Animal Wednesday & Award - Chickens?

Well folks, I know I'm cheating a bit here and way late for posting - please fogive me - I'm not myself.  Been paddling around in my canoe lately through the ten inches of water that has been pouring forth from the heavens these past three days!  If you think it's easy taking your Mother to doctor's appointments with a wheel chair in tow through a downpour worthy of an ark - in a canoe - well........it's not!  So here is my combined post for Animal Wednesday and the prestigous Zombie Chicken Award created by Barbara and bestowed upon me by the very gracious, multi-talented, cultered, well-traveled gent Justin Segal .  I'll get to my victims of the receipt of this award in a minute, but firstly....


Yes, zombie chickens for Animal Wednesday, I hope Mim doesn't kick me off!  Although they're dead, they still technically are animals.  What are your thoughts of what a zombie chicken might do if you ever (God forbid) came under attack?  Would they just wander around aimlessly staring into space with their eyeballs popping out?  Would they try to peck you to death?  What would they sound like?  Would they still taste good if captured and roasted?  The possibilites are endless! I wonder what Emily Rabbit thinks?  OK now to business:

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens 

by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.

I am passing on this award to my six newest blog friends, please check 'em out!

Betty

Elizabeth Stanforth-Sharpe

Julia

Julie

Maria

Sophia

No zombie attacks here!

The Renee Award - Update!

Sorry folks, things have been a little "nutty" around here lately, and I didn't get the chance to go through all my blogs and properly add on the recipients I'd like to pass on this special award to - These are folks that have been very supportive to me - real oaks!  Some have offered professional advice, some have offered emotional support, some just make me laugh. But all of them have been friends & colleagues in one way or another.  The amazing thing about the internet is that you can make an instant connection with someone without ever meeting them - there's just a special spark there.  Some of those friends are here, whom I've known only a short time.  Other friends I've known in person for a few years, and one for over 25 - you know who you are - HA!  Some of you also have this award already, and some have just received it, but I wanted you to know I think you all deserve it!  If you haven't already, please visit here to learn about the special origins of this award designed by the incredible Ces and Bella in honor of their dear friend Renee.  I would like to pass on or give back this honor to:

Amalia

Andrew

Ces

Bella

Brigitte

Elizabeth

Ginger

Jack

Jose

Justin
Karen R
Karen W

KJ

Krista

Lucy

Mim

Nicola

Shirley
Tom

Val

Vanessa

If you haven't checked out these blogs please do,  you won't be disappointed!

Illustration Friday - Rescue

The Renee Award

Yesterday morning as I settled  into cyberspace to do the blog rounds, I checked my recent comments.  I scrolled down to one from Ces and was stunned to learn I was one of her recipients of the amazing Renee Award.  Ces designed this award with the incredibly talented Bella.  These two gifted artists and close friends crafted this symbol of their dear friend Renee emerging from her acorn to grow into the sturdy strong oak that was loved by so many. To learn more about the origin and special meaning of this award please click here.  As most of you know, Renee recently lost her courageous battle with cancer earlier this month.  Although I never knew Renee, I am constantly reminded of her because so many of you did know her and I feel so inspired by the indelible stamp she has left on this world.  I also learned that yesterday would have been Renee's 54th birthday - so happy (a bit belated) birthday Renee, I hope you're having one heck of a time!

Thank you so much Ces and Bella for this incredible honor
 I am deeply touched.

Sunday Sketches - Daffodil Bulb

Here is my second contribution to Sunday Sketches.  Technically it's closer to a finished drawing as there are quite a few things I can do to improve it - but I really wanted to use something for spring, and our daffodils haven't bloomed yet! This is another study I did for a New York Botanical Garden class.  I had to pin it to a carboard box draped in a black T-Shirt to see it in it's entirety - my studio felt like a science lab, very cool.  I originally scanned the blossoms, but I'm not happy with them, and since I seem to have a thing for roots........

