"Red Panda"

I was only dimly aware red pandas exist before IF inspired me to look them up.  Now I know they look kind of like raccoons and Wikipedia says there are fewer than 10,000 of them in the Eastern Himalayas and South Western China due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding.  Sad pandas.

I don't know what I can do for them.  The extinction of plants and animals around the world worries me, and I hope somebody can save them, but it is just too big an issue for me to handle.  I suspect most of us feel this way.  Maybe we donate to a charity and then just go about our lives.  There's probably something I should start or stop doing to save the pandas, but I don't know what it is.

Ignoring problems or getting depressed about them don't solve those issues.  What can we do?

I read about the decline of Monarch Butterflies.  Around 1 billion of them have disappeared since 1990.  I like butterflies.  They're pretty.  They pollinate things.  They eat milkweed.  I'll plant some milkweed.  This may not solve the larger issues of big agriculture's chemical use, but it's at least something within my abilities.  One positive action off my to do list.

The point is to do something, anything that helps.  I have a little landscape pond in my back yard for the wildlife.  I enjoy watching the song birds splashing around in it.  I keep goldfish in it to eat bugs.  More people need to have ponds and bird baths because the birds need water.

I don't use chemicals in my yard.  It only makes sense to me that a product designed to kill one thing will probably kill more than the intended targets and isn't healthy for anyone.  Other people's lawn chemicals get washed off and leak into the water supply which poisons all of us, including the plants and animals.

I compost.  Healthier soil makes healthier plants which are stronger in their fight against the things that attack them.  Healthier plants also make for healthier animals.  I've shown you how glossy and healthy my groundhogs are.

I take my own bags to the store.  There's no reason for me to get plastic bags every time I shop.  I try to avoid buying plastic or things packaged in it.  After I wash clothes, I hang them up to dry instead of running the dryer.  I wash my dishes by hand because it takes less hot water (and I don't have a family to clean up after).  I use cruise control on the freeway (mostly to stop myself from speeding too much, but it takes less energy too).  I turn off lights and use energy-efficient bulbs (except for where I read).  I recycle.

There are a lot of ways we can help the planet.  I welcome your suggestions.  Let's do what we can to live in a world with butterflies and pandas.

"Galaxy"

I sat on a mountain and looked at the galaxy.  I found infinite space infinitely overwhelming.  I think many people see their belongings this way.  My solution to the vastness of space was to feel the earth beneath me and to focus on the rock at my feet.  Organizing is like that.  Sorting and filing one item or topic at a time creates structure and reason in a chaotic world.  It calms me.

I was once told to add "organized" to my resume.  I said everyone says that.  "No, most people aren't organized and don't say they are."  I frankly didn't believe this but I've come to understand it's true.  Innumerable books are written on the topic, though I can't agree with Marie Kondo's advice to "Discard everything that does not 'spark joy'."  Crazy woman.  Belongings are more complicated than that.

I recently house-sat for a friend.  Before leaving, she suggested I amuse myself by organizing one of her bedrooms.  I know, this doesn't sound like much fun for most of you, and you didn't even see the amount of clutter she'd managed to stuff into the room.  It took me 2 days to get to the closet, and when I opened that closet things flew out of it and smacked me in the head.  I laughed and dug into my project.

About halfway through my friend's trip, I got grumpy.  I was tired from amassing large piles all over her otherwise beautifully decorated house, and also realized she wouldn't maintain the order I created.  It felt like a waste of time, but I was committed by then.  I trudged on repeating the mantra, "A place for everything and everything in its place".

My friend clearly wants to be organized.  She has piles of new photo albums and frames, folders, containers, and organizing books -- which takes up as much space as the stuff she wants to store.  Her issues are shared by many people.  I wonder how many people are like myself who feel compelled to organize things?

I love my personal library of alphabetized books which are sorted by subject, yet I'm aware most people aren't looking for this kind of bliss.  They just need to get their books onto bookshelves.  They close the door to the crowded bedroom while my skin itches at the thought of the hidden chaos.  I need to work on that.

This self-awareness reminds me of a time when a different friend and I shot photos of monarch butterflies resting after flying over Lake Erie in their annual migration.  Each of my photos was a single butterfly, aiming for perfection in the details.  My friend did landscapes of butterflies.  It hadn't occurred to me to see the world as she had.  I opened my eyes to seeing the world differently after that.

It takes all types.  My disorganized friend loosens me up.  I create order for her.  I think the ideal is somewhere in the middle?  I feel great satisfaction in the fact you can dance in that formerly packed bedroom.  She's thrilled.  I added "organized" to my resume.

"To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better." ~ Victor Hugo

"Prize"

I thought I'd have my floor finished by now.  The only thing left was the center, and how hard could that be?  Of course it might be easier if I knew what's going in that center, but I've been enjoying the process of discovery.

It would also help if I didn't get very complicated ideas like an astrological wheel -- but a subtle wheel, because I didn't feel like making my floor all about that.  This turned into days of math and fussing, for what's basically a 1 3/8" wide ring that hugs the inside of the brick circle -- which still leaves me to ponder what goes inside of that.

This eternal calendar gave me the chance to write the names of important people's birthdays.  I won't say this will motivate me to actually give birthday gifts, or give them on time, but it improves the odds.

I noticed trends in the birthdays of people who've made a difference in my life, either for good or bad.  I'm going to look for more Virgos because they are consistently nice to me.  Grandma was a Virgo, and Grandma love is right up there with dog love in unconditional and forever.

