My Life as a Turkey

I watched a beautiful Nature episode last night entitled, "My Life as a Turkey". It documented wildlife artist, Joe Hutto's experience of raising a brood of wild turkeys. Moving, informative and absolutely breathtaking at times, the film was a recreation of Hutto's year-plus life of caring for sixteen chicks. I am equally taken with not only Hutto but the filmaker, David Allen and actor, Jeff Palmer who took it upon himself to allow sixteen turkey chicks to be imprinted on him so they could create this amazing film.

Happy Thanksgiving

Watch My Life as a Turkey - Preview on PBS. See more from NATURE.

 

Things To Do...

My head is filled with things I have to do, things I'd like to do and things I'd like to look into doing. Trouble is I never seem to get any of it done.

First, I'd like to spruce things up around here. Freshen my website and shop, make things cleaner and do some editing (probably the hardest thing for me to do!). That shouldn't be too hard and I've been toying with the idea for too long. After my sale ends on Thursday I will sit down and work on my shop and website. There, I wrote it so now I will do it.

Then there's that little Sculpey cuddly I made the other night. Got 5 times the positive response my latest painting did and I think it's a sign to get moving on figures. Again, this is an idea that I've thought about, researched and gotten overwhelmed by many, many times over the past few years. But how cute would a little Uni Yeti or Sweet Lobotomy with removable head-slice and knife be? I think I have enough characters to work with. I need to stop being afraid of things I want to do and just do them.

Ed and I were talking just yesterday about this very topic. He read this from "For the Benefit of All Beings, His Holiness the Dalai Lama: A Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva",

(from Shantideva) "Let me first consider my reserves ----

   To start or not to start accordingly.

   It might be better not to start,

           But once begun, I should not then withdraw.

Before we do anything, we should always ask ourselves whether we will be able to do it properly and complete it. If the answer is no, we should not start. Leaving tasks uncompleted creates a habit for the future. So once we have begun something, we should be sure not to go back on our decision."

I know I can accomplish these things and do them properly. I just ordered our tickets for NYCC and I'm going to email a few people who may have some insight into what I want to do. I am officially beginning something. You're all welcome along for the ride.

:D

Have a great week!

Mutual Admiration

Ed found a tiger moth on our front steps a few weeks ago.

Further research uncovered how unbelievably ornate and fuzzy these moths can be.

(please forgive me, I couldn't find where the above image was from. If you know, I will gladly give credit.)

Ed suggested a moth staring at a light bulb and then it hit me...a lightning bug!

"Mutual Admiration" was born. 7" x 7" acryic on beveled pine plaque.

Oooo...Beautiful Home...WTF?!

I just spent the better part of today prepping and then printing about a hundred prints for new plaques. Not the most exciting work but it needs to be done. I figured I could use a little break and hopped over to Apartment Therapy to look at the beautiful homes. I can dream, can't I?

First up, a gorgeous San Francisco condo...

Owned by Greg, Brian and their chihuahua-brussels griffon, Mr. Biggs...

They write about Greg's eccentric art collection, including a vintage Keene print, Eric Joyner, super-heroine figures (especially Wonder Woman)...

...and some weird little characters in the kitchen.

Wait a minute...that's my work! A quick scan down the resources list and sure enough I'm listed.

Such a wonderful surprise for an otherwise boring day. Nice to know that my work is out there making people smile everyday.

Thanks guys!

Spectacular Snow Monsters

Last year I posted about how I was sick of all the snow we'd gotten here in the northeastern US. Yet I would love to see the snow corridors of Japan. This year has been even worse and we are all equally snow-weary. But once again, I find another snow phenomenon in Japan that I would love to see!

"Snow monsters" or juhyou (frost-covered trees), covered in snow and hard rime, from the northern regions of Japan.

Mt. Zao, Yamagata prefecture

Mt. Moriyoshi (Moriyoshi shrine), Akita prefecture

Mt. Zao, Yamagata prefecture

Via pinktentacle.com where they have collected tons of spectacular photos about this.

Progress

I had a theme of 'tigers' for one of this month's Flash Magazine illustrations. After doing the initial sketch...

...I was inspired to actually paint him instead of continuing on in Photoshop for the final. I roughed in the colors, shading and textures in Photoshop...

...and then transferred that to a plaque and began painting yesterday afternoon:

Just a teeny bit nervous since this is my first painting in months, but then again, I was always nervous painting ;)

I'm Going To Disneyworld

I'm still having trouble remembering things today but they just got a whole lot better: Ed booked us a little trip to Disneyworld in January!!! SOB made me cry! We haven't been on vacation in...well, I honestly don't remember but he tells me we haven't been to Disneyworld in six years. So all this bullshit will be over and we'll be able to have some fun :D Now all I need to do is try and focus on those three days in Jan to get me through the next couple treatments. I'm pretty sure I can do that!

And I'll write it here so I definitely remember it: the memory loss/confusion is only temporary. It seems like I'll never get it back then BOINK! it's back again and I'll feel great. And after all that, I'll be going to Disneyworld!

So even with the shitty hand I was dealt concerning my emotional state, I more than made up for it when I found Ed. Thank goodness that sneaky bastard can't keep a secret for more than an hour :D

I love you honey and I can't wait to go to Disney <3