Be mine!

Love it or hate it this week millions will be celebrating Valentine's day. It seems that my friends and colleagues all have pretty strong reactions to the holiday meant to honor love and loved ones. Looking back on February 14th, my experiences have varied from wonderful to wretched and back. And ironically one of my favorite memories involves deciding to celebrate the saint day of two lesser known (and more credible) saints Cyril and Methodius who share February 14th as their Saint Day.

Now, I understand that Valentine's day has gotten pretty commercial. I get that it is a greeting card holiday where retailers attempt to bring sales back into the black by selling tacky, cheesy, and often ridiculous items. But, (full disclosure here) I love that part! Bring on the kitsch! The part I don't like is when paramours feel pressured to prove their love by spending large amounts of cash or else! Or when fantastic folks feel sad or lonely because they did not receive said kitsch. So in honor of all the pressured paramours and fantastic but lonely folks, a Valentine from me to you! Enjoy!

Kawaii Veggies

Oh, hi there! It has been a few weeks since my last post, and I hope you are all having a great 2013. Did you make any resolutions? On Jan 1st I vowed to eat more veggies, so they have been on my mind for the past few weeks. Since my older ("and more beautiful" at least that was what she taught me to say as a toddler) sister sent me a gently used juicer, this has been pretty easy. It does feel as though I am sending the veggies through a wood chipper, but that is part of the fun of it.

Although I'm thinking about veggies everyday, juicing is not my reason for featuring a carrot as today's post. One of my dearest friends lives on a farm in Hawaii and is expecting her first child. A few months ago she asked if I would draw some kawaii veggies for her farm stand. I said yes and then procrastinated. As you do. Then I figured if she could create a person, I could draw a carrot. So here is my first veggie. I will be doing a series of them throughout the next few months and will post when possible. I'm making the new little one a onesie with this design and am going to add the words "Fresh from the Farm" or something similar to the pic. If anyone out there can think of a cute and clever caption feel free to message me. Thanks!

Opossum's Christmas

One of my favorite beginner bluegrass tunes is called "Boil Them Cabbage Down". Probably because it's easy and I can play it fair to middlin' on my banjo. There are plenty of versions and plenty of verses but my favorite is 

'Possum up a 'simmon tree 

Raccoon on the ground

Raccoon says to 'possum

Shake them 'simmons down

Because I learned that one from my dad.

I decided to draw that 'possum sitting way up in the persimmon tree and put lights on the tree for Christmas. I'll be sending some of these out as my card this year. I like this image because while I was born and now live in the South Eastern part of the United States, I largely grew up in So. Cal. Both places have plenty of opossum and persimmon trees. So this image could be from either part of the U.S. that I think of as home. You can decide for yourself if the white specks are a starry sky or a rare Southern snow flurry. 

So the advent idea is bust because I am fostering another dog and socializing him takes some time away from artwork. But I promise to have a few more pieces up this month. Thanks for your continued views!

Festive Cat

Happy December 1st! 

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Woman at night: Last post of the month

This is my last post of the month! This means that minus Thanksgiving, I managed to complete my goal of posting a pic a day for an entire month! Thanks to all who have stopped by and all who have left comments.  This is a collage I have on my wall at home, but I edited it digitally. For whatever reason it is one of my favorite images. I leave it for you all as my last post in November.

Retro Cat

Today has been really, really busy. I could bore you with details of all the things I did that include such fascinating events as making cupcakes for a bake sale after work and volunteering at the shelter, but really it's just an excuse for posting a piece from last year. This design is a little retro cat I call Lucinda. She has a counterpart named Audrey and they are both available on merchandise from Cafe Press at http://www.cafepress.com/zitacita

La Llorona: The drowned woman

The story of La Llorona is an old tale that has many different tellings. In most of them La Llorona drowns her children and then herself. She is forever cursed to wander looking for her children.  Growing up I was told that her cries could be heard througout the night by any body of water. This made for some fun and scary nights at the beach.