or neutered, and then a small bit of their left ear is trimmed off (under anesthesia of course) so they can be identified as part of the TNR program in the future. We then deliver the feral cats back to the exact place where they were trapped and they go on about their business (in the mostly warm and sometimes swampy areas of NW Florida that means keeping down the rat and snake population). The feral cats are then fed and watched by other volunteers so that if new cats come into the area they can be taken care of as well.
Sometimes feral cats that have not been identified and trapped have kittens and when this happens we work hard to remove the kittens after they have been weaned from their mother. We then adopt them out to good homes so they can have a better life than their parents.
We also run across friendly cats that have been abandoned (this happens a lot during difficult economic times). When found, volunteers try to foster the abandoned cat until it is comfortable with humans again. We then place the cat in a new home through adoption.
I painted this picture the other night when I was thinking about the feral cats we try so hard to help. I wish every cat had a loving family, a warm house and a window perch. Until they do, we'll keep watching out for our feline friends.

Feline Friends
5x7 watercolor and pen on 140lb paper
Purchase a 5x7 copy of this print for $5 today and
100% of the proceeds will go to Feline Friends of Destin!

For more information on Feral cats and the humane TNR program visit Alley Cat Allies. For more about the local volunteer group I belong to click here: Feline Friends of Destin.

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Looking for Nothing in Particular

Have you ever noticed that browsing around ETSY without any real objective is kind of like a quick trip to the grocery store?
You have every intention of popping in and out only to find yourself in some strange aisle looking at clearance priced plastic storage containers with an overflowing hand basket, thinking to yourself that that gallon of milk really deserves to ride in a buggy and not be hanging at your side dislocating your shoulder. No? OK then, where was I?

Ah yes, the strange and overwhelming vastness of ETSY. Just for fun I tried a few ETSY searches using a random adjective and two random nouns. If your brain is not good at producing its own randomness - grab some words here. On one try I got green, turtle, and spot and plugged these words into the ETSY search engine. Here are a few of the tasty morsels I found (click on image to view link):


For my next try I got a little braver - rhinocerous, steampunk, art:


OK, that has to be one of the strangest paintings I've ever seen of a rhinoceros but I kind of like it I think...

So, what three words would YOU use to describe this picture?

"Practice makes Perfect"
5x7 watercolor

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Subtract

I love going to "Illustration Friday" to see what the theme is for the week. It really sparks my imagination! This week's theme is SUBTRACT and for some reason it made me think of word games...

"Subtract"
Pen and Ink

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Learning Something New

Grab your coffee... My blog posts are normally 2-3 sentences but this morning I have a story to tell...

First, I have to admit something. I don't know how to knit. Now you're thinking - "So what's the big deal!" It's not a big deal unless you happened to grow up in a house with an super-talented Mom who can do absolutely everything with yarn. You name it - stuffed animals, afghans, clothes; she can do it.

My only excuse for not picking up the amazing art of what I call "Fussing with yarn" is that I'm left handed and my Mom is right handed. If you've ever tried to follow along when your brain is wired in reverse you'll completely understand what I'm talking about.

A few days ago I bought some cheap yarn and needles out of a clearance bin at Tuesday Morning (one of my favorite places to shop) telling myself - "You should really learn how to knit - EVERYONE who is ANYONE is knitting these days."
I went on to Books a Million and found a "Beginner's Knitting" book in the 75% off stack. Now you're thinking to yourself, "75% off books are there for a reason and buying a 75% off, how-to knit book is probably not wise". Where were you when I needed you?

I sat down that night with my needles, yarn, and the thin book with a cartoon cover and said OK, let's knit! My husband said "You're not going to ball your yarn first? It will get in a big mess otherwise."

Just to punish him for mentioning that unfortunate fact - he got to hold the yarn between his arms for the next 20 minutes while I made a ball. This part I vaguely remember from my childhood but I was obviously out of practice because I kept dropping the ball. Then I remembered I normally had the role my hubby was filling at the moment.

