Strike a Critter Pose



Pooh Corner



So I tried the "drop-everything-and-

draw a corner of a room project from my

last posting. It turned out to be more

like a study of bears.

And just like the lesson mentioned, we go around these

familiar things every day and are not totally

concious of what is REALLY in our space.

("I didn't know we had a bear with antlers!" said Lisa)

Yoga Pets

All of us walk past the familiar daily and fail to really take notice. Or maybe we try not to notice--say the dustballs on tables, kleenex bunnies, or ledges of fantastic spiderweb  architectural wonders (that are so intricate that you hate to remove them)!

So, to honor the familiar folk--how about sketching pets. OK, so a pile of bears is easy--they sit still. How about tackling (artistically) a house-bound pet or two? Pets happily pose for us daily! Do we really notice their antics?

When we do yoga in the morning, everyone has to get in on the activity. (It's hard to be mindful of breathing when a cat tail is tickling your nose and to stretch out in corpse pose and compete with the dog for the floor.) Try sketching your own Buddha kitty or Down Dog some time. 



Our pets have it easy--warmth, food. What about the wild ones? Wild critters make themselves known but you can't see them. They leave "sign". Scat, food leavings or tracks. Tracks are the next best thing to being there. We've had wild critter action here all week.

The night before last, we had a predawn concert production from a local family of coyotes. It was rather exciting to hear them so close, although our chickens might have been a tad nervous.

The 'yotes held a party on the hill--and all were invited. Rabbits, too.

I went out early in the 16 degree morning and sketched the fresh tracks and activity I found there. Tracks are fabulous for telling animal stories, especially in snow! Later in the day I took out my long sketchpad to get more of a landscape scene. It was warmer to sketch then and as I climbed the hill I was greeted by a turkey call from the marsh directly across from me.

Another moment of nature caught on paper. It doesn't hurt when you have a fresh canvas of snow--perfect for getting animal track stories.

This morning there were turkey tracks on our deck!