A peek at design submissions. The beautiful floral linocut design is by Kim Bene.

Not long ago, friend and fellow artist Kim Bene turned me on to the magazine UPPERCASE.  The tagline for the magazine is "for the creative and curious" and I must say that describes it well. Based in Calagary, Canada,  publisher/editor/designer Janine Vangool produces a beautiful quarterly magazine highlighting graphic design, illustration, crafting and more.

UPPERCASE recently held a bookmark design challenge and now features the submissions on their website here.  The designs are available for download including those by Kim and me. The April/May/June edition of UPPERCASE is for sale and a few bookmarks with the winning designs have been tucked within. While, alas, my design was not chosen, it was a fun exercise.

I chose a magpie for my design for not only their beauty but in Native American folklore the magpie is considered a friend and helper. Wearing a magpie feather is a sign of fearlessness by some tribes as the bird is bold, showing little fear. Magpies will often cache food they have found so they can later retrieve it.  Here I imagined my fearless magpie flying off with a new treasure.

Books give us the wings of imagination.  Fly on.

Natural shells found on the Florida Gulf Coast

Our drive down to the Gulf Coast was uneventful, which in February is a lucky occurrence.  It was a good start to our getaway.  By uneventful I am referring to weather not the scenery, for albeit Winter, I was still awed by the rolling hills of Tennessee and the towering pines of Georgia.  The vacation for me, however, began at the first Florida welcome center with its free citrus juice and glorious sunshine.  A few miles further, it was impossible to not sing while crossing the Suwannee River with its Spanish moss dripping from the cypress into the water below.  I have done this drive several times and it never loses its charm.

We veered off the interstate near Lake City to meander "Old Florida" back roads as we headed toward the Crystal River area.  It was at this time the Avett Brothers sang out from our playlist, "No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds, we have got to leave all that behind."   Their song At The Beach continues with "I have worries to give to the sea."  Amen, Brothers.

Three Sisters Spring with manatees on right

Three Sisters Spring was our second Florida stop.  At times three hundred manatees have gathered in the warm waters.  The day we visited there were perhaps around twenty.  But we were lucky as the number of human visitors was down too from the rush they had in recent weeks due to some national television coverage.

We continued South to our ultimate resting place on the beach. The sun was a fiery orange ball when it fell in the gulf that evening.  By contrast the following morning was a soft pink and blue dream.  Daily I was charmed by pelicans, osprey, herons and other shore birds, dolphins, crabs, abundant shells and the happy faces of passing beach walkers.  Rough surf one night produced treasures in the sand the following morning.  Some were delightful, some were devilish.  Yet with all the inspiration surrounding me and the ideas that were ignited, I refused to divert my eyes to a sketch book and pencil for fear of missing something.

So there are no illustrations to post, only memories and a few photos.  I gathered ideas for the future and cast the past into the sea because I just had to leave all that behind.

Nature is glorious.  Revel and renew yourself in it.

Valentine's Day has grown to celebrate more than just romantic love.  It has become a day to celebrate love in general.  But what is its origin?

The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I.  There is more than one Catholic saint that bears the name Valentine so a true identity is unknown but it is believed that February 14 is the date of a martyrdom.  St. Valentine, however, has been associated with love only since the Middle Ages.  It is in English poet Geoffry Chaucer's (1343-1400) poem Parlement of Fowles that we find a reference to love and St. Valentine.

During the Middle Ages it was believed that birds paired in mid-February.  Within the Chaucer poem the narrator dreams of three tercel (male) eagles that wish for the hand (or talon) of a formel (female) eagle. The three tercels make their case before the goddess of Nature.  Birds of the lower estates begin to protest and launch into a parliamentary debate.

(The Goddess) Nature...began to speak in a gentle voice: "Birds, take heed of what I say; and for your welfare and to further your needs I will hasten as fast as I can speak. You well know how on Saint Valentine's day, by my statute and through my ordinance, you come to choose your mates, as I prick you with sweet pain, and then fly on your way. But I may not, to win this entire world, depart from my just order, that he who is most worthy shall begin.

Nature ends the debate by allowing the formel free will in the decision.  None of the tercels win, however, for Nature also grants the formel's request to put off her decision for another year.  (Female birds of prey often become sexually mature at one year of age, males only at two years.)  Nature does allow the other birds to pair off.  

And when this work was all brought to an end, Nature gave every bird his mate by just accord, and they went their way. Ah, Lord! The bliss and joy that they made! For each of them took the other in his wings, and wound their necks about each other, ever thanking the noble goddess of nature.

And then the birds sang.

"Saint Valentine, throned aloft,
Thus little birds sing for your sake:
Welcome, summer, with sunshine soft,
The winter's tempest you will shake!

Good cause have they to glad them oft,
His own true-love each bird will take;
Blithe may they sing when they awake,
Welcome, summer, with sunshine soft,
The winter's tempest you will break,
And drive away the long nights black!"

This is only a portion of a translation of the poem.  If you are interested in reading Parlement of Fowles in its entirety, you can find it here (or the translation here). 

It is fitting that the true origin of St. Valentine, and the enduring holiday, are a mystery.  After all, we can say the same of love itself.

Wishing all, a loving Valentine's Day.  Hugs all around.

 

It's crazy.  February is here already and Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away.  If you are looking for a book with a heart, and a brain, for a wee Valentine, How to Grow Hippo! might fill the bill.  In it Jack, based on author Becky Schantz's son, learns about the power of love.  And there's a hippopotamus involved!  What's not to like?  Check it out on Amazon here.

Did You Know...

• The closest living relative of hippos (hippopotamidae) are whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans).  Not pigs as was thought at one time.
• The earliest hippo fossils date to around 16 million years ago.
• One of the largest reported hippos weighed almost 6,000 lbs. The mean adult weight for a male is 3,300 lbs and 2,900 lbs for females.
• Hippos cannot jump but can run up to 19 mph for short distances.
• The skin of a hippopotamus is 2 inches thick.  It secretes a red colored substance that acts as a natural sunscreen.  It has often been referred to as "blood sweat" but is neither.
• Hippos can sleep under water, rising to the surface to breathe without waking.  Their nostrils close prior to submerging.
• The hippo life span can be 40-50 years.
• Hippopotamuses are a “vulnerable” species, one step down from “endangered” in its ranking of extinction risk.  

Your local library is a good source for more information on hippos and so much more.  Check it out. (Pun intended, of course.)

2015 Holiday Card

2015 Holiday Card Detail

May the new year be a joyous ride!

Some may say the elf on top has talent but those that know their bikes would say that the bottom elf is more skilled.   A jockey shift and open primary require a dexterity most do not possess.  Sometimes a little extra knowledge changes your perspective.

Wishing you and yours a safe journey.

 

When all the world appears to be in a tumult, 

and nature itself is feeling the assault of climate change, the seasons retain their essential rhythm. Yes, fall gives us a premonition of winter, but then, winter, will be forced to relent, once again, to the new beginnings of soft greens, longer light, and the sweet air of spring.

       Madeleine M. Kunin 

Winter is upon us and celebration is in the air.  There will be no white Christmas this year except in the cards sent to young family members scattered across the land.  Eventually flakes will fall but in the meantime, the sunny skies are appreciated. 

In St. Louis it is tradition for trick-or-treaters to tell a joke in exchange for candy.  It is believed that the custom was begun by the Irish immigrants that settled the area.  It is not required, of course, but I always ask my visitors if they have one and almost all are prepared. 

So in keeping with tradition...

Why was the Jack-O-Lantern afraid to cross the road?
Because it had no guts.

Enjoy the fun.