What? Squirrel Head For Dinner Again?

My cat is an animal. As in RAERN! Our cat, Wylie, was an animal too. She disappeared. Methinks foul play. We do have coyotes, bobcats, raccoons and on extremely rare occasions cougars. Most likely it was an owl or peregrine falcon that got her. Ah...having a nice stroll
when ¡¡¡Joink!!! Stars***then______________________∞

My friend Rick from Minnesota said a couple of his friends were walking in the snow in the woods at night, and one of the guys had on a fur hat. An owl mistook it for an animal and swooped down for the kill. It got the guy on the back of the neck and paralyzed him. I don't know for how long.

This morning my other (and last remaining) cat, Murray was having his repast on The Door Mat of Death. He was eating a squirrel. Head first. This is a weird post. Murray ate everything except the tail and some apparently nasty tasting organ that looked like a bota bag. Do your pets ever freak you out?

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."~Teddy Roosevelt

Messing Around With Fairies

Fairies are tricky. They have a way of getting you to do strange things. Like agreeing to do an art demo in front of people. Paint on demand, as it were. So, no big deal, I've done this before. but then the fairies suggested that I do an egg tempera demo. In front of live people. In the year 2010. So... that's painting with an egg and colored dirt. While people watch.


Egg tempera is an old world medium. It can only be done slowly with millions of layers using a plethora of cross-hatchings. A whole army of plethoras. Think: fifteenth century. Doing an egg tempera demo is like performing rap in Latin.


In order to keep the audience from aging, I didn't complete the egg tempera demo painting. I merely dabbled a little to show the technique. I then brought the painting home with me from Abilene, Texas, and finished it in my studio. Then I sent it back with a couple of variations on a theme. They will reside at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) in Abilene.

Fairies have sisters, you know. What I realized by dipping my toe in Faeryland, is that I am now a marked man. Part of me will always be there, and part here. I intend to explore these will-o'-the-wisps a great deal more.

My friend Kitty from Ireland at Into My Own, tells me that Irish farmers leave hawthorne and ash trees in their fields (they plow around them) just for the fairies. That is taking green to the next level. No wonder there are no fairies in the parking lots of America.

So, if you know any fairies, tell them I am interviewing, and when I plow, I will remember to leave green belts and a plethora of nooks and crannies. Woah, I used the word, "plethora" three times in this post. No, wait, counting that last use of the word "plethora", that makes four. Oh dear, it's actually five. Wait a second! The fairies are messing with me again~«««««

Swallowed By Art

This happens a lot. I have trouble knowing where my art ends, and I begin. Or where my art begins and I, uh...hmmm.

This is a younger me, which I guess is true for every photo, unless it is streaming video. But even that would be a younger virtual visage because of the time it takes for light to go from image to camera to eye to brain.

Do you get lost in your work? Your art? Your passions?

The Telling Image: Art Exhibit at Bainbridge Island Library~Opening Friday September 3

Spin a yarn with words and you are a story teller. Spin straw into gold and you are either in a fairy tale, or you are an artist.

As a children's book author and illustrator I weave words and images together to tell a tale. The art that I make for a book unfolds a visual narrative.

My goal is to illuminate the text but also to reveal subtleties in the story which may not even have been mentioned. My inspiration comes from dreams and from that calm land of elixir between waking and dreaming. Music, hope, and longing also seem to stitch themselves into each piece of art that I make.

This Friday evening~September 3~ from 5:00 to 7:00 during "ART WALK", I am exhibiting some of my artwork at the Bainbridge Island Public Library. I will give a short presentation at 6:00. Included in the show will be a range of work in various medium: oil, egg tempera, sumi ink and acrylic on elephant dung paper. Pâté de foie gras on Russian parachutes.

Truth in lending here, one of the above may not be true. But the rest are.

The exhibit will be up for the month of September. Love to see you there Friday!
BYOS&GL (Bring your own straw. And goose liver).