Lorenzo at the Fort Worth Stockyard watching the cattle drive.

Lorenzo is where President Kennedy was assassinated.

Kitten for your lap?

 

We found this little guy on our way to donate a mattress to Goodwill. He was wandering on the curb alongside a busy road. Zilla hates him and makes dagger eyes at him accompanied by hissing and demonic growling. He's not even old enough to go to a cat rescue shelter. So we're raising him at least for a little while.

CatCOCOON: Illustration Friday

So here is my little Yes Cat, emerging from her cocoon, waiting for her cat angel wings to dry so she can fly around in Kitty Heaven. She died last week in a very sad accident as I was coming down the driveway. I've never felt so guilty in my life and I miss her terribly! She was so sweet and noble. Her name was Yes, because unlike Zilla, our inside cat, she always said yes to cuddling and to our company. I don't have any good pictures of her, just this one of her on her wall in front of the kitchen window.

LINKED: Illustration Friday

Buddha said we are all linked in our suffering. What does this have to do with a rainbow-maned lion? The lion is suffering and Buddha roared like a lion upon reaching enlightenment. This is what comes of illustrating while watching PBS...

This was illustrated in Prang watercolors and Prismacolor pencils.
PS: THANK YOU, anonymous cool person who funded art supplies for my students on donorschoose.org!

Illustration Friday: DIP

I wasn't too terribly excited about this Illustration Friday topic, but here it is: a white pelican dips to catch a fish.

Illustration Friday: RESCUE

This piece was inspired in part by a story, Raising the Dead, about an attempted body recovery from the bottom of one of the world's deepest freshwater dive sites. Cave diving rescue attempts often end as body recoveries. In this case, the recovery attempt ended tragically as well. The story scared the heck out of me. I don't think I can imagine a more frightening rescue scenario.

I almost used this illustration for a coworkers baby shower instead, as the Noah's Ark story is a tale of rescue.

Illustration Friday: EXPIRED

YECH! UGH! What demons lurk inside the carton of expired milk? This week's theme, expired, immediately brought to mind the revulsion of accidentally drinking spoiled milk. You may notice that the evil prancing bovine is a bull with an udder. Very sinister indeed!
This piece was created with a Sharpie Marker, Prang Professional Watercolors and Prismacolor Art Stix and Colored Pencils.
Love kids? You can donate art supplies to my elementary art students at donorschoose.org/kierst

No Marshmellow Dream Clouds

We enjoyed two warm days snowboarding on slush at Eldora. 

On our last day it snowed and snowed. We were so excited to ride on 'marshmellow dream clouds,' (fresh powder), but we only made it 3/4 of the way up the canyon before the Element started sliding off the road and a cop made us turn around. 

Our consolation prize was a trip to the Celestial Seasonings Tea factory. We cleared our sinuses during our time in the Mint Room. They explained that they have to keep all of the mint sealed in a room or the smell and taste would pollute all of the other tea and could be smelled a mile away. As it was, we smelled it in the parking lot upon arrival.

Rocky Mountain Alligators

We visited Colorado Gators, an alligator farm on a hot spring just north of Alamosa. It was a blast. We got to hold an alligator and they even gave us a Certificate of Bravery for doing so. The alligator 'signed' the certificate by chomping it for us. I also got to hold a very large adorable tortoise. Both the tortoise and the alligator were friendlier than my kitty, Zilla.

We got a bucket of gator chow and fed the outdoor gators who made a great show of leaping into the water to snap up the chow with their big teeth. The gators are known for sunning on the snow, freezing and then thawing and crawling back into the water. Apparently it doesn't hurt them. If you go, use something other than your hands to fling gator chow. Our hands smelled like fish for the next day! Ugh!
We rounded out the day with a soak in the hot spring Sand Dunes Swimming pool - very relaxing.