When things get out of hand

And today, I learned that you should never force anything into a glass jar. I have nine stitches in my hand to remind me. I also briefly had the superpower today of making any normal space look like a gruesome murder scene, instantly! But I am fine, mostly. I am going to be left handed for a couple of weeks. The guy who stitched me up was so good, he matched up all of the lines in my palm, so future fortune tellers can make accurate predictions. Now Bad Ass Husband (who recently hurt his own bad ass when he fell down the stairs) is cleaning the house saying, "man, you got blood everywhere!" Gross. I'm sorry. It's true!

I don't know when I will be drawing again. I have to go the hand clinic and get the thumbs up. Memorial Day is hands down the worst day to find a specialist who's willing to get his hands dirty. I could try to make some puns at this point, but I'm not feeling handy. 

Bath Time

Bliss takes a bath, for the Tufa Coloring Book:

This is a Happy Tree!

I did this illustration for the children's book, "Murgatroyd Buttercups" by Yosha Bourgea.

Men-U

Z made this menu for when the Batties came to dinner, "So we can pretend to be nice people who do that sort of thing."

Sorry it's wrinkled! I fished it out of the trash. Z is eight years old. 

The Greatest Meeting Since Elvis Met The Beatles

Mr. and Mrs. Batty (as my daughter calls them) came to visit yesterday evening, all the way from Flippist World Headquarters! They even came bearing gifts.This is an original Wanda Gäg picture that the Professor stole from the famous archive of Minnesota:

The Batties ate lamb with us, and I learned that you aren't supposed to tell the name of the lamb while you are eating it- who knew? We went outside for drinks, and while I was being eaten alive by mosquitos, Mr. Batty took this picture,

I was so thoroughly bitten in the face that today, my friend Marca asked me if I was suffering from hives! (True story.) Batty handed the camera to Big Z, and she somehow melted space and time to create this picture,

I guess it's time I finally admitted that the red VW is, in fact, the Great Space Coaster, and can therefore create wormholes at will. Phew. Glad I got that off my chest! Come to think of it, I should have loaned it to the Batties so they could fly back to their home world of Minnesota! Maybe I can remember that next time. 

Thank you for visiting, Professor Batty and the Weaver! A good time was had by all. (Except for the lamb, who from now on shall remain nameless [poor Sevilla].)

Feeling Spacey

It came to my attention last night with Professor Batty that, even if you follow this blog religiously, it's difficult to tell what I'm doing with all of these pictures. So, just to clarify:

1. I made a new year's resolution to draw every day, which I have pretty much kept.

2. The drawings fall under three categories:

a. Murgatroyd Buttercups: Murgatroyd Buttercups is a children's book, written by my old friend, Yosha Bourgea. He has asked me to illustrate this funny story for him, and I am happy to oblige. We're shooting for "some time this summer" as a release date.

b. Coloring Book of the Tufa: My friend Alex Bledsoe has asked if I might collaborate with him on a coloring book to accompany his fantasy novels about a race of people called the Tufa. Since I love the novels, I am happy to oblige. The coloring book, which does not yet have an official title, comes out this September, along with his next book, Chapel of Ease.

c. Other stuff! I do have another project in mind, but I don't feel ready to reveal the details, yet. They are still stewing around in my brain.

Today's drawing falls under "Other Stuff":

And now for a tree playing the fiddle...

This will be in the Tufa Coloring book (if Alex Bledsoe doesn't think it's too weird).

She heralds the coming of Professory Batty. (He's coming over for dinner tonight! Should be an adventure.)

Borderline Crazy Border

When Pigs Fly

Strange things happen when Murgatroyd Buttercups comes to town.

Autoharp in the Hiatts' Garden

The Pair-A-Dice Bar and Grill

This is the bar where all of the Tufa folks hang out in Alex Bledsoe's Tufa novels. Like the Tardis, it's described as being bigger inside.

Stinkerbelle and Beauregard-Katherine

This is another one for the Tufa Coloring Book, which doesn't actually have a name, yet. The book, I mean. I've been calling it Coloring Book of the Tufa, or the Tufa Coloring Book, but I think we should actually have a real name. Suggestions are welcome!

"No one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the mountains of East Tennessee.  When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there.  Dark-haired and enigmatic, they live quietly in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history.  But there are clues in their music, hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations…." -AlexBledsoe.com

Sleeping in a vat of warm beans

Murgatroyd Buttercups, sleeping in a vat of warm beans (as one does).

Dream Journal

Print this out and write your dream on the uneven lines.

The King and His Consorts

For the Coloring Book of the Tufa:

People Walking Quietly to School or Work

Quiet Ducks, Swimming in Circles

cat doodles

Print it off and write an old fashioned letter.

More Sheep

Temporary home of Yoshimi and lambs:

When you have two nipples and three lambs:

Candy Darling came to say hello.

Chyoko would not let me come near her lambs.

Ah, the life pastoral. 

Cat Teasing a Lobster

Yoshimi Has Triplets on Mother's Day

Yoshimi with her three lambs- one on the right, two on the left.
They are all three black with white spots on their heads, and
hard to get a good picture of.

Yoshimi has been looking so huge and so miserable! We've been thinking she was going to blow up. And then today, three giant lambs!

When I first went out there to check on the sheep today, I was late because I had my Mother's Day breakfast and all that. Yoshimi was just having the the third lamb, and one of the first two had run off with Chyoko, and then one of Chyoko's twins had accidentally stayed with Yoshimi. This caused me to run around for a few minutes saying, "Oh no, oh my, oh no, oh my..." because if they don't bond with the lamb right at birth, they reject it and you have to bottle feed it every three hours and it's annoying as hell. And expensive! Formula for lambs. What a drag. But, luckily, they figured it out on their own! It was kind of fun to watch them make the trade. Lots of bahing. The lambs were switched back, but then Yoshimi wandered off to eat grass, and two of her babies went with her, and the third didn't, he just lay on the ground crying... so I surrounded them all with electric fencing and kept getting closer and closer, into a smaller and smaller circle. Eventually, I got her into this tiny area with her separated from the other sheep, and a nice little shelter from the sun. Last I checked, she was taking care of all three of them.

Phew!

Two ewes, one ram. We can make black top hats out of their wool!

Lambs!

First lambs of the season (we were pretty late, borrowing that black ram from Mo last fall. It was basically winter).

Both of them are rams with a little tuft of white on their heads. Sweeties with giant balls. One of them already rammed a full grown sheep! To no result, because the lamb was tiny and an hour old. Z named them Cole and Black Mamba. 

I used electric shears for the first time this spring, also borrowed from Mo (like the ram). Mama Chyoko was poorly shorn because the sheers flew apart while I was using them and I never sheared her neck! 

For those of you who follow sheep genealogy, Cole and Black Mamba are half brothers to Yoko of "Whoa Yoko!" fame, and to Candy Darling, whom Z is showing at the county fair with 4H Club.

We have four more sheep that we expect are expecting. 

Inspirational Drawing

Tufa Cemetery

For the Coloring Book of the Tufa, coming out this fall.

Barn Dance

Another one for the Tufa!

Chapel of Ease

As referred to in the book...

Another one for the Tufa Coloring Book

Tufa Band

For the Tufa Coloring Book, of course. :)

Unrelatedly: I had a dream last night that both Professor Batty and Jono were getting new jobs selling marijuana, and they just had to tell me. Apparently, it had just become legal to do so in Minnesota.

And now, for a duckling playing guitar.

Unconventional Sleeping Arrangements