Things would move along quicker on the center of the floor if I quit taking time out to add more animals to the outside leaves.  I keep telling myself that I'm done with that part, but then I think maybe another dragonfly?  Maybe more flowers?

My dog thinks that all of this has gone on long enough.  She paces back and forth in front of me and nags.  Soon.  We're almost there.  Really, how long can it take to paint the inside 4' center?

Then I sit on my stool and ponder, which really annoys my puppy.  Why can't we take a walk or curl up with a book?  I've been giving her dog cookies to shut her up.  She's standing in the way of my creativity and self-expression.

I won a gift certificate once for entering a story in a contest.  That $25 validation probably made it possible for me to blog because I was bunched up in a million different ways about writing.  Letting my words out into the world was hard, especially since the story was about grieving the death of someone who mattered to me.  I unexpectedly had to face another fear when I had to read the story out loud to a group.

I wrote about the same kinds of things that are now living on my floor because nature is my center.  When the snow falls, I'll have summer in my dining room.  I'll have visual cues to remind me of happy times and help chase away winter blues.  I'll see the names of important people in my life and remember that loving and being loved is the greatest prize of all.

"Small"

Monarch butterflies make a huge annual migration every year from Mexico to Canada, or the other way around. Interestingly, they only go one direction.  Mexican Monarchs lay eggs in Canada, then die.  Canadian butterflies lay eggs in Mexico, then die – but while Canadian butterflies are still en route, they have to fly over Lake Erie.  I’m sure you can understand that’s exhausting for a very small animal, so they hang out and rest for a while on my side of the lake.

The first time I saw this event, I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first.  I thought the trees were confused and thought it was autumn, or perhaps the trees were dying because they were orange in summer.  That just didn’t seem right.  I had to walk a bit before I was close enough to see that the orange was solid butterflies.

I went with a photographer friend to catch Canadians on film.   I took a lot of shots, then got bored because she kept shooting more pictures.  My method was find a butterfly, click.  Find another butterfly, click.  There’s only so much of that that I felt a need to do.

My friend was much more… oh, pick a derogatory adjective or adverb.  Or let’s just say she was methodical, picky, and tireless to my spontaneity.  It’s not like this was painting or something important to me – and I never ask anyone to hang out while I paint.  I just wanted a butterfly picture as filler for a newsletter or something.  I wandered off and amused myself with beach activities until she finally had enough.

We compared photos.  I got several of what I was looking for, perfect individual specimens.  She didn’t get any of those.  She took pictures of branches of Monarchs – which never occurred to me.  It didn’t occur to her to take pictures of individuals.  We both got good shots of the same event – that didn’t look remotely alike.

I sometimes think of this day as when my mind was expanded to include a different perspective.  I’d still take photos of individual Monarchs if I happened to be at the lake on the right day, but I’d take at least one photo of a whole tree too.

Maybe most important, I understood myself better.  I see small things, details, and don’t like to clutter stuff up with unnecessary items and extras.  There’s a good side to this, but sometimes I’m too Spartan too. It’s just the way I am.  I related to the butterflies and talked to them.  I felt sympathetic of their exhaustion.  My friend thought that was stupid.

It’s good to see things through someone else’s eyes sometimes.  Collaborating with someone, or getting feedback can help me see the whole tree, or maybe a branch, or at least 2 of something.  I made my friend see an individual.  I think we both grew.

Artist, know thyself –which helps me understand the clay of who I am and what I can do.

I can also warn you about the dangers of art because I was leaning off of a wet, slippery deck, stretching to pick the perfect leaf to use for leaf prints on a painting... well, you can see where this is going.  Thankfully I stopped my face from smashing into the brick patio, but I am bruised and sore.  Nobody understands how much I suffer for art!

This art was one of my first blog posts.  I know I have Monarch art somewhere, but it just seems like too much right now to dig through closets when I'm counting my boo boos, and I like this piece.  It's even my actual baby face.

"Bottled Revisited"

One of the pleasures of blogging is visiting other people's sites to see what they're doing. Heike did an illustration of bottles for this week's theme which you can see here. Apparently I liked her idea so well I dreamt of it this morning. Yeah, first Harold, now Heike. I guess I'm dreaming a lot lately :)

In my dream, I was filling jars with things I want in my life. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I briefly thought I should do something with the idea when I woke up, but you know how life is, first one thing, then another, and then the day is mostly shot, and I didn't do anything about it. So much for divine inspiration, but I had left a comment for Heike which led to a little back and forth email today, and voila, the desire to mimic her illustration came back to me.

My first daffodils are coming up, and I need some fresh life and fresh air in my home. I had other plans for this art, but butterflies on the mantle seem like as good a thing as any to do with them. Each tag has a different word for inspiration. Thanks for the motivation Heike!!!

"Detective 2"

While I was rooting around in my box to find the woodpecker for my last post, I found the drawing of the boy doing his detective work on butterflies. This seems like a sweeter association for Illustration Friday’s word of the week, so I decided to include them both. The drawing of the boy is 4 ½” x 5”, Prismacolor pencil on cocquille paper. This is an old technique that was a way of doing a drawing on textured paper that allowed printers to shoot the art as line art instead of having to do a half-tone. In other words, by shooting it as line art, the quality was better than if it had to be broken into dots for printing.