Right. Ball made, comfy on the couch, book in lap, ready to cast on: Page 26 of the evil 'how-to knit' book says "Hold the yarn with your LEFT hand... [I start to get a little anxious] With your right hand wrap the yarn twice... [my shoulders are tensing up] put the needle under the first loop [WHAT LOOP!?!].
I scan the page frantically for Figure 1 to help these first few sentences make sense.
Nothing... I head to my well lit kitchen for a better look. Nothing... Where is this Figure 1 that is going to lead me to the promised land of Knitting? I put the book on the counter and squint down at the page - where my thumb had been, in a tiny 1 inch by 1 inch square is Figure 1.
I re-read the text leading up to Figure 1, I look at the picture - nothing. I grab my 1.75 reading glasses and check out the picture again - nothing. I imagine the place in my dusty junk closet where this knitting paraphernalia will fit nicely. I spend the next 10 minutes looking over the other tiny illustrations on the page. Figures 2, 3, and 4 each include fingers, at least one knitting needle, and a mess of string. That's all I can get out of it. On the same page was a 4 by 6 inch cartoon of a cute dog chewing on a knitter's ball of yarn. I begin composing a harsh letter in my head to the author of this book about why the instructional images have to be 1 by 1 inch and the useless cute cartoon takes up half the page. Then it occurred to me - This book is not for people who really WANT to learn how to knit, it's for people who just THINK they do and need a reminder that new skills are incredibly hard to learn and it's best to stick to what you know. I know I need another glass of wine.

The next night I'm back in my comfort zone (in front of my computer) and I have an epiphany. I go to Youtube and search "knitting left handed". On my screen, in living color, are two hands showing me step-by-step, how to cast-on, knit a few rows, and get the whole mess off the needles when you're done. There's also some relaxing music to keep me from panicking when I lose my place. Here's the link to this very cool video: How to Knit Left Handed.

I grab my ball of yarn and my needles, crank up the video and after an hour and few dozen starts and stops I have this:


OK, it's not pretty but it is a start. I'm going to bookmark every Youtube video like this one and keep practicing. Christmas will be here before you know it and you're all getting scarves!

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Something for Sean

My young friend Sean has discovered the amazing under water world of scuba. I can remember my first dive, it was like floating in outer space. I still get excited every time I dive, I think Sean has a lot of great dive experiences ahead of him. He wanted me to do a drawing of him diving; I added the shark for excitement.


I started with an 8x10 sketch in pencil then went over it with dark black marker. I then scanned the image into to the computer as a black and white image and proceeded to build layers in Photoshop CS2. Here's the final product:

Scuba Sean at the Shark Rodeo
8x10 drawing, digitally colored

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Death and Taxes

My Grandma is doing well and is back at the nursing home where everyone loves her and missed her a lot this past week. I am back at home in Florida, looking forward to catching up on everything... except TAXES! Ugghhhh...

That makes me want to toss something into my personal black hole. Are you up for it?


This week's debris comes from my recent experiences and your input last week. First off - it STINKS getting old. Second, third and fourth - I hate paying taxes, I hate doing taxes, I just hate taxes...
The evil laser printer belongs to Sassypackrat, a number of you complained about rude, stupid, reckless drivers, and the CPSIA still threatens thousands of small businesses so...

In to the Black Hole you go!

*** And now for a little shameless self-promotion ***

I have FREE SHIPPING on all items in my ETSY and ARTFIRE shops this weekend. From now until Sunday night at midnight get ANYTHING and EVERYTHING shipped FREE!!!

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Over the River and Through the Woods

Some of us still have Grandmas that are with them, some of us don't. My Grandma's not very well so I'm off to Atlanta to visit for a bit.

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Something for Saturday...

My bucket of blog bits was running a little low this morning so thank you Audrey for this very cute award:

I must now nominate 5 other blogs who show great attitude / grattitude and pass the award on to them. Just 5? Are you serious!?! It has taken me most of the morning to narrow down my list to such a tiny number:


With Our Hands - great job on getting those ArtFire referrals and YES I'm jealous!
Dabbled - You silly squid illustrations always make me giggle!
$5 Dinners - My place for a cheap food fix!
Auntie Di's De-Lites - Thumbs up for successfully surviving that recent move!
The Storybeader - Her blog is full of great stories and artist interviews!

Here's my entry for Illustration Friday.

The theme this week is Legendary:

"Chester and Claude go to Sea"

My two cats
went to sea in a boat.
If the boat had been stronger,
This poem would be longer...

Have a great Saturday!

