Mondays and Fridays.....A Question for all of you

I'm looking for thoughts and guidance  - I've been noticing posts from lots of you who participate in Monday Artday. I checked out their website and it looks great. I understand the concept is just like Illustration Friday, with a weekly challenge, only you have two weeks to complete it instead of one. As most of you know, I've been trying to write and illustrate. Shortly after the New Year I will have more writing pieces to post and more sketches for the book. My point is that eventhough I have a tipping plateful of work to do, I am sooo tempted to participate! I've had such an awesome time participating in Illustration Friday! The creative process has been so stimulating and I've met so many amazing artists along the way. So, I'm still on the fence, although heavily leaning on dropping in on the Monday side! If you have a moment I'd love to get your opinion and thoughts - thanks and a Happy New Year to All!

IF - Pioneer

Just a quick one this week 

 Like so many of us, I've been swamped by the Holidays, but couldn't resist doing something!

Chester already considered himself a pioneer of fashion. But that morning, when he showed up at the watering hole, his fellow zebras could only stare back in shock, horror and disgust. 

IF - Undone

Hemophilia is a fancy word that many people have never heard.

Let me explain, it's so simple you'll see, 
it's as easy as learning your ABCs.

Your blood is like a puzzle just mising a piece,

 which is important to help make bleeding cease.

You start to bleed; you don't bleed a lot.

It simply means your blood does not clot.

From "Infusion Time" and "Infusion Time 2" by Diane Horbacz & Susan Mordigal

For this week's theme 'undone', I came up with lots of great ideas, but alas, this being Christmas week, I didn't have enough time to produce a new piece.  I chose this one more for the symbolism than anything, for as you can see it is not a masterpiece of technical ability!  The symbolism can go much deeper than the actual blood left 'undone'.  Parents and family members often become 'undone' upon first learning the diagnosis of their precious baby.  We, along with the other 650,000 families worldwide living with Hemophilia or other bleeding disorders are also still hopeful for a cure.  Thus, the research for Hemophilia and it's complications is still left 'undone'.  If you are interested in learning more about Hemophilia please see "Links to My Passions" at the bottom of this page.  There has been much progress made and hope is bright, but there is still a long way to go.  In the meantime, we are all grateful for what we have, thankful for what can be done, and hopeful for what will come.

A Blessed and Joyful Holiday Season to you all, and Healthy and Happy New Year!

Pets or Angels?

Cosmo, looking handsome in his certified therapy dog jacket, 

ready for his first day of "work"

Although some of you have never heard of "pet therapy" before, it certainly is not new.  The practice dates back to ancient times.  The first recorded instances of animals comforting humans as companions has been found in the hieroglyphics of ancient Eygpt, where the cat was worshipped above all other species.  It is no mystery to us animal lovers that we can derive much from our pets.  It is only since about one hundred years ago however, that scientific research had started to prove these benefits.  In more recent decades, the research has exploded and programs are cropping up all over the world.  As of now, Cosmo and I are involved in an exceptional program at one of our local hospitals.  It is incredible to see the joy and magic a dog can create just by being himself.  When we step into a patient's room and they see how eager Cosmo is to visit with them, they forget their pain and troubles if only for a few minutes.  At our last visit, we were lucky enough to engage with quite a few patients who felt well enough to talk for a good 15 minutes (the usual time is around five!).  One woman, who had talked at length about most of the pets she had had in her lifetime, remarked at our departure "Thank you so much for coming to see me, you helped me bring back many happy memories".  That lovely comment and so many more keep us coming back. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of pet ownership research, please check out these articles here and here.  Another hugely successful program that is gaining momentum is "Reading to Rover".  In this canine/human project, young people struggling to read have an opportunity to practice reading to a quiet and gentle dog.  You can read more about this life changing program here.  This is another way I would love to utilize Cosmo's gentleness and skill - someday!  If you already own a pet, you know how much they add to your life and you can't imagine life without them, if you don't, well - it's not for everyone.  Either way I hope you respect these loving, giving animals for the angels in disguise they are.

IF - Hatch

Once again I had to play and play before I decided on my final entry this week - 

mental stimulation, bring it on!

The children's book writer in me always likes to try to add the tidbit of a story with these illustrations, which I was going to do originally......but for reasons too complicated to go into here, I settled on something just plain fun, plus it's been a long time since I've seen a rainbow - enjoy!

Cosmo Considers - A Therapy Dog's Visit To The Hospital - Part II

......The saga continues!  If by chance you missed part one, just check under the "Category Cloud" under "Cosmo Considers" and you'll find part one of this story.