Happy SS everyone!

Digital Illo Question For You

Hey All, hope everyone is having a great weekend!  I have a quick quesiton for all you digital illustrators out there.  I recently aquired photoshop (CS3) a few months ago - haven't gotten my lessons yet, but hope to next month.  This spring, for my birthday, my wonderfully generous hubby is springing for a laptop for me to call my own!  I'm really looking forward to it, and am seriously thinking about adding another software componant with the package.  As you all know I'm mostly a colored pencil artist right now, but I'm very openminded and might become more digital in the future.  I imagine myself always sketching with pencil first, then scanning, but we'll see.  Anyway, my question to all of you is:  the two other main programs out there are Adobe Illustrator and Corel Painter.  If I go with Corel I would get version X, as XI is out of the fiscal ballpark right now!  I know many of you have had success with both, so I'm really curious what your experiences and opinions are - do tell all - thanks!

St. Patty's Day Parade!

As promised.... here are some pics from the parade in NYC.  There are no visual masterpieces here, so if you're looking for clever photos with great lighting, perfect composition and deep meaning - you'll be disappointed.  These were purely for fun and posterity, and lots were taken while I was walking with the band,  so they may be a mite blurry.  Hope you enjoy!

Here we are after just arriving on 47th street.  Had to hang around for three hours before 'stepping off' because of the usual delays.

David (our son, the tallest) and friends. Since there was so much time to kill most of the kids didn't mind getting their pic taken.  Yes the bookend guys are identical twins. They used to have different glasses, so I could at least tell them apart from that. Now they're the same so when I see one of  them I say "Hi Tom or Jim!", but they're really good sports about it.

While the drumline was practicing, all the drunk spectators nearby got down and boogied right in the center of the action....we arrived at 1:00 pm,  I think the drinking must've started around 8:00 am!  One idiot even threw a beer can in one of the kid's sousaphones, unbelievable!

High fivin' the crowd has become a tradition over the years, another way to help with the long wait. Us cool chaperones thought it was great, then an uptight chaperone had to kill the fun! >:#

This little drummer boy in training had a great time jammin' - until his dad said enough - he had a meltdown like you wouldn't believe!

This is the NY chapter of county Tipperary.  They sponsor our band and make it possible for us to march in the parade.  They march right behind us and we honor them by playing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" - a great arrangement just for the band composed by our great band director and my younger son's bass teacher.  It sounds wonderful, but they have to play it over and over and over and over and over again for 40 blocks so you have it in your head for at least three days!

Finally marching down 5th Avenue.  Figured I might as well snap some photos of psuedo landmarks while we walked by: top is  'American Girl Place' where if you have or had young ladies in your life you'll know is the mecca for all American Girl fans.  I was there once with a neighbor and her daughter to get her doll's hair done - OY!  Below is Trump Tower, where The Donald - I think - still has a penthouse, there's also a cool waterfall in the lobby, that's as far as we got!

Lot's o'green here - love the wig!  The red sign is hard to make out, but this is FAO Schwartz world famous toy store, right behind the cops.

AWWWWWWWWW!

There was no end to the creativity of the costumes and spirited getups this day, the spectators were a blast to watch - I don't know who had more fun us or them!

And my personal favorite.........

What would you get if you crossed a leprechaun, The Joker, Frankenstein's monster, a bag piper and a beach bum?

This........!!!

Heehee, gotta love it - he gets an 'A' for spirit!

Just one more.....beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral  

couldn't do it justice walking by, but it is magnificant!

Thanks everyone for bearing with such a long post,  I should've made a link to a web album but I didn't feel like it - hah!

Animal Wednesday - Meet Katie the Swimming (???) Cat!

Here's Katie, taking a break from the sink!