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How-To Friday

I was sorting through my very large bucket of old computer bits the other day and came upon a couple of low capacity Compact Flash cards. Remember when 5MB was a TON of memory?
I found two 8MB Compact Flash cards that originally came with an older digital camera and decided they could be recycled and given a new life. Here's what I came up with (click on each image for a closer view):




Remember - this project may make the card unreadable. Of the two CF cards shown above, one still works and one does not. If the old cards are just sitting in the back of your desk drawer gathering dust, give it a try! What have you got to lose?!?

If you do try this project, upload a picture of it somewhere and leave a link in comments here. I'll show off your handy work on my blog next week!

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Crazy Road Trip!

Some of you may be aware that the Space Shuttle was scheduled to launch Wednesday, March 11th at around 9:30 pm EST. Charles had been checking the NASA web site for a while and this event looked pretty certain - no troubles had been reported and the weather was perfect.
Since I had never seen a Shuttle launch (in person) we decided it would make for a great road trip. We're 7 hours from Kennedy Space Center so we thought we'd drive down, watch the launch, sleep in a cheap motel and drive home Thursday morning. Perfect plan - right?


We had our evening all figured out - we'd go to Titusville, find a great parking spot and viewing place along A1A and be tourists on foot for a while until the evening.

Traffic was great and we made good time. When we reached the Beeline parkway to Orlando (we were still 2 hours from Titusville) we stopped for lunch. While deciding between Popeye's chicken and Dunkin Donuts, we happened to glance up at the CNN news bulletin on TV: "Due to a recently discovered leak in a hydrogen vent line, the Shuttle launch has been canceled."

We both looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and at the same time said "Let's go home". Twelve hours and 660 miles later we were back in our house, enjoying a bottle of wine and a recording of "Lie to Me" on the DVR.

The Shuttle launch is now scheduled for March 15th. I plan to travel 20 feet (to my big fluffy sofa) for a large screen, high definition, viewing of Discovery's take off.

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Cats and Bunnies, Oh My!

Sorry, I had to throw that image up first -
I laughed until I cried...

There's a new auction over on the TriageFromHome blog that you need to check out!
This time Helen is auctioning off one of my incredibly cute Easter Peeps mouse pads for her Breast Cancer walk in August. These are super cute and just in time for Easter!


Get over to her blog and check out that auction and the other cool items she has available and BID ON SOMETHING for a really good cause...

SAVE THE TA-TAs!!!

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Black Hole Monday

Last Monday I shared the story about the discovery of my personal black hole, illustrated its usefullness and gave readers a chance to toss in a few of their personal favorites. I can't toss everything in (it's a small black hole with a limited capacity) so I picked out some of my favorites.
Here's what we're tossing in today:

• A broken Lawn Mower
• Mean People (I chose Simon Cowell for this one)
• A 4th grade teacher (apologies in advance to you teachers - she must have been a bad one)
• All Fast Food - Ronald McDonald seems appropriate here
  
• Air Travel in general
  
• Ex-Husbands (the goofy cartoon guy represents them all)

Black Hole - Monday March 9th

Leave a comment about what you'd like to see thrown into the back hole NEXT Monday and I'll add it to my list!

And just because it's Monday, here's something to start your week off right:

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Held Over - The ArtFire Sale Continues!

I've got so many bird coasters going on around here today I'm thinking of opening and Aviary...

And the Saturday Sale Continues...

Things are going so well I've decided to keep my Saturday sale running through the weekend! Visit my ArtFire store today for some great deals!

Enter TWIT20 when you check out to apply a 20% discount to all products purchased (shipping not included).

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Saturday Sale in my ArtFire Shop!

It's beautiful here in sunny NW Florida today and I'm in the mood for a sale! For one day only take 20% off anything in my ArtFire shop!

That's right, 20% off!

Enter TWIT20 when you check out to get the discount.

This sale is good for one day ONLY so get over to my ArtFire shop quick!

