Creative Tuesdays - Birthdays

The theme at Creative Tuesday is Birthdays, in honour of a particular birthday member of the group - the lovely Wanda.

This is my fun-filled rendition of a birthday card. If there's one thing I know about Wanda, is she'd be very fun, especially in a party. Probably not exactly in the way I portrayed, but fun and up for a good, cordial, friendly time nonetheless. I think it is a great accomplishment to acquire so much time, experience, and living, always maintaining good cheer, good looks, health, and a fun, lively spirit - as our Wanda does. So saying, I am more than proud to participate in the birthday wishing round robin.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Just learned that Alexandra had a bad car wreck - I am very deeply sorry about her difficulty and hope she recovers quickly.

Anyway - might as well get on with this even though the news put a damper on things....

When thinking of fun birthdays befitting someone fun, I recall those epic birthdays we all used to have as kids - who remembers that? Music, and clowns, and pinning tails on donkeys, hide and seek, and musical chairs. And, of course, epic quantities of cake, sugar, ice cream, etc etc etc.... in my case, we'd also always take home 'surprises' - parcels with yet even more candy, after the event.

We also had Piñatas, which were very popular with all the other kiddies ... not so much with me. I could never see the point of going all feral, attacking a poor papier mache animal and getting all stepped on - just for the sake of more candy, of which there was plenty enough in the bowls anyway... like, who needs that?

But I had fun imagining a 73rd year celebration as epic as those we had in childhood, complete with Piñata and all. I think I am promising to myself today that, if I do have a 73rd birthday party, I will have one - and go give it a good whack to make up for lost time.

Happy birthday Wanda! May you have fun whacking Piñatas.

Creative Tuesday - Christmas in July

Creative Tuesdays - Christmas in July.

This is a very personally felt theme for me - I grew up in South America, and essentially, every Christmas for me felt like July! For me personally the contrast was heightened when I moved up here and found Christmas in winter, after all.  But I will never forget the bizarre retailing fiction so elaborately set up to hoodwink people into buying into a climatological condition they would NEVER, most likely, come to know - commodity fetish at its best. 


Shop sales and Christmas retail decorations - including fake pasted snowflakes, styrofoam snowy covers, green conifers and Arctic Santas - all showed up in the context of 90 degree heat and summer vacation! A typical Christmas celebration included opening up presents, then heading for the beach. 

This seemed an odd incongruity that the commodities market imposed on us south of the Equator dwellers - this fixation on winter weather in the height of summer - and all attendant imagery - and it's a form of cultural schizophrenia which has, if anything, gotten worse. But you know, when you're a kid, all you care about is loot so we didn't mind too much :D

So that's why I chose to draw what i drew - a memory of a typical storefront in a context of summer haze. As well am trying out a loose form quick sketching style - I have always admired those who can quickly (like newspaper or magazine cartoonists - draw something quick. So am trying it out.

On another note, I actually participated in a crafts/flea market fair titled 'Christmas in July' this past weekend!

Creative Tuesdays - BUNNIES!!!!!!! (AKA 'Simply Cute')

For Creative Tuesday

To me, the sine qua non of 'cute' is BUNNIES. Even the word is, to me, cute. I absolutely adore the fuzzy wuzzy things, and just seeing one makes me absolutely silly.

I live in the country, so on morning walks I invariably run into 2 or 3! They're so darling - they sit there,  & upon seeing me, hop off. CUTE!!!!!

One of the worst times I got into trouble when a kid was upon bringing a rabbit home as a pet - unbeknownst to my mom. The sad d'enoument was that the bunny was given away to someone more willing/able to raise it. Have not had one since - I see what a responsibility animals are, and am not in a position to keep one happy  :( so I just have to look at them.

Here's a site with lots of lovely bunnies to those who love them as me!!!!

This is a pic of me with a bunny, at a petting zoo somewhat recently. 

Creative Tuesdays - Gift

Franz Liszt certainly had the musical gift!

All right - to be perfectly honest, this is one that started out being completely different from what actually came out. As in, I don't even know how that happens.

With the theme of 'gift' I had intended to draw Pandora opening the infamous box - but then realized that wasn't particularly uplifting - same with the Trojan horse, though by then I had already started drawing Pandora who ended up looking weirdly masculine and whose arms were in that weird position.

Then I had pretty much no choice but to realize it reminded me of Franz Liszt, famous-famous (even to this day) 19th century virtuoso pianist whose music has been much enjoyed (and parodied) over the ages - i used to play piano so the association's not entirely insane.

I was getting ready to scrap the whole thing & start over when it struck me - "say, isn't musical ability a gift? Isn't the power that some have with their musical expression a gift?" I say..... yes!

Liszt was interesting. In his day he was basically as sought after & fanaticized over as the Beatles - in fact, the mass hysteria known as Beatlemania was named by a Scottish music promoter reminiscing (not that he was there!) the intense hysteria and fan frenzy known as Lisztomania.

So that's the drawing today - Liszt and all the raving fans :D

And now I leave all with Bugs Bunny performing the great Hungarian Rhapsody #2

Creative Tuesdays - Pastel Landscape

when I first saw this creative assignment for Creative Tuesday, I wanted to test the hypothesis that everything looks cute & cuddly when done in pastels. So I sought to draw spiders, grasshoppers and other non cuddly things to see if it held true.

However, since I'm not much of an entomologist, all my efforts were coming up subpar to say the least.

So I walked up the hill above where I live & drew this quick sketch, using oil pastels - and IN pastels - and humbly submit this to today's Creative Tuesdays. And yes - there he is, the one failed spider, in the lower right hand corner.

Visit Creative Tuesday for more creative moments - in pastel!