Farmer Green had enough of Bert’s attitude. There was something unsettling about that chicken. It was always strutting around like it owned the place, putting on airs and looking down on everyone. It never associated with any of the other chickens. It turned it’s beak up at worms and never once had he seen it fly. It just wasn’t right a chicken acting that superior. He was in charge of his farm and no chicken of his was going to get away with that sort of nonsense. Bert was going to learn to fly or die trying.

Bert (who was actually Betty–Farmer Green wasn’t really a very smart farmer) actually did think she owned the place. From the moment she hatched, she had been secretly coddled by the farmer’s daughter. She was hand fed, petted and groomed daily, and carried around like a princess in a basket. It was perfectly obvious to Betty that she was a superior creature. All that scratching around in the dirt was beneath her. That flying business was just undignified. As if she should propel herself somewhere! So it happened that Betty was most unpleasantly surprised the day she found herself tossed out of the hayloft into the empty air. With sudden clarity, and much flapping about, she realized she was in fact, just a chicken.

I am still quite in love with my new markers. So in love with them that I’ve actually been drawing on a regular basis. I even attempted to participate in Illustration Friday, which I’ve been following for years, hence the chicken themed picture.  Of course to actually participate I should have submitted it yesterday, but I was terribly busy drinking beer and meeting lots of cool new people. Click here to read more »

Courageous Tillie and his faithful steed George set off to seek adventure. Who knew what exciting foreign lands and heroic deeds lay before them? They would cross the treacherous River of Eels, slay the terrible monster of Gila, and they would rescue fair Hilda. Songs would be written about them, they would be showered with untold riches, and they would get to have tea with the Queen. All the neighbors would be envious. And as long as they were back by dinner, Tillie’s mom promised they could both have cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles for dessert.

Do you remember being a kid and you just got a brand new set of markers (or colored pencils, or crayons) and you were consumed by a need to use all of them, at once, on one glorious picture?  Click here to read more »

At last!  The exciting conclusion to my heartwarming tale of road-trippery and family.  I totally lied about how long it would take to post this, but by now you should know better than to trust my time estimates anyways.  To be fair, I didn’t expect it to take quite this long.  I had this idea that I could somehow finish and post it over the holidays as some sort of holiday gift to the masses…while also road-tripping across the country, battling the elements, visiting family, and boogeying down with my friends New Year’s Eve.

So picking up where I left off:

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