When my dear friend Jaynie and her family had to move to Pennslyvania last fall, the people weren't the only ones I was going to miss from this family - their cats Katie and Cuddles had made indelible pawprints on my heart too.  When my friends would travel several times a year, I happily 'cat-sat' for them every time.  Both these kitties are naturally shy, so I considered it a special honor that each time I came to care for them, Katie would greet me at the door with her sweet "meows" and rub against my leg.  The most amazing thing about this cat though is her breed, she is a Turkish Van.  These special webbed-pawed felines originated near 'Lake Van' in Turkey, have only been in the USA since the 80's and they love the water!  Whaaaa - everyone knows cats hate water! I had never heard of such a thing until I met Katie, and still found it hard to believe....until the first time I refilled the water bowl.  The second the water started flowing from the tap, Katie leapt gracefully up on the counter by my side, paws eagerly swishing through the cold stream.  You can imagine my surprise when moments later,  as soon as I was running the water in the bathroom sink, I looked down and there was Katie - in the sink!  This time she got completely into the act, alternating between bathing and drinking  - what a character!  If you'd like to read more and see some cool photos of these amazing water loving felines please click here.

I miss you guys - cats and humans alike!

Happy Animal Wednesday Everyone!

The 12 Week Challenge & Blogger Issues

Thanks very much to Justin Segal for letting us all in on the '12 Week Challenge' please click here to learn more.

Thanks of course to  Jonathan Woodward  for starting this wonderful challenge.  As Karen mentioned in her post today, a lot of us bite off more than we can chew - but this was way to good to pass up.  The challenge starts April 5th, the day before my Mom will undergo some major surgery, I'm also preparing for the conference in May.  For me, this might mean skipping Illustration Friday once in awhile if I don't have an older piece to submitt, which will be tough as I've been participating for a solid four months now!  As you can imagine, I've gotten quite addicted to blogging and meeting all you wonderful folks, I hope I'll be able to manage everything, wish me luck, and I hope some of you will join us for the challenge!

I also have a quick question for all of you: the past two weeks or so I've been having major problems with blogger loading pages.  Not only my own blog but also everyone else's.  I've had to refresh, stop and refresh many times to get a page to finish loading.  The worst thing has been leaving comments.  I'll write my comment, click "leave a comment" then the page either takes a few minutes to load or won't at all.  I then refresh, stop, refresh, rinse and repeat, but have sometimes lost my comments.  As some of you know I can be quite verbose on occasion, so after retyping, I almost always end up copying the text now just in case I loose it so I can paste it after the page finally behaves!  Have any of you experienced this problem?  It's become such a waste of time it's driving me bananas!

Sunday Sketches and Blog Award

                       

This is my first entry for a blog group I just joined called 'Sunday Sketches'.  Much thanks to Sophia of Blue Chair Diary for starting this awesome idea!  This is a really informal exercise just to keep us sketching and the ideas flowing.  No themes, no prompts, just sketch whatever the heck you want with whatever the heck you want! This really works well for me, as I promised myself awhile ago to sketch more often and I work much better when held accountable.  This is a sketch done in Dark Umber Prismacolor pencil of what I think is a really cool root formation, I can just imagine the roots pulling themselves from the earth and the whole tree walking - like Treebeard, for all you Tolkien fans.  Yesterday the kids were busy with their own stuff, so hubby and I took Cosmo for a long, long walk in one of our local state parks.  I had noticed some wonderful tree roots there before but always forgot to bring the camera.  I've brought my sketchbook, but wasn't happy with the results.  This time I took our nifty little camera along and found hundreds of wonderful trees, roots, rocks and water to snap.  It'll be wonderful reference for the Native American piece I'll be posting for your review in the next few weeks (got lots of reference to plow through with that one!).  If you'd like to participate in 'Sunday Sketches' just contact Sophia.

I also give a hearty thanks to Nicola of Visual Diary for this wonderful blog award:

I really enjoy these awards because they are so creatively made and are sort of like a card you get when someone is really thinking of you and appreciates your efforts.  I have though gotten tired of the 'rules' that come with these things and I know a lot of you have too, so..... I am going to pass on this award exactly how Nicola did - to each and everyone of my blog friends who would like it.  I enjoy every single one of your blogs and cannot pick and choose any more.  So go ahead, grab it, put it on your blog and pass it around! 

