And finally, it is completed:

Enchanted Forest - Work In Progress

Sensible people would have started from the top left. Not the bottom right.
I am not left-handed and I am not sensible.
I hope this doesn't get messy...

This is all colouring pencils, btw, even if it looks a little like watercolour. It's not.

Who will bell the cat?

The mice had been troubled for some time by the Household's cat. Sleek and fast, he was a silent, deadly predator, descending to snap up hapless rodents in his powerful jaws. And so the clan called a Committee meeting. All the mice came, and discussed their ideas on what could be done.

Many suggestions were made, some merely foolish, others completely ridiculous. Finally, the littlest mouse piped up:

"Why don't we tie a bell around his neck, then we will hear him coming and can run away."

What a most excellent idea, the mice agreed. They even had a bell, an old Christmas decoration that had rolled beneath the sofa.

"But who shall do this deed?" Asked a wiser Elder.

All eyes turned on the Littlest mouse. It was his suggestion after all.

"Oh," he stuttered, "I would be happy to, but you see I am too small."

So they turned to another mouse. "I couldn't possibly," said she, "for I have my kits to feed - what would happen were I to get caught?"

"I'm too fat, I"d get stuck in the hole running back."

"Oh I couldn't possibly, it's my knee, you see. I can't run like I used to..."

And so on around the clan, each mouse was too old, too infirm or otherwise incapable of completing the task.

And so, brilliant idea or not, noone was willing to bell the cat.

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.

The Bear and the Bees

Bear was hungrily hunting for berries in the forest when he stumbled upon a rotting log. Nosing at it, he scented the rich, tasty scent of honey. Now, honey was Bear's favoruite food. Carefully he nuzzled the log, trying to see if the stinging inhabitants were home. At just that moment, a Worker Bee buzzed in, returning laden with nectar. Upon seeing the bear and realising its intent, she sacrificed herself by stinging him sharply upon the snout, warning him to be on his way. At this Bear flew into a dreadful rage. He ripped at the log, breaking it open with his sharp claws. Immediately the bees swarmed out, furious with him, stinging and buzzing and stinging some more. Bear fled, stampeding through the forest until he found a small pool of water and dove in.

It is wiser to bear a single injury in silence than to provoke a thousand by flying into a rage.

A fable by Aesops. The Bear is a Sloth Bear from Asia. This postcard is going to Uganda, of all places.

A new chapter in the "Aesop's Fable" collection

The Wolf and the Stork

Wolf was always a bit of a greedy eater, and one day he bolted down his dinner so fast that a bonoe became lodged in his throat. He choked and coughed, but it failed to come out. A passing Stork saw his distress and stopped by to help him.
"Pray hold your mouth open," she instructed, and the Wolf did, although it took great restraint. Using her long bill, she plucked the bone from his throat and tossed it away into the bushes.
"Now," said she, " what is my reward for saving your life?"
"Reward," scoffed the Wolf, feeling rather better now that he could breath. "You do not need a reward. You have stuck your head into a wolf's mouth and survived - that is reward enough." He then pounced at the Stork, who flew into a neighbouring tree. She glared down at him.
"Be warned," she said, "should I ever come upon you choking again, for such kindness shall never be repeated."

This one is going to the Netherlands. Probably.

Pick-a-theme pieces

Three of the five are done!

Ex-libris Bookplate for Timeinmyhands:

For Itti, the nightingales (real and clockwork) sing a duet - or attempt to. From the fable by Hands Christian Anderson.

And another musical group, this time it's the Musicians of Bremen, although only the rooster is crowing his worth. For CIndyjob. And yes, she spells her name like that too. Even though that WAS a typo on my part!

Alas, I am now left with two to do - one quite easy (zetti birds) the other very tricksy - Goo Goo Doll lyrics. And their lyrics are all airy-fairy metaphors and love stories... I might just go with "...I wanna wake up where you are..." Probably starting Katta as she likes to cameo in my song-inspired cards. And I'm not even particularly fond of the GooGoo Dolls...

More from Aesop's and another Totem

If your Totem is The Domestic Cat
You have found your niche in life and can now lie back and soak up the rewards. Some might consider you lazy, but that's not the case - you may seem laid-back, but if opportunity presents itself, you are always quick to pounce.
Element: Sun

The Monkey and the Dolphin

A monkey worked for the circus and was travelling across the ocean on a ship. A mighty storm struck, and the ship sunk. The monkey was left floating alone in the ocean, struggling to keep his head above the water, when a dolphin came along. As dolphins are honour bound to help drowning humans, she fished him out and tossed him onto her back, before setting out for the nearest shore. But as he enared the coast, the dolphin tried to strike up a conversation of the monkey, asking if he knew a particularly famous landmark. The monkey, assuming this was a person, answered that “yes, he knew them well, and dined with them regularly.”. Realising she had been deceived, and feeling particularly vindictive, the dolphin dipped her head under the water and drowned the poor primate.

