Hatch...

This will be day 21 of my Countdown to Christmas. You get it here first as a preview. This is what happens when my projects and ambitions collide. People get sneak peeks.

I had thought of a few things for hatch, an egg, a spaceship hatch, a secret plan but I settled on a hatch back car because I could shove a Christmas Tree inside.

Now if you excuse me I have a million things to do and many things to add glitter to.

Crunchy...

I'm in the throws of the twelve days of Christmas on my Countdown to Christmas. Today was ten lords a leaping. I can't even begin to tell you how much trouble I had with that image. Today I'm working on twelve drummers drumming. If it gives me half the trouble that the lords gave me... I won't get to do a new IF image.

So I thought I might cheat a bit. This image is part of my countdown to Christmas, but it has been posted there yet.

Candy canes have a great crunch to them. I think this little guy is going to enjoy crunching his candy cane.

Entangle...

Okay so I'm a tad late to the party with this one. But I have a really lame excuse! I was busy. Busy with what you might ask?

Busy with my online Advent Calander! A brand new image every day! All Christmas!

Oh yes I've gone ahead and taken on a big project that I can not possibly complete in the Christmas Season, the busiest time of the year. So I was a little late with this.

When I saw entangle I thought of the women in the wigs with the boats and birds in their hair. I wish I had added more things like a unicorn, and rainbow and a kitten. Maybe next time.

If I had been smart I would have done something christmasy too and used it for the advent calendar. Maybe next week.

Music

Music... I used to sing in a small chorus in high school. We went through 3 directors in the three years that I was involved.

But I only really enjoyed the music one year. Our directors were real task masters. They demanded our focus and attention.

Our chorus didn't audition people. Anyone could join but you had to pay attention to their direction or you would experience their wrath. They never demanded ability and were quick to work within limitations, as long as you were willing to try.

We thrived, we sounded better than we deserved to sound. Singing became a joy. The euphoria of a well sung song was addictive, and we had fun singing. So when I thought of music I thought of the joy of singing.

Unbalanced

I thought a lot about unbalanced.

I thought of things I find unbalanced, that might offend people who don't agree with politic or social views. But I wanted something more exciting, that better illustrates unbalanced.

And then I went on vacation and my sister, her fiance and I went rafting (well it was sort of imaginary rafting but we had fun) and this image was born. All of us tipping over unbalanced.

Blur...

A lot of things blur at the amusement park... not the least of which is your vision. But amusement parks historically have blurred all sorts of lines. Rich and poor, young and old all seek the heady thrill of a rollercoaster.

The scrambler was one of my favorites. We would carefully arrange ourselves in line to make sure when we sat down, the biggest wouldn't crush the smallest, and you might end up pressed against someone you liked. You could blur those lines without questions.

Skinny

What's the skinny?

I'll tell you what's skinny... greyhounds! They are really big and really skinny.

So skinny they need extra soft beds to sleep on.

Sometimes I wonder if supermodels need extra soft beds too.

Fast...

Halloween is fast aproaching... and witches fly swiftly in the night.

Frozen...

The word was frozen so did I draw the image of the people in the snow with the trees that I've been thinking about for a couple of weeks. No that would make too much sense.

Instead I get it in my head to draw Medusa and a man she has frozen. She looks pretty pleased with herself. Maybe that's how she makes her art. My little preppy Medusa with her friendly snake hair.

Flying...

When I saw flying, I thought of flying squirels, and flying fish, but I went with flying squirel. I don't know what this little ace is up to but he's on his way.

Germ

I couldn't help but thinking of super germs, and swine flu, which I once disgustingly and somewhat hilariously heard refered to as "bacon lung"

I sure like drawing piggies.

Pattern...

Patterns... my mom sewed growing up. When she had us kids, she sewed us dresses and costumes, bags, stuffed animals, and anything else you can think of. I used to love the pictures of the entire family on the pattern packages, of everone wearing the different variations of the patterns.

Infinite...

Infinite is the word this week.

So I did two takes on football logos.