IF - Expired

The Ancient's beliefs have all but expired...

except perhaps in our imaginations.
As always click for more detail

Another view of the Greek mythology 
wall mural in my son's room, 

have a great weekend everyone!

IF - Subterranean & Animal Wednesday

A Burrowing Owl

After realizing my time was running short this week, 

I decided to us my little owl for double duty.  Now he's my star for Animal Wednesday too!

I tried to get in lots of visiting today as I won't be able to visit much in the next few days.  Lots of mundane stuff but....a great day lined up tomorrow - our older son's high school band will be marching in the St. Patty's Day parade in NYC!  We went last year too, it's a blast!

I had never heard of the burrowing owl until I read Carl Hiaasen's book Hoot with my kids a few years ago.  These nine inch adorable subterranean dwellers are found throughout North and South America, in flat grassy or prairie-like environments.  Unfortunately, they like golf courses too and other areas of open land where development is a constant threat.  It is also unfortunate that the US has failed to list them as an endangered species.  In some states they are labled as a 'species of special concern' - which won't protect them once the bulldozers start rolling.  If you'd like to learn more about the burrowing owl please click here, here, or here.  If you haven't heard of Carl Hiaasen's book, check it out (I won't say "It's a hoot" here!), but the movie isn't worth it - unless your a parrot head!  Hint, hint......

Coffee With Vanessa - Tuesday March 16

Hi folks!  If anyone is interested, I'll be hanging out over at Vanessa's place  Coffe And A Keyboard  tomorrow answering questions on and off throughout the day.  She has a great weekly series of author interviews every Tuesday and has graciously offered to interview me.  Although I'm not a published picture book author yet, it is only a matter of time while I work on my goals. 
Artist and writer interviews are a feature I will be adding to my blog sometime in the next month or so.  If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment here or shoot me an email - should be fun!

And Now Ladies & Gentlemen - For Something Completely Different...

Well, after much thought and deliberation, I give you my contest entry for Jose's marshmallow contest!  Jose has been faithfully churning out his awesome marshmallows every single day and is closing in on #100.  He has generously sponsored a contest where the winner will receive not one, but two bags of gourmet marshmallows from Plush Puffs, well I couldn't resist joining in on the fun! I believe the contest has been extended until Wednesday for anyone who's interested. So, here he is, one of my favorite musicians, Old Satchmo himself - as a gourmet smores marshmallow! I know, I know, it looks more like a bad portrait than anything, but I'm a lousy cartoonist and I have to do things a little differently.  Since anything goes, I decided to get out my acrylics again and play.  Since I haven't painted in so long,  it was lots of fun having a brush in my hand again and loosening up.  I think I was going for some sort of impressionistic-like-ish look.  I really like how the broad brush stroke background came out, but after I showed my family, my boys said "Oh, it's great Mom, but it looks like someone sneezed all over the background!".  Honestly, you'd think they were going on 3 and 6 not 13 and 16 - no respect!

Oh well........enjoy!

Sunshine and Shadows

Although the weather this week has been glorious, I haven't been feeling too glorious.  I've been down with some kind of bug (remember those pesky purple guys?!) - but more than that it's been a real downer of a week emotionally.  

I've learned that the world has lost an incredible woman, Renee.  I never knew Renee, but have come as close as I can to knowing her from my blog friends that were fortunate enough to call her a friend.  She was an incredible woman who touched the whole world through her humor and honesty while battling a horrific bout with cancer.  I pray for her family and friends.