These Items and MORE
on sale NOW 20% off
TWIT20 code must be entered during checkout
20% discount is applied to product price only, not shipping
Pay ahead and get a paypal refund
or ask for a revised invoice during checkout

Click HERE to go to my ArtFire shop

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Art under Mouse

The thing I love about my funny critter coasters is that they are not only fun, they're functional too. The flat cow coaster is cute on its own but I love the fact that it can protect your desk or table from rings and give you a fun place to put your coffee, soda, or glass of red wine (preferred beverage).
I had an idea a few weeks ago that might help me turn my paintings and drawings in to functional works of art as well. The package came in the mail today and I'm delighted with the results! I chose two of my favorite paintings, "Sparky and Hoot hanging out" and my "Warholized Easter Peeps". Check it out...

New Art Mouse Pads
In my ArtFire shop now!

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Robots, Owls, and New Friends

I think I've finished the next painting in the Robot and Owl series. This one is called "Sparky and Hoot play hide and seek". I like the idea of Hoot trying to mimic the flowers where he is hiding.


We also got a new roommate today. "Princess" is our foster kitty for a few weeks while we try to figure out how to find her a new, permanent home. I am volunteering with a nonprofit group where I live called the "Feline Friends of Destin". They work hard to find homes for abandoned cats and kittens and also help to manage the feral cat population by neutering, tagging, and feeding the cats that live in the wild. They are a hard working group with a big job, especially in these economically challenging times. Please check out their web site and donate a few 'tax-deductible' cents if you can spare it.

Princess - The Kitty without a Home

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Girl Geeks are Great!

I really like my Robot Girl painting because It tells me it's OK to be a girl and a geek at the same time. I wanted to celebrate this so I was trying to think of other ways I could use the image in my ArtFire shop. I went rummaging in my stash for an idea...

Last month a buddy in California who runs a great ETSY shop called Tags and Buttons sold me a big batch of excess polymer clay supplies and tools. Raw clay, tools, and a few odds and ends; among them, this bag of cool polymer clay pendants:


The pink pendants are a little less than 1.5 inches across and they looked like they would make a perfect backpack charm. I went to work printing a tiny copy of the robot girl on high quality paper and then used "Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue" to permanently attach the image to the charm. After it dried over night I applied 3 coats of satin, water proof polyurethane varnish to permanently protect the image. I used some jewelry findings and a cute pewter star charm to finish the piece. I think it turned out to be pretty cute and geeky at the same time!

For the Geeky Girl in your Life -
The GirlBot Charm

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Mondays should be Funnier!

Nobody is in a really good mood on Monday. It's easy to understand - long work week ahead, too much to do, not enough time... If you think you have it bad, just remember - these poor guys have it worse:


They may not have green cards but this is no way to treat a gnome, regardless...

I also thought today would be a great day to share my latest scientific discovery. Last week I took a really great photo of what I thought at the time was the planet Venus. Upon closer inspection I discovered it was actually the comet Tulin. Here's the picture in case you missed it:


After further research, some thought, and a healthy imagination, I have decided this is actually my personal black hole. Since it is my PERSONAL black hole, I am free to throw anything into it. Today I will start with a few random objects: a cow, an astronaut, a rocket ship, The cat in the Hat (in honor of Dr Seuss' birthday), and the U.S. Dollar (in honor of Wall Street's dismal performance).

Over time I plan to throw MANY things into my personal black hole. If you would like to participate in this very liberating activity, please feel free to offer your own suggestions!


Note: No actual cows, astronauts, or cats were harmed by my actions. This event might even HELP the dollar - it's still too soon to tell.

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Happy March!

February always disappears a few days before I'm ready. I had big plans to accomplish a lot of things in that short month (new paintings, custom coaster orders, taxes...). Now that March is here I'm VERY ready for Winter to be over and Spring to arrive - complete with happy little songbirds.

Yesterday it was 75 degrees here on the lovely gulf coast of Florida, this morning it's 41 degrees, blustery and rainy. It's snowing in Birmingham, Alabama - it NEVER snows in Birmingham. I'm feeling a lot like this little blue bird coaster I'm working on at the moment... "What the Heck?!?"

Custom order - The Bluejay Coaster

I did get a box in the mail last Friday that made me smile and think of Spring:


This cute, one of a kind ring came from AuntieDi's ETSY shop - Deliciously Scented Soy Candles and Funky Cool Jewels! She also has a great shop over on ArtFire so check them BOTH out!

One more thing made me smile this morning that I have to share -


I found this cute cat print in SarahMadsen's ETSY shop - When the sun comes out and it warms up a bit, I'll look a lot like this cat!

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