Yesterday's Market

So a few people have asked me how I did at market yesterday... every Saturday/Sunday I get this question. 

My answer for yesterday is:  "I don't even care about the money. I had a butterfly, a bumble bee and two honey bees fly into my tent!"

The bumble bee flew right toward my face, then up into the top of my tent.  I told it it needed to come back down in order to get out, and then I went about selling.  All of a sudden, it dropped itself onto the table with a bang, right in front of a customer, then flew out.  The honey bees came and went and buzzed around me like they always do.  The butterfly was yellow and black, just like the bees.  It flew right on in, and then got stuck between the top of the tent and one of the sidewalls.  It was missing one of its bottom wings, but after I helped it out of my tent, it just kept on going, like it never knew it was wounded.  

Now, that is a good day. 

Additionally, yesterday I had a meeting with my niece, who is collaborating with me to write the story for my children's book that I mentioned in a blog post a few months ago.  Slow moving, some things are... but they shall still get done.

Martin the Raccoon - Study

I finished my first raccoon study for the children's story I am illustrating this year with my friend Tom.  Martin may not end up being named Martin, but considering that raccoon is the protagonist of the story, I figured I may as well give him a working name. 

Did You Disguise Yourself To Hide From Yourself?, 2012

This piece developed from raccoon's totem significance, being the master of dexterity and disguise, and what that may mean for a young one struggling to develop its own identity in the midst of developing into a transformation master.  How can you know who you are if you are constantly changing yourself to look and act like something else?  It's a common question with human adolescents, too, and one thing that makes the story timely.

In this illustration, raccoon has just discovered that he has disguised himself as fox, though because he doesn't yet quite understand his transformative powers, he is shocked when he sees fox staring back at him from the water.  He then sees us staring at him, and he looks back, either to ask us what we know, or to tell us to go away out of embarrassment.  Maybe both. 

(Unfortunately, my scanner is on the small side, and has cut off the right and left edges of the piece.)