I love the Dolphins logo. It's so cute the dolphin wears a helmet! But what's always bothered me is that the little helmet on the the dolphin has an M on it for Miami. I want it to have a little dolphin with a little helmet on it. You see where I'm going here? Dolphins with helmets with dolphins with helmets to infinity. And why can't the little dolphin carry a litttle football. Just tuck it under his flipper. He's good to go.

And I was never really a fan of the Bear's logo either. Why not have a little bear with a helmet on with a bear with a helmet to infinity too. I could have gone on and on pickigng out NFL logos with the animals that could wear the helpmets with the animals on them. But I think I got my point across.

Go Pats!

And for the record I like old Patriots Logo with Pat Patriot.

Welcome...

Recite:

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws

by Lewis Carroll

When I saw welcome... I couldn't resist illustrating a bit of this poem.

Strong...

Okay maybe this wasn't the best image for strong. Basicly I illustrated a line from a song. The Hilo Hattie Hop... about this hawaiian girl who does a hula that so amazing that it stops traffic and leaves nothing to the imagination.

The line was:

Babies hush, women blush, strong men pass out... when Hilo Hattie does the Hilo Hop.

I always loved it.

So did I illustrate Strong? Is it the man passed out? The blushing women who stayed on their feet? The quiet baby who doesn't blush? Or Hilo Hattie's dance that causes such melee?

Edited 9/10/09:

My good friend Jeff suggested that I try a yellow sky to bring out the blushes in the women's cheeks. I had originally planned a sunset but changed my mind with out trying. So here is the updated version. I do like it better. Thank you Jeff!

Magnify...

I originally had thought of something with a magnifying glass in a laboratory somewhere clean and white... but settled on shadow puppets instead. My rabbits never looked as good as her's but I had a friend who could make her's talk and wink it's eye.

Cautious...

As a cautious person the word cautious struck me as a tad mundane. Until I thought about. The time to be caustious is always around danger. It's exciting, the need to be cautious... So they can sit on their train, drinking hot coffe and giving the sidelong glances of strangers. Maybe they'll throw caution to the wind and have an adventure.

Wrapped...

It's so easy to get wrapped up in thing... that you might not notice that you are getting wrapped up.

Impatience...

I always feel like I'm writing for Sesame Street when I start these posts... and the word of the day is Impatience.

I've noticed a lot of men take just as much if not more time than a lot of women getting ready. Thus my illustration.

Modify...

When I thought of modify, I thought change. Like changinging yourself from a girl to a butterfly...

Idle

She neither toiled nor spun, she was idle. What a gift it is to do nothing at all.

Tango

It takes two to tango... right? I had a little trouble with this one. I wanted to be clever I had ideas about who tango without meaning to, people get on and off trains, kids on playgrounds, cooks in kitchens, soldiers, hotel porters with bags... vampires with victims.

Hollow

The victories of war often feel hollow...

Shaky...

The word is shaky. And I thought of everything that shakes, milkshakes, and leaves, and hula dancers, those old excersize machines with the belts, fun houses... but I settled on this.

Worn

Once upon a time there was girl named Kate who had a very lousy job...

When I saw worn I thought offices and cubes.

Drifting

I loved this week's word. Drifting... I feel like I've been drifting lately. I orginally drew this with a hand holding on to her leg, but I switched to rope. I wanted her drift but not float away.

Unfold

The word is unfold... everything I thought of really was more of a fold than unfold. Until I thought about making paper chains.

Crave

Oops a little late with this one!

Adapt

My first thought for "adapt" was mermaid. I wasn't sure what that had to do with the word "adapt"

And then I thought of a woman in a mermaid cut dress wearing flippers, as an adaptation.

Voila!

An image was born.

Cracked

Egg... nail.... book... knuckles.... things you can crack!

I had a feeling the word cracked was going to be fun to illustrate.

I originally had a different idea but it never really took off, so I started over listing words that go along with cracked, and the first two words were egg and nail.

Contagious

The word this week was contagious. I immediately thought of those giggle fits that spread.

Parade

The word of the day is Parade! A parade just isn't fun to me without a few drinks.