Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 4

Week 4: Insects

Mixed media collage, with potato printing and sponging in acrylic paints on brown paper bag and black card, decorated with white Signo pigment ink and black, green, silver and gold Sharpies.

Update:

Watercolour cartoon on damp watercolour paper with mixed media and black Sharpie.

Week 4: Insects II

Black "Stained" Sharpie ink on dampened watercolour paper, painted in watercolours with white pigment Signo highlights.

Week 4: Insects III

Kookaburras and ants

I have two of these Australian Depression era metal wall plaques, cast by my grandfather. The two kookaburras decorated my grandparents' kitchen during my earliest days, and later the lounge room of their home unit in the 70s. (I remember my grandfather routing and French polishing new wooden bases for them in the 60s.) I finally got around to sanding them back and freshly varnishing them in 2000. They adorn my toilet and bathroom doors. 5th December 2009.



I needed a photo of "ants having a party" for school on Monday. Luckily I had just the props handy. 6th December 2009.

Now we are six

How does a Jack Russell terrier celebrate his sixth birthday? Sadly, it seems that he spent most of it on his own.

Yesterday, after "Hedwig", I was telling some friends about Jack - and someone asked how old he was. To my horror, I realised that the 16th was his birthday, and that the most exciting thing to happen to him on that day was me racing in after work to change my shirt, knocking the little ants out of his dinner bowl (Jack having drank all the ant trap reservoir again) and feeding him, before racing out again to catch my train into the city.

It's a bit of a come down from the big puppy party he had for his first birthday, which had a guest list of local dog friends and their owners.

Sorry Jacko. Happy belated birthday, little matie.

Save the penguins

Okay, I already have way too many stuffed toys - and, indeed, even too many stuffed penguins - but this weekend I assisted one lone, frightened-looking, stuffed penguin from having a very rough Christmas this year.



The penguin toy is rather well made, but he's meant to be a dog's chew toy - the type my Jack Russell would have had mostly consumed by Christmas Day afternoon. The penguin's legs are made of the same cotton "rope" as other rope-pull toys; although they always look strong, and are meant to act like dental floss, Jack tends to just eat the rope, and pay for it for days and days, straining desperately in the yard to pass wads of multi-coloured cotton.

This sighting (of the penguin, that is, not Jack straining) occurred during a quick trip through the pet section of Big W, while supposedly helping a friend look for Christmas gifts. (He'll be too busy to do more shopping in the coming week). The only one who actually bought anything was me, and most of what I picked up was for Jack, anyway: a new ant-free dish at last (please don't tell Jack it's actually a cat bowl!), and various festive munchies, such as smoked pig's ears, for putting under the Christmas tree (if I ever get around to putting it up in time.)

What was of most concern regarding the poor penguin: the manufacturer had tied another length of the cotton "rope" around the penguin's neck! Other animals in the series had four limbs made of "rope", but to compensate for the penguin having tiny wings, incapable of flight, they put a noose around his neck. I mean, why not look like you're going to kill yourself when your whole purpose in life is literally "going to the dogs"? Such a great Christmas message!?



So I weakened - and, if I can manage to keep his delectably consumable legs out of harm's way, he now joins a flock consisting of Opus the Penguin (of "Bloom County" and "Outland" comic strip fame), a little Christmas penguin that I was given last year from a student, a wooden Christmas ornament of a family of penguin carollers, and a handmade felt penguin (at least 45 years old) which I'm still minding for my friend, Scott, who emigrated to England about 20 years ago.

Anti ants!

You can tell New South Wales is still in drought! The ants are invading the house and making a point of investigating the dog's food bowl every day. Poor Jack always keeps a few morsels for later, but he gets very miffed when the ants swarm over even the tiniest stray piece left in the bottom of the bowl.

I thought I'd outwitted them by placing his food dish into a shallow pan of water. Jack was, at first, rather threatened by seeing his food as an island. But it didn't thwart the ants. Not one bit. They simply marched a few centimetres to the right and took up residence in his bowl of dry dog biscuits!

After several days of racing a swarming mass of insect life and Purina One Lamb & Rice out into the backyard, I decided to buy a much bigger tray - and now both food dishes are jammed against each other and surrounded by water, like some gourmet's bizarre archipeligo.

Jack's reaction to this? He drank the water.

Now I have to keep refilling the tray. I guess the next thing will be like in that awful jungle movie (was it 1977's Empire of the Ants with Joan Collins? Or was it 1954's The Naked Jungle?), where the tricky killer ants get across the river on floating leaves to devour the cast?

Captain's Log: Supplemental. Dammit! More ants! (Because Jack drank the moat again!)