This put me in a downward spiral this week - making me focus on my own loss of the people of love, most especially my Father and my Brother.  My thoughts then brood on the illnesses touching my family now...my Mother, my Father in law, and my many friends and acquaintances who are dealing with cancer right now - too many.  Then my thoughts turn to world events, and suffering of any kind.  I am a complete bleeding heart and mourn the suffering or loss of every man, woman, and child and living creature who leaves this world too soon.  From a well known philanthropic celebrity like Paul Newman (who has touched our lives personally through his camp), to a friend or family member, to a hungry child, to an animal in a shelter.  This is my greatest strength and my greatest weakness.  I guess when you're too sick to keep busy it doesn't help either!  I am so thankful for my family and friends who keep me going.

Well, now after I've dried my eyes and blown my nose, it's time for a little sunshine!  I owe a big thanks to Karen of Down In The Hollow and ka holly for this beautiful sunshine award.  Thank you Karen you made my week!

Now, here are the rules for accepting this award:

• Put the logo on your blog or within your post
• Pass the award onto at least 12 bloggers, if you wish
• Link the nominees within your post
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Once again it's hard to pick just a few blogs from such an immensely talented pool, but here they are in no particular order - I'll be stopping by soon!

Karen of  A Puddle of Crumbs

Brigitte of  Atelierbrigitte

Mim of  Auntie Mim's

Bella of  Bella Sinclair Doodlespot

Cally of  Cally Jane Studio

Ces of  Ces And Her Dishes

Krista of  Krista Hamrick Illustration

Karen of  Options For A Better World

Nicola of  Nicola Toms Designs

Vanessa of  Coffe And A Keyboard

Weezel (Louise) of  What Scares You?

Gen of  So, Write

Teri of  Teri's Painted Daisies

Laurel of  Studio Lolo

Amalia of  Translucent Blue

Valerie of  Val Gal Art

Vittoria of  Faruffando


Vanessa of  Ooh La La Design Studio


Shirley of  Shirley's Illustrations


I probably picked too many - but who cares!  You can never have too much love and sunshine to pass around, we need it!

Monday Artday - Snow Games

Just in time for Spring! 

The last day of Monday Artday's challenge

Snow Games

IF - Brave

You gotta be incredibly brave to stick a needle in your own vein!

It was a long two years of training my son went through to learn self-infusing - but the payoff was immeasurable, what a sense of accomplishment and independence.  During the learning process my husband and I both took shots at sticking ourselves and each other.  While I'm not scared of needles, everytime in the moment just before I poked myself, I got that weird woosy feeling like just before you faint!  This illustration shows the "hooray" moment when the blood "flashes" in the butterfly needle tube, signifying success - we always held our breath before this momentous sign!

I don't think I've ever posted twice in one day - don't think that'll happen again anytime soon - have a great weekend everyone!

Delta Society Blog - We're The Feature For The Next Few Days!

As many of you know, Cosmo and I are a pet therapy team.  A few weeks back I got an email from a wonderful volunteer - Lori - from  The Delta Society ,  a service/therapy animal organization.  She came across my blog and was wondering if I'd be interested in writing a piece for their blog.  I thought about it for nearly two seconds before answering "I'd be thrilled to!" and here is the result.  I've copied and pasted the article from the website, but I haven't been able to format the type to fit here properly.  It looks fine in the post window!  So if you're interested in seeing the original post on the original page that looks much better - just click here.  They feature pet partner team stories about two to three times a week, so we'll be the feature story for a few days.   Enjoy!  Oh, and Lori, we'd love to visit you on the Cape!

You've helped bring back so many wonderful memories for me, I feel so much better now!

Susan Mordigal and I are both New Englanders….she lives in Connecticut and I'm often at our family home on Cape Cod. We found one another on the internet and began a conversation about the healing power of pets. I fell in love with Cosmo from afar (but maybe I can convince Susan to bring Cosmo up to the cape!?) and knew you'd be interested in their story:
Cosmo has brought so much joy to our family and to everyone he meets. We couldn't have asked for a more gentle, loving dog that fits so perfectly with our family. We adopted Cosmo from the SPCA nearly 2 ½ years ago.

