Illustration Friday: Grow

Frankie is hoping that his gift will help their friendship grow.

I'll also be submitting this to Penelope's Monster Mash contest.

Illustration Friday: Extremes

Ever since the new Tweet Shoppe opened the locals have been flocking to try out all the new gelato flavors. Flavors such as Sunflower Crunch, Very Berry Birdseed, Mealworm Mocha, and Slithering Earthworm Swirl would be considered extreme by our standards, but these feathered friends just call them yummy! :)

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day when 'bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment.' I find the idea that so many voices are focusing on one topic, especially one this important to be really amazing.

Sometimes I think it's funny how we say that environmentalists are fighting for the planet when in reality this planet doesn't care if it's too hot or if it's a solid ball of ice. It's been around for billions of trillions of years, and it will still be here in one form or another when we're gone.

When there's smog in our cities the Earth doesn't cough....we do. Trees supply oxygen to our planet, but when acres of forest are cut down, and countless plant species are lost, and yet another animal goes extinct, the Earth doesn't shed a tear, but I do.

Quite frankly, I'm saddened every time we lose a bit of nature because I selfishly like breathing fresh unfiltered air, and every plant lost may mean the loss of a potential cure to one of our human diseases.

Sometimes I think we should stop kidding ourselves that we're worried about this big rock we call a the planet. Being an environmentalist is all about our own survival, and wanting to live on a planet that's sky blue and grass green with splashes of the most amazing colors we've ever seen. Somewhere that's not filled with indecomposable trash. It's about wanting to live in a place where we're happy and surrounded by beauty. And for me, that's something worth fighting for. :)

Illustration Friday: Open

Poor Bridget! She was so busy talking on her cell phone
that she stepped back without noticing the open manhole.

This is an exciting week over at Illustration Friday with the first ever gallery contest.
You can vote for your 5 favorite illustrations here.

Illustration Friday: The Blues

Last weekend the weather was beautiful so I went out and found a very nice forest preserve, and walked the tree-lined paths for a few miles. It was a perfect day except I noticed that others must have thought the woodland floor was for disposing their plastic bottles and other assorted trash. It got me thinking that living with all that litter must give the woodland creatures the blues.

Illustration Friday: Wedding

Her wedding day is a bride's happiest moment....or sometimes not.

I'll let you come up with the story for this one.

This week I was determined to attempt traditional painting again. My dependence on the computer has turned the paint brush into a foreign tool to me. I had fun working with my limited supply of acrylics (which is supplemented with clearance folk art craft paints), but I'm going to need so much more practice to better know what I'm doing.
The scan made some of the colors funny.

Illustration Friday: Momentum

A few weeks ago we had major flooding after thunderstorms tore through the area. I like to walk along the river, so I'm used to seeing the changes in the water level, but had never seen it spill over that much land. The river usually has a gentle flow over the dam, but after the storm it turned into raging rapids over the rocks. As it gained momentum it carried off anything in its path. Now that the waters have receded a bit I was exploring some of what had washed up on the banks. I found an area where black rocks and snail shells had been deposited. I collected some of the shells which had previously been hidden under the water, and imagined their wild river journey. I was planning on doing an ambitious painting to represent this story, but ended up with this more graphic approach. I had a lot of fun with this drawing.

Illustration Friday: Alphabet

Oliver is an obstetrician hence the baby octos.

Oh, I almost didn't have anything for this week. It was a busy labor day weekend of rest, relaxation, and good times followed by a week of catching up with work stress.
Thank goodness the new weekend is almost here.

Illustration Friday: Visitors + Captain

Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and gang were frequent visitors to ol' Mr. McGregor's garden, but they might have found even greater adventures if they'd taken to the high seas. They could have found gardens on every shore to plunder, and been up to their knees in cabbage while drinking pints of carrot juice ale.
As you can see this was started for last week's topic, but it didn't come together in time, so I tried to stretch the idea around to fit this week.

Illustration Friday: Emergency

After an emergency delivery a healthy baby boy fawn was successfully delivered. Mother deer is doing well, and getting her much needed rest.
I wanted to draw deer after seeing 3 the other day on my afternoon walk. They always look so gentle, delicate, and I imagine caring too, as I often see the babies staying close to their protective mothers. I believe they'd make excellent candy stripers.

Illustration Friday: Missing

Too Many Geese

Is Canada missing some geese? We have a bit of a Canadian Geese population overload around here. When I go on my walks they are just everywhere. When I drive to work I wait while they cross in front of my car, and when you don't see them you can easily tell where they've been by all the evidence they leave behind. In the spring the parks district has been working on some population control methods, but teaching geese to practice safe sex is a near impossible mission. I guess we could always play a round of 'duck duck goose', but we seem to be missing the ducks.

I'm not very happy with the coloring on this one. I was having trouble with the black getting away from me with my old stand by technique, and I was losing the drawing, so I included the sketch. I think I could do a better job with a traditional painting, but time is short, and I must be getting some sleep. I was missing in action here on the blog for a few months this summer, and now I'm still trying to get back into the drawing groove. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, and left kind such comments. As always it's very much appreciated, and I love hearing from everyone.

Illustration Friday: Moon

Under the light
of the moon
darkness hides
And all things become clear

Or is it more accurate to say that sometimes the moon makes lunatics of us all?

Since my last week's Poem entry contained a moon
I thought why not throw a poem in this week.