[ Tuesday 2006.01.17 ]
Illustration Friday: "E"is for...

Ah, the letter E. Of course one of the first things that came to mind was elephant. Although a bit of an obvious choice, I really wanted to do an elephant illustration because, well elephants have been on my mind lately.

I've recently become interested in the ones kept in captivity and those used in circus or tours. The big wrinkly creatures have always caught my attention whenever we'd go to the zoo. This past year, while at the Portland Zoo, I could not help but notice how unhappy one particular elephant looked. It was something in his eyes that told me that, and it really upset me.

Then I started thinking about a story my Mom use to tell me. She would often speak of the infamous Ziggy the Elephant. An elephant that was quite popular when she was growing up. He had fallen in the trench that surrounded his enclosure and died. I wanted to do more research on him, to learn more about this pachyderm that my Mom spoke so fondly of. What I found was heart wrenching. Ziggy was chained up, indoors, at the zoo for nearly 30 years. He saw no sunlight. Everyone thought that he was too dangerous to handle so they left him inside of the building chained. True, he was dangerous. But it was because he was born to be free, not performing in the circus or chained to a wall. If only Ziggy could be set free...

To learn more about the story of Ziggy, check out this article.

[ Posted by Beth at 9:16PM ] [ ]

Today I created an action for a batch command for a group of 100 or so images to convert the colors and resize them. While Photoshop is automating the batch, I can't work on anything else on my computer. Was it time for a bathroom break? Or perhaps to walk down to the cafeteria and get some coffee? I was about to do the latter, when I spotted a scrap of paper on my desk. I picked it up and began to doodle. After I sketched out my little bird sitting on a pencil, I took the the wrapper from my dum dum lollipop (afternoon snack) and cut off little strips and glued it down. In about 8 minutes I had finished this little sketch (and Photoshop was not even done automating my images yet).

It made me think, that no matter how hectic your life gets, you can still squeeze in a little bit of creativity everyday. It does not have to be a masterpiece, just pick up a pencil and draw something. I find myself sketching while waiting at the doctor's office, or sitting at a very long traffic light. Anywhere I can, on whatever I can. In a sketchbook, on a bank slip, on the back of a magazine or newspaper.

So next time you have a few minutes to kill, maybe waiting for a large file to save or waiting at the bus stop, pick up a pencil and draw something. Anything. Even if you only have 5 minutes. You'd be surprised at how much creativity can come out of little bits of spare time.

[ Posted by Beth at 6:41PM ] [ ]

A lunch time quickie this week.

Growing up, our bathroom was decorated in a beach theme with lots of blues & greens. We had a wicker basket in the corner on the floor, and it was filled with an array of sea shells. Sitting on top was a dried pufferfish & dried starfish. I'd always pick the puffer up and stare at it with fascination. They puff themselves up when they feel threatened. Once I read in an article, that pufferfish in aquariums often inflate but cannot deflate, which can cause them to die. I wonder how this particular puffer died and ended up in a wicker basket in a bathroom.

Pufferfish is a delicacy in Korea & Japan. If you ever see "fugu" on a menu, it is pufferfish! Also, did you know that pufferfish are one of the few fish that can blink their eyes?

[ Posted by Beth at 2:00PM ] [ ]