Cosmo came to the shelter here in CT after a long journey from Colbert Animal Hospital in GA. Before he was ready for that 900+ mile trek, he had been brought in off the street by animal control suffering injuries from what they believe was an attack by another dog. His nose was fractured badly and his right eye was swollen shut with infection. He had also tested positive for heartworm disease, and of course he had to undergo surgery for neutering. As if that wasn't enough, he also developed a respiratory infection! By the time the 'caravan' pulled out of the veterinary parking lot, six months had gone by with no one claiming Cosmo as their own. Lucky for us!

After a few months of adjustment Cosmo fit into our lives beautifully. He picked up basic commands and leash training well. There were just a few things he struggled with. It took him a few days to feel comfortable navigating the many stairs in our house. He had no clue what 'fetch' was, but now owns a hoard of stuffed animals that he can choose from - squeakers are preferable. He gave us blank stares when we offered him rawhides and chews, but it didn't take him long to develop a refined palette for certain types – only basted please! The one thing that still startles him is loud vehicles passing us by on our walks, but then again, lots of them startle me too!

I didn't take long to realize Cosmo's friendly, gentle nature would be perfect for therapy animal work. We have been visiting our local hospital since last Spring and typically visit about twice a month. Cosmo has become quite popular with the staff. To his delight many receptionists keep a handy stash of doggie treats at the ready!

Typically, seeing therapy dogs brings a flood of memories back to the patients, and they revel in their stories of beloved pets past. One of the highest compliments I received was from one elderly woman who after talking for a good 15 minutes said "You've helped bring back so many wonderful memories for me, I feel so much better now." Thankfully Cosmo will lie patiently on the floor when some patients feel well enough to talk that long! Sometimes they are too weak to talk much and just stroke his head for a few moments. Others love to give him treats and even ask him to stand with his front paws next to their bed! Still other patients are so tired and spent they can only gaze at him fondly. In these instances the visiting families are often there and they benefit from his presence too. As we make our 'rounds' through the various rooms and corridors, we encounter lots of staff, the gift shop, visiting families, outpatients in waiting rooms, and even the cafeteria! The most common question I get while visiting is if Cosmo is my own dog. Of course I answer proudly with a resounding "yes!"

Eventually I'd love to get us into a reading to kids program. I never cease to marvel at the healing power of pets. I've witnessed it many times in the bright spark that comes into the eyes of a patient in pain, an exhausted nurse visibly revived, a shy child speaking comfortably. All just by petting one little dog.

Currently I am working on writing and illustrating a picture book about Cosmo's amazing journey…

You can read more about Susan and Cosmo's excellent adventures on her blogand also check out her website

Hey Cosmo, come visit me on Cape Cod this summer!

Lori

Animal Wednesday - Otter

A fun otter for Animal Wednesday!  Have you ever seen these guys in their element?  I have a couple of times, they are so graceful, lithe, and playful -  a joy to watch.

Happy Animal Wednesday everyone!

My First Conference - Help!

NESCBWI 2010 Conference: Moments of Change 

As spring is just around the corner here, so are the spring conferences.  I was not able to go to the big SCBWI winter conference in New York, but I am thrilled to be going to the regional 'New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Spring conference this May!  For those of you who have attended a conference I'd love any advice or pointers you may have to offer.  I was not able to get into a critique group, they filled up within minutes, probably even before I got this postcard.  I missed the #1 workshop I wanted to take too, but now I'm hooked up online with the message board - live and learn.  My biggest question is what should I bring for a business card?  I haven't had cards since I had my mural business a few years ago.  I was thinking of not only making standard-sized cards, but also a 4 x 6ish size with a larger image or images.  What do you guys think? Should I do one or both, should I make up a logo for myself?  If it's a good idea to make up larger cards should I use one image of my art or more?  Any help would be most appreciated - THANKS!!!