As I struggled to chew the soft gummy spice I wondered where we were going.  Anywhere but the vet!  I hoped. When I finally got the lump of ginger down the hatch Mom answered my question.  “Cosmo!” she said excitedly, “ready to go to work?”.   Hmmm…..work…..work……oh of course, she must mean the hospital!  That place where I get to walk around on carpet, meet lots of friendly people, get treats and lots of attention – work, was she serious?  Well, you can call it whatever you want, but I call it a good time.  The only problem was getting there……it was too far to walk, so we had to go in the van.  Now I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve got a few things that bother me, and one of them – a big one - is riding in the car, any car really, they all give me the willies, not to mention the queasies.  But if Mom says we’re going, well, enough said.  After hesitating as much as I dared, I finally jumped up onto the shotgun seat of the van.  I tried to settle down on the nice towel Mom always puts there for me - Although I think it’s more for catching drool than for comfort.  Whenever I’m nervous I tend to drool quite a bit, and as always, car rides make me nervous.  As Mom pulled out of our driveway and started down the winding back roads that led to the hospital, I tried to put the flashbacks out of my mind.  I tried to listen to her chatting or to the music coming from the CD, but for the first few minutes of our ride, they never left me alone.  I’ll tell you more about those memories another time, but for now, I’ll stick to what happened this day.  After a few more minutes I felt a bit better and started to listen to what Mom was saying.  “Cosmo, it’s such a beautiful day, so bright, sunny and cool.  Look at how all the shadows are striped across the road from the bare trees.  They sort of look like charcoal strokes from a sketchbook huh?”.  Well, that’s just her artist talk.  Me personally, I couldn’t even see the shadows on account of me being too short.  Even when I sit my very tallest, I still can’t see over the dashboard.  I can’t even look out the side window either on account of that stomach trouble I have.  As I turned my glance upward through the front window I could see a bunch of trees, no shadows though.  But what I was thinking was how many scents there were on all those trees whizzing by, must be millions, and we were missing them all!  I also thought about how all those trees racing by me were missed marking opportunities…….

Amazing Story of Buddy the Beagle.....

This is a brief heart-warming story just released today by Fox News.  Read the Story Here.  This amazing little hound survived alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of New Jersey for 98 days!  I have a soft spot for animal rescue and survival stories.  Our own Cosmo was a street dog for many months in Georgia before he was rescued and nursed back to health by an angel disguised as a veterinarian.  Cheers to the strong in spirit, the will to survive, and those humans and guardian angels who watch over us all.

IF - Crunchy

Over the hammering of his heart another sound reached Jack's ears.  A brief pause confirmed his fear - the crunching and splintering of giant twigs and leaves being crushed under the weight of enormous boots.  Jack didn't waste another second before resuming his  hasty descent down the beanstalk.

This time I thought waaayyy out of the box - lots of fun!

Cosmo Considers - A Therapy Dog's Visit to The Hospital - Part I

As promised - The first installment of part of Cosmo's world from his point of view, stay tuned!

“Cosmo, come” my Mom called………I think. “Cosmo, come”, yes that was definitely her, more impatient now.  I struggled to bring my consciousness up through the fog that seemed to be enveloping my brain.  I had just settled down for a nice sunbath and was drifting off to dreamland.  There’s plenty of room for me to stretch out and sometimes I even lean right up against the glass for an extra burst of heat………ahhh……..nice.  But that all ended one Fall afternoon as Mom insisted on waking me up.  She can be pretty persistent when she wants to be. I turned my head groggily in her direction with what I hoped was one of my best cute looks and gave my tail a few quick thumps. This usually has a nice disarming effect on my human pack members.  This time though, no go.  Mom gave me scratches behind my ears, a nice but too short belly rub and told me I needed to get up. I obliged with standing and giving myself a quick shake.  Better.  Well, now that I was up, I needed to do this properly, andthat included lots of stretching and yawning.  I also needed to sit and use my hind paws to get those spots behind my ears that Mom missed.  Then, since all that sunlight made my back itchy, I needed to roll onto my back and work out those itches. When I finally decided I had completedthe routine to my satisfaction I sat my best sit for Mom.  It was then I caught a whiff of something spicy, yet also sweet.  It took me a few seconds to remember the name…..ginger…..the spice that is, crystallized I think Mom calls it. Ginger is also the name of a yellow lab mix I once knew in Georgia, she smelled spicy and sweet too, with a hint of flowers, jasmine I think.  This ginger though,the spice (crystallized), could only mean one thing.  A car ride.

End of Part I

IF - Entangled

After finding the magic candy cane in the old silk hat, Frosty took one lick and found himself entangled in bright red ribbons of peppermint.

Wow, this illustration Friday was a bit more challenging, especially because I didn't have a piece already that fit the theme!  I must've thought of ten different ideas, all good and workable, but just too time consuming.  Thanks to the Celestial Seasonings Tea "Candy Cane Lane" for the final push of inspiration!