What about Bob?

It's Bob! Right there in my woods. Well, actually the woods next door. This trail cam capture of a bobcat was sent to us by our neighbors. He has kind of a long tail for a bobcat. But I guess he is well endowed. Or he is a lynx. But either way...cool!

And of course I couldn't talk about Bob without mentioning Hana and Akua. They were all monkey see monkey do the other day. Hana discovered this new hiding place. I usually have a stack of books there.

And as soon as Hana left, Akua had to check it out as well. But as the saying goes he is always a day late and a dollar short.

And there's something about more cats at http://www.gattinamycats.blogspot.com/

Disguise

Disguise works two ways in this illustration. It's a self portrait. So you could say I'm disguised as Snow White. And as we all know the witch or in this case gorilla is misrepresenting the true nature of the apple. It's poison! I think I've posted this one for http://www.illustrationfriday.com/ before. But if I play along every week there are bound to be repeats. This illustration was part of my nightmare themed sketchbook project for Art House Co-op. An apple a day does NOT keep the gorillas away.

Take a chance on the MIA.

I was going to say take a chance on me. But both corny versions fit my coverage of the Minneapolis Institute of Art's Art Perchancehttp://www.artsmia.org/art-perchance-2011/ event. Here is the MIA in all its Neon glory.

My friend and fellow CBIG and SCBWI member Shawn Mccann http://studiomccann.blogspot.com/ donated this cool cactus (or cacti) piece. Shawn was elusive to my paparazzi tendencies. So I didn't get his photo. But it was fun seeing him there!

I had to get a photo of this little sprite. Amy http://spritecreations.com/ did a great job of promoting her jewelry. Me...not so much.

But here I am standing by my framed print of Blue Staircase. I'm already wearing some swag. A glow necklace. More on that later.

The gallery.

Let the games begin.

I never did win at this one. But my husband got a ringer every time. Annoying!

Here he is. And there's a new sheriff in town. (swag)

This was a really fun game based on a Salvador Dali piece. (I think) You had to fish the lobster from its perch on a telephone to rest right side up on a dinner plate. I visited the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg Florida several years ago. The surreal paintings are like the weirdest and most supernatural dream you'll ever have.

There was some trailer trash band playing. O.K. they were named Trailer Trash. Hee, Hee.

Here's my loot, swag, winnings...junk. To tell the truth my husband won most of it. I have a funny story about the fuzzy rainbow wrist band. My husband had to make a trip back to the car. And on his way he saw a squirrel running with one of the bands in his mouth. Someone is going to have a colorful nest this Winter! Oh, and I was a VIP...

1)Very icky person

2)Vagabond in Provence

3)Vampire in Providence (watch out Christina)

4)Very into Pressure

5)Vealy into puns

6)Verging into Purgatory..............

Meats and Berries

I couldn't resist naming this post Meats and Berries. Actually the meat has nothing to do with it. But when we go to the farm for the weekend, we always pass this freeway farm sign promoting their goofy combo.

When we arrived at the farm there were no berries to be had. But it just so happens that the beautiful farm pictured here has pick your own berries on Saturday. Cain's orchard also has apples in the Fall. This area is where I grew up. Isn't it beautiful? But when I was a teenager I thought it was a hell hole. I'm older and wiser now.

This was $7.00 worth. What a deal.

This is Riverbend Golf course in Northbend, Wisconsin. When we arrived a golfing tournament was just finishing up. And I discovered something. It's kind of nice to golf after a tournament. Because they had those extra large holes in place. Of course I still missed several putts! But what a beautiful course along the Black River. We saw hummingbirds, yellow finches, woodpeckers and countless varieties of butterflies.

And a peacock.

Meats? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

And we even picked a few Blackberries on Sunday.

Here's a quick and easy Summer breakfast. Toast some good quality french bread. Spread with slightly sweetened cream cheese with almond extract. Add some fresh berries. My favorite is Black Raspberries. (little Blackberries shown here) Then top with toasted almonds. And if you want to call it Meats and Berries just add bacon!

Better put a T-bone on that eye.

Big Eyed Dog and his swollen eye will always be a favorite of mine. What possessed me to paint one of his eyes so large? Can't say. But I will say that this is my entry for swell over at www.illustrationfriday.com

And if you'd like to see some fab art and hang out with some local swells come to Art Perchance next week http://www.artsmia.org/art-perchance-2011/ I donated a framed print for the event. And it is one of the few times when a Joe Schmo artist like me can say I had a piece hanging at the MIA. Pretty cool.

Triple Threat

I decided to throw away one of my cats...

Akua is a triple threat. To my toilet paper, Kleenex and paper towels that is. And do you know what the worst part is about all this destruction? It was done by the good kitty. Hana (not pictured) is our bad kitty. So if Akua likes to shred our house and home of all paper products, you can only imagine the carnage produced by our little terror Hana.

Here's a typical minute of shenanigans with Hana. The clock ticks down from 60 seconds..."Hmmm, I'm hungry. Better go chew on Mom's pony tail. She hates that. Hee, Hee." Swat, swat. "Well, that didn't work as usual." So Hana uses her super unhuman cat powers to spin herself into a whirling dervish. Everything in her path is destroyed on her way to the cat bowl. Meanwhile Mom is out filling it up with crunch. The unhappy ending. But maybe on this day Mom devilishly drops a trail of crunch leading up to the garbage can. Just maybe...or not.

For more cat droppings visit http://www.gattinamycats.blogspot.com/

Disney is perfect.

Snow White may be perfect. But Snow Sharon and the unlovable animals is not. And that is exactly what I intended. Instead of the cute little creatures Disney created. I surrounded myself with some questionable and less respected ones. How imperfect of me. That's the theme over at http://www.illustrationfriday.com/ today.

I painted this for Art House Co-op's Sketchbook project. But I didn't really need much of an excuse try Snow White's shoes on for size. And her perfectly little size 2 dress.

Check out my new trail cam photos.

It's always fun to see who (or what) the trail cam captured. And so far this Summer it has captured around 2,000 deer photos. And a few surprise guests. Here is a doe and two fawns.

A bear!

Do you see what fluttered by?

A coyote butt and

A deer butt.

Is that a Mohawk?

Antlers...

Ears...

and glowing eyes. So there you have it. A few highlights from our footage so far.