Identical Iguanas

click to enlarge

This is an easy one.  Most wild animals are identical.   Except when it comes to their personalities. Some might like to eat you right now, where as some might like to bury you and eat you later.  You get the drift.  Did everyone see the calico cat last week who had 1/2 a black face with one green eye?  And the other 1/2 was orange with a blue eye.  Split straight down the middle like and arrow.  Well, that image would be perfect for the www.illustrationfriday.com different theme. In fact, the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the cat was how much I'd like to do a portrait of her.

 But today the theme is identical.  It seems like I used to talk about Art House Co-op a lot in my art posts.  But I haven't participated in a project for awhile.  For more info on Art House see my side bar.  Today's entry is from my,"There's an Iguana on my Roof" journal.  Inspired by real life identical sunbathing Iguanas in Costa Rica. 

Happy labor Day!

Florida 101

There are a lot of people I've run across in life who don't care for what Florida has to offer.  But I always say that if you don't like Florida you just aren't looking hard enough.  We love the white sand beaches, peaceful Cypress trails and abundant Winter wild life.  The first shot is one of our favorite parks in Naples.  We always try to walk and enjoy a few picnics here.  Sungren park

The view at Naples beach. Or I should say one view of thousands.

I had a visitor below my beach chair.

I was sitting on a bench in the heart of Corkscrew Swamp and look who snuck up behind me.

An Egret wading in the swamp. 

A curious Owl.

A maze of gulls.  Or amazing gulls!

Butterflies fluttered at the Rookery Swamp Trail.

And turtles sunned themselves.

Weird colored sea birds at Lover's key.

We threw this live shell back after a photo op.

Feeding Giraffes at the Naple's Zoo is not only for the youngsters.  Florida.  It's what's for Winter!

P.S.  This FLA post has been simmering in my drafts bin for quite awhile.  It is going to be 100 degrees in Minnesota today.  Hotter than a Florida swamp in Summer! For more photos visit the Sunday Best blog hop!

How much for the Iguana hat dude?

We visited the Iguana Hatchery in San Ignacio, Belize earlier this year. And a good time was had by all. Except for the gal that passed out. Ironically she passed out after holding the baby Iguanas. Not the big guy in the first photo.

The color!

I don't think I came close to the Guinness world record of the highest number of Iguanas one person can wear. Whatever that is.

Hmmm. I wonder if we got all the baby Iguanas off. This photo was actually taken back at the hotel. Just kidding.

Along came a spider...

I'm posting the 5th installment of my Fiction Project today. I took photos of every page in my fiction journal before I sent it off to Art House Co-op's Brooklyn Art Library in New York. It was a really fun project that I worked on last Winter. And if you click to enlarge the photos, you may even be able to read my story. Yesterday I finally uploaded 12 images to Art House's portfolio at http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner The whole journal is inspired by our travels in Costa Rica. And this entry produced my journal's title, "There's an Iguana on my roof!"

A beautiful, but scary Golden Spider in Costa Rica.

Look what clings to the leaves at night. But only if you're looking!

This is the photo that inspired today's post. We watched the fantastic Aquatennial fireworks last weekend in downtown Minneapolis. But before the fun started we passed the time watching this little guy and all his friends going about business on the Stone Arch bridge. Do you see the full Moon towards the bottom?

A Tarantula on a night hike at Bosque Eterno De Los Ninos in Costa Rica. That's it for today. I'm crawling off to paint!

This is where the wild things are.

I illustrated the painted moose art for the Minnesota SCBWI's Summer field trip to the Zoo. To see the flyer visit http://www.minnesotascbwi.org/ I like to think that after the beaver finishes painting the patient moose, the moose decides to kick the beaver sharply in the be-hind. The paint and the beaver fly into the shallow water. Unfortunately the poor beaver is forced to swim away through a swirl of paint clutching the paintbrush tightly between his two front teeth. The End. In honor of Zoo Day (which I missed, darn it all) I decided to create a HUGE post of animal photos. Have fun at my Zoo!

Corn chips.

This fawn was photographed in Hatfield, WI.

A Howler monkey at Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica.

Standing tough.

Baby

My pet bat...not.

Owl butterfly.

I'm talk'in turkey at Fort Snelling.

Akua

White faced monkey.

Monster Hummer.

It's a Kinkajou raiding the hummingbird feeder. At Monteverde.

This behind belongs to a Coati.

We like to think that we saved this frog from the volcanically heated pool. He didn't say thank you.

This sloth dared to cross a busy highway. Luckily a local gentleman stopped his vehicle and escorted him safely across. Near Fortuna, Costa Rica.

A Red-lored Parrot perhaps?

This is the extremely rare White-throated Magpie-Jay. Ha!

This is a beloved house cat. Hana! To see more beloved house cats visit http://www.gattinamycats.blogspot.com/

There's an Iguana on my roof!

Thanks to http://www.arthousecoop.com/ I had a little writing and art project to work on during my Costa Rica vacation. It's called the fiction project. The art house sent me a journal with an assigned theme. Mine was,"over the top" I knew imediately that my stories would be about exotic birds flying over the top of trees. And as my title states, Iguanas climbing over the top of our roof! That's our cabina in the photo. We were in Costa Rica for 15 days. And my goal was to write a short story each day about a bird or animal that inspired me. I ended up with only 7 little stories. (which I'll share with you later on) I think fun and sometimes exhaustion started to interfere with my writing schedule. But hey, it's vacation. A person shouldn't even have a schedule! The top photos show what I've completed for my journal so far. The cover and the title page. Now I get to do the fun part. Illustrate my little stories. And when I'm finished, I'll send the journal back to the art house library in New York. Bye Iguanas! P.S. Do you see my pet flamingos in the background?