Illustration Friday - Artificial

Venus

3.5 x 2.5 inches ATC

colored pencil on toned paper

Some of the synonyms for artificial are: man-made, artful, cunning, imitation, sham.  Man has been imitating nature for a very long time.....

Illustration Friday - Double

Double Thunderhead - Crayon on Manila Paper

Well since I reached my one year goal last week, I thought I would use this week's word to finally make a banner for my blog and give it a design overhaul.  Blogger is starting to offer a lot more options for those of us who are technologically challenged.  I also decided that I would use a traditional public school art media, the good old Crayola Crayon.  Even though I rarely put crayons in my high school student's hands, I think they are as worthy and useful a medium as any available.  Nothing makes me happier than a brand new box of crayons!

Illustration Friday #52! - Breakfast

IHOP Breakfast

water media on rag paper, 9 x 12

ONE FULL YEAR OF ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY!

This weeks illustration is my 52nd consecutive weekly submission to Illustration Friday, meaning I have reached my goal of participating for a full year!  This week's word was a bit of a bonus since it gave me an excuse to visit my favorite breakfast restaurant, The International House of Pancakes, or as most Americans know it, IHOP.  My husband John and I went for breakfast yesterday morning as a sort of mini celebration for having made it through the whole year.  

As you can see, I had one of my favorite selections, the stuffed french toast combo, with scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns,strawberry stuffed french toast, and ironically, a diet Coke. :) (I'm not a coffee drinker)  John had something called loaded minion taters that IHOP is promoting with the "Dispicable Me" movie that recently came out.  His came with a tater tot casserole, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and an added side of bacon.  

We came hungry.  We left happy!

Grow Babies Grow

Early Feathers on Mocking Bird Babies

We also have a nest of swallows about 20 feet from where the mocking birds are nesting, but they are a lot harder to see and the parents get a good deal more upset about visitors.  Here is a single poorly focused image, but I didn't want to stress them out by trying to get a better photo.

Swallow Babies

Illustration Friday - Diary

scanned and digitally manipulated image

click it to big it!

Like many other IF participants, my blog and sketchbooks are my diaries.  They just focus very specifically on a need to communicate visually.  This scanner image was inspired/stolen from this week's Photojojo project.  If you aren't already familiar with Photojojo, it is a fantastically creative photography blog site.   I think I may try do do something like this with my high school kids early next school year.  Fun stuff!

PS: I realized that I improperly submitted this to my blog site rather than the blog post so I am resubmitting it.  I apologize if you are seeing it twice.

Baby Basket

Three Babies in a Basket in a Basket

I wonder if early man/woman looked at bird's nests when he/she, first decided to make a basket.  It seems like a logical connection.  These are the three mockingbird babies that hatched from the eggs/nest I painted a couple of weeks ago.   You can see the nest painting if you scroll down about four blog posts.   The eggs are a beautiful turquoise color with deep rusty red spots.

The nursery is in my bicycle basket on the carport.  They don't look like much here, but these babies are growing really fast.  I will try to document them every few days to show their progression.  Luckily my cats are indoors only or I would worry a lot more about momma bird's choice of location. 

Happy Summer everyone!

Illustration Friday - Giant

Attack of the Giant River Otter

(collage)

A small mining community in Northern Kentucky was attacked yesterday evening by a Giant Amazonian River Otter.  Mine workers fled the scene while animal control, fire, and police officers debated over the best way to capture the rouge animal.  The 150 foot long creature disappeared into the mountains before authorities could devise a plan.

Juvenal Giant River Otter Sighted in Barrow Alaska

This just in... What appears to be a young Giant Amazonian River Otter was sighted just hours ago in the still sleeping town of Barrow Alaska.  The animal downed power lines and damaged several buildings.  Authorities will not comment on the rash of recent attacks or the reason for the enormous increase in growth that is forcing these animals out of their usual rain-forest habitat.

I'm late this week, but had lots of fun with the word!