Hibernate

It is Friday again already. And that means it is www.illustrationfriday.com day. I picked an old illustration from my story, Sidney the Unstoppable Squirrel. I thought it would be perfect to follow my last chipmunk post. In my illustration Carmen the chipmunk is popping out of her hole to say hello to Sidney the squirrel. I sure gave Carmen a weird hole to hibernate in. All it needs is a manhole cover and she could be on the streets of New York. I'm sure that the chipmunks in our yard have been much more selective with their den placement. I know our little friend from my previous post put hers underneath our deck. And with all the corn she has stored up for Winter it must be huge! I don't think chippers actually hibernate so much as they sleep for long periods and then wake up for a snack. Kind of like a teenager I guess.

Say hello to my little friend!

My husband had a bright idea. And it actually worked. He held completely still with a hand full of corn. Eventually our little friend darted up and bravely filled her cheeks. And those cheeks can hold at least 16 corn kernels. Luckily my husband just happens to have 100 pounds of corn sitting around. The mother load! No wonder the chippers love us so much.

Now I gave it a try. Success! It was pretty fun to feel her little hands leaning on mine. So cute.

Stuffed cheeks, brave hearts and full dens. (My Friday Night Lights theme for chipmunks)

UPDATE!: A few days later I was sitting outside on a deck chair. I had my feet up and was focused on a drawing project. I noticed our little friend was hanging around. All of a sudden she jumped up on my feet, looked at me and silently pleaded for more corn. I couldn't believe how brave she was. No photos of this event. But it definitely put a smile on my face.

Photo Contest Loser

Clouds

Shadows
Red

Lakes

Barns

Texture

Circles

Bridges

Reflections

Birds

The letter "A" (Arenal Volcano)

Every month Joan over at www.myretirementchronicles.blogspot.com hosts a photo contest. These are all of my entries to date. Not a winner in the bunch. There are several honorable mentions every month as well. I've only had one mention. Geez. I think that the judges are some of my sorority sisters from college that thought I was a big fat loser. Or maybe the judges are some old high school classmates that thought I took the short bus. Or maybe the judge is secretly Simon Cowell. Although I haven't received any nasty comments. I bet that if Simon really visited blogs we would have a lot of comment moderation going on. Delete! And I'm convinced that one of the judges is Heidi Klum. She probably takes one look at my latest photo and declares," You're out!" So I've decided to pack up my knives because I will clearly never be Top Chef...I mean Top Photographer. I'm joking of course. I'll keep playing until Tyra Banks tells me to immediately pack up my camera and go home. Shoot.

Kenny 365

I've been participating in a really fun community photo project. 365 photos of our neighborhood. One photo every day for a whole year. I thought it was a good time to post the photos I've submitted so far since there is a change of seasons going on. Sniff. Soon the photos will reflect cooler temps, Fall leaves and maybe some pumpkins popping up around the neighborhood. There are 17 Kenny photographers snapping shots. It all started on June 1st and will keep rolling until the end of May 2012. I bet I don't have one blog visitor that would like to visit the website to see ALL the photos taken so far. But here's a link anyway! http://www.kennyneighborhood.org/

Heaven's Gate

I thought Heaven's Gate was the perfect choice for boundaries. The theme du jour over at www.illustrationfriday.com It portrays my cat "Baby" peering outside a fence. In reality she could easily slip through the weathered gates. But then we wouldn't be able to see her beautiful face. I called it Heaven's Gate because she is living for eternity beyond the Rainbow ridge. Or bridge. Hmmm. I still think this is one of my best pieces. I almost expect her eyes to dilate right in front of me. Our new cats Hana and Akua are easy going lap lovers. Baby loved to sit in our laps alright. But if you sneezed or laughed she would look up at you, her eyes would dilate and you just might get a paw in the face before she ran off in a huff. She was as good as she was bad.

Things with wispy wings

I was feeling uninspired about what to post today. And then I ran across a butterfly photo that was taken a few weeks ago. Suddenly I had butterflies on the brain. Here are some wispy winged creatures from my photo archives...

Mysterious...

This illustration is mysterious http://www.illustrationfriday.com/ because it is just part of a larger piece. I'm working on my first book with author Ivan Jensen. You'll be able to find these characters and more on pages 3-4. But what makes this book even more mysterious is that it is a work in progress. So even I don't know how it turns out!

And if you want to see another new illustration visit http://www.isaacgracelily.blogspot.com/ Aaron had a really fun challenge for his artist followers. He posted some fun kids art and challenged adult artists to do their own version. It's really a hoot so check it out. Look for the hilariously scary bunny and you'll see mine!