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Not part of any challenge, but I never did anything this big and was excited to share. :)
16 x 20"
okay, bye. :)

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Really! Is the challenge really frog!
How can I choose?!?
I guess I'll go with the Christmas theme.
And this one because it's my favorite.

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...but here are my chickens.
"A Fowl Mood"

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Here's a little bit of what we've been up to lately.



What you see above are the last two "guys" I've made for my boys. They're guys, not dolls. "Dolls are for girls" apparently. I've made about four of these guys and some outfits and hats based on patterns that Josh designed. My mom made a hat for one, then I used her idea and made another. This is Indiana Jones awaiting his own hat. He has a satchel and a whip, too.




These are some goodies I've been collecting this last year. Aaron Brothers had a 1¢ sale, so I rushed over and with Josh's help, picked out the perfect frames for each piece. In the top picture is a beautiful bird print by the fascinating artist, Genine Zlatkis. It's part of her 20 birds series. The small pix is a gift enclosure by Becky Kelly.

The bottom photo shows an exquisite drawing by Marsha Robinett. It was a free gift for signing up for her email newsletter. We gave it to my golf-loving husband for Father's Day. The small print is by Diane Duda. It's so cute! The big print is of a collage by Cori Dantini. I love it!!!!



Josh is learning to embroider with the help of Gramma and her "Quilt Ladies". He went to quilting with them and got lots of help. He's making his first quilt top for a pillow for his new surfer bedroom.




I just had to have a vegetable garden this year. Our yard has gotten pretty shady now that our trees are teenagers, so we had to squeeze them into the little bits of full sunlight. I'm so excited. We'll be able to make our own home grown salsa. We also have butternut squash, watermelon, beets, and a cool looking squash/pumpkin whose name escapes me.

Can't decide whether the cosmic serpent had spots or not.
Proof of wood engraving with gouache paint dots. 5cm x 5cm. Click to enlarge.

I've patented a new board game called "Intestinal Parasite". Available in all good toy stores next year.
ArtRage2 and Photoshop. Click to enlarge.

In the absence of knowledge of physical and cultural clues, communication between two species can be almost impossible.
Copic markers with Staedtler fineliner pen. 25cm x 11cm. Click to enlarge.

Copic markers and Staedtler fineliner pens. 12cm x 8cm. Click to enlarge.

I'm developing my own system of divination.
Copic markers with Staedtler pigment liners. 17cm x 12cm. Click to enlarge.

The ancient Egyptians used to discuss these matters.
Pentel brush pen. Digital colour. 13cm x 14cm. Click to enlarge.

This morning we presented a post from R. Barker Bausell, author of Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine , in which he argues that the placebo effect has as much healing power as alternative medicine. Below, in an excerpt from Bausell’s book, we learn about the history of the use of placebos in scientific research.

…The placebo effect itself escaped serious scientific scrutiny until 1955, having largely been considered prior to that time to be more a part of medical lore (or physician mystique) than a documented clinical entity. (more…)

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The debate regarding the healing potential of alternative and complementary medicine can be a heated one. In his book, Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine Barker Bausell, professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, dissects alternative medicine practices, and finds that much of their healing powers lie in the placebo effect. In the post below, he takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the battle between alternative medicine and the placebo effect.

One of the many daunting tasks I faced in writing Snake Oil Science: the Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine was to compare the biological plausibility of the theories supporting the analgesic effects of alternative medical therapies with that of their chief rival, the placebo effect. (more…)

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Illustrator of Topsy Turvy Land(Hidden Pictures Publishing), Kevin Scott Collier, sent this delightful coloring page of Sully, the Singing Snake. I never thought I'd say this about a snake, but isn't he cute?*Click on the picture, then print! It will print out full size ready to be colored. If that doesn't work with your printer, right click on the picture, and then 'save picture as...' and then