What's new, pussy cat?

This is my latest attempt at pencil work. My neighbour's cat dutifully posed for me, really getting into the act my stretching, sleeping, looking in every direction and generally being a fabulous model. Although I would love to say it was done from life, it was actually from a photo. Hope that butterfly is safe from tiny teeth.

Treasure - AGAIN!

I have been adding a few more hand made beads to my Etsy store again today with still more to come over the next few days. (You can have as sneak preview of the new ones below.) But no sooner had I added some of my recycled map beads than someone added them to their treasury. EvaMarie made a list revolving around travel so I was lucky enough to get my beads included. Very cool.

Socks are not safe!

Look at this angelic face. Butter wouldn't melt. Perhaps even a spot of melancholy?

Now look at this one:

I think he ate the butter along with the sock. For some obscure reason dogs in my family unit like to chew socks. Sam did the same thing as a pup though thankfully that trait died out with his chasing cars and eating gladiolas as he got older. I thought this photo was priceless. Sorry about the picture quality - the glory of mobile phones hasn't developed to include good quality phone pictures.

More treasure!

A bevy of beautiful Greek inspired items await at Etsy today. HighHeelsBoutique has added my Greek Polymer Stamps to her Greek Summer Vacation treasury list. I am so honoured as all of the items are yummy in the extreme.

Buried Treasure

Seth at the Altered Page is running a new project called Buried Treasure. All we have to do is re-publish a post that we might consider treasure. So I have chosen my post on my Nature Journal.

As I can no longer cut and paste the text into Blogger you can visit the above link to read what I have to say on the subject.

Help the Hyena Researchers!

The students of Michigan State University's Holekamp Lab have their very own hyena blog all about their studies and life in Kenya. As a huge hyena lover I have been reading it for the last few months and have learned so much about life out there. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite blogs and I eagerly await each new post. The photos alone are wonderful.

Unfortunately the students rely on two clapped out cars to do their research and they are asking for suggestions on how to raise money to pay for a new one. They have a possible grant of $15,000 but a new car that would deal with the Kenyan terrain will cost three times that. The down side is that they have to find the other two thirds of the money by the 15th July. Michigan State University are in the grips of the global financial troubles and cannot donate so if you have suggestions for raising funds or know someone who might be able to help with a donation (do any millionaires ready my blog?) drop by their blog where you will find contact details and hopefully the safety of the researchers and the ability to spend more time researching the hyenas will be assured. Here is the link to the original post.

Fungal-Mouse

Certain members of my family have named this piece Fungal-mouse due to the two toadstools in the background. Its official title was An Autumn Woodmouse - very boring if you ask me but I hate giving my paintings titles. The unfortunate thing is the exhibition demands it so I have no choice but to call it something. Luckily it is my final piece to be exhibited this year so I can relax a little now. I was still working on it at lunch time today and it had to be handed in tonight at 6.30 GMT. So, now that is done I can sit and read and catch up on all the things that have had to go by the wayside over the last few weeks. Here's hoping I get a sale or two.

BEADS!

This is what 120 beads look like. I was lucky enough to be asked to make a batch for someone who wanted them for their own art project. Great fun and a great opportunity to see what it was like to make so many in one go. Phew! The batch consisted of 60 pink music beads with gold tips and a special order of 20 music beads in blue, 20 in peacock blue/green and 20 in green, all with silver tips. I am happy to make special orders for anyone looking for specific colours of beads so I was so glad to be asked.