Those who pretend to be what they are not, sooner or later, find themselves in deep water

Aesop's Fables

The Jay and the Peacocks

One day, a Jay decided that it would be a mighty fine idea to fancy himself up. He gathered some discarded tail feathers from the peacock flock and tied them to his own tail, before parading proudly up and down.
"What a fine fellow I am," he crowed.
The peacocks heard and gathered around him, eyeballing him suspiciously. Who was this little imposter who thought himself worth their equal? As one they attacked him, tugging the peacock feathers from the tail and giving him a thorough beating in the process. Dejected and bedraggled, the Jay staggered back to where his fellow jays had been watching. They greeted him with raucous peels of laughter and mocked him:

"It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds."

The Bat and the Weasels

Once a bat fell upon the ground and was pounced upon a weasel.
"Please do not eat me," the bat he begged.
"I must," boosted the weasel, "for I am sworn death to every bird."
"But I am not a bird," the bat besieged, "I am a mouse."
"Oh," said the weasel. "I do not like mice. Their fur sticks in my throat." And with that he let the bat go.
It was not long before again, the poor bat suffered another capture, from a different weasel. Once again, he pleaded for his life.
"Oh but I love mice," the weasel chortled. "So tasty and so sweet."
"I am not a mouse," the bat he begged, "I am a bat. We are not nearly so tasty and our meat is very rank."
The weasel sniffed him and saw that this was true. Disgusted, he rose his paw and let the bat flutter free.

It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.

Postcards to Eastern Europe

This cheetah, inspired by a photograph by Macropus Rufus, is a postcard sized piece that is flying off to Poland.

This was mainly drawn for Million Dandelions who is collecting a book of bear illustrations in memory of her beautiful husband, murdered just after last Christmas. The tragedy of her story haunted me. Please, if you feel you wish to contribute, visit her deviantart - it's mentioned in the journal.

Because she is Russian, I decided to research Russian fables for this piece. I selected the Cat and the Fox, which also features a bear. You can read it here

A Colourful Cast of Crazy Characters

I've been sitting on these for a while now, well, two of them anyhow, waiting until I had completed the third. Three quirky and funky characters, all for the Winter PAT.

First, the Mad Hatter attempts to awaken the dormouse:

Secondly, the Pied Piper leads the cockroaches away from his village:


And thirdly, it's John Lennon of the Beetles!

Yellow Submarine Style.

hope you enjoy this colourful cast!

Random Assortment

You may know the Fable - the Fox sees a juicy bunch of grapes and tries to reach them - but oh, gosh darn it, he's not tall enough, even when he stands on his hindpaws and stretches up as high as he can go. Still out of reach. Again he tries, and again, but without success. Finally he gives up. "Probably sour anyway," he mutters to himself as he pads off. This coining the phrase "sour grapes".

Well, he obviously wasn't a Grey Fox. These American foxes can actually climb trees. They have hooked claws, which allow them to scramble up and escape predators.

Or in this case, get the grapes.


How now, Randall cow? Err, calf. This wee black and white lass is one of the many "Thank you" ATCs I shall be sending out over the next few weeks. She's going to live with Ibus in Scotland.

And this is another, it's off to Montana for Xstitcher's ATC garden. It's a Echinopsis subdenudata and it's referenced from here


Whereas my Crowley portrait worked well, this portrait of Greebo in his human form (still showing certain feline characteristics) was rather less successful. Oh well.

Big Bunch of Hemlock

I have been collecting artistic renditions of several of my characters, encouraging people to work off of a written description. My faovourite to request at present is Hemlock the goblin.

Here is the description I have been giving people:
"Standing no more than ten inches tall, he rather resembled an upright, naked rat with a pot-belly. His back was hunched, his legs bowed. Dull grey-green scales covered his body. A red tongue flicked across gleaming white teeth." He has spines running down his back and a three-pronged fork at the end of his tail.

And here are the ones I have collected so far:

-

Cards are by:
Kreationkween, Captnklaus, HmmNBird , Ncalkins ("adult" form)
Icekat, Silverhermit, Meow2000, Miss
Moonfairy, Al Fresco Girl, Merlinprincess, Bubblecup

And I have a couple of cards to share:

The final of my "Reading Group" cards for this round - "The Ship that Flew".

And Menanna, a Native American mermaid inspired by this tale here

Rabbit Moon Take Two

Okay, so not a lot has been achieved the last two days. Today is my long haul at work - 9.30 - 9.15 and thus I don't have enough time to fully devote to my art. So all I have to show off is yesterday's results - a reworking of the "Rabbit Moon" card. I was never quite happy with it - the animal symbols were added on belatedly and the rabbit itself was not quite proportioned right. So I thought I'd give it another go. Here are the two side by side:

Which one do you like best?

Cards to be worked on:
Eraserqueen (1) - in her style (just for fun)
Donnaquinn (3) - bushbird, fairy, mammal or reptile
DonnaCr (1) - Cat from China DONE
SandraWillard (1) - My Dream home DONE

May PAT (due July 24th)
Lynnelise -Purple
RoOskie- Ostriches-The funnier the better!!!
Neca84 -CATS (the musical? I guess)
Miss -Hot air Ballons
Carole Cadek - Tropical Flowers

Dragonfly Inchies (due July 1st)
- 9 dragonflies