Happy Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day!

The party plannin' Punchbowl folks who provide my cool blog widget tell us that in addition to today being Administrative Professionals Day, it's also Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day (who knew?).

The Punchbowlians have this to say about it:

Today is National Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day! This delicious finger food is popular with kids and cocktail party guests all across the world. In fact, there are many different cultures that have their own unique twist on this comfort food classic.

In the United Kingdom, pigs-in-a-blanket are small sausages wrapped in bacon. People traditionally serve them as Christmas dinner appetizers. In Israel, kids enjoy Moshe Ba'Teiva (Moses in the Ark), which are miniature hot dogs rolled in a ketchup-covered puff pastry and baked in the oven. In the United States, pigs-in-a-blanket are hot dogs or Vienna sausages wrapped in biscuit or croissant dough and baked until golden brown. Yum!

No matter where you are or how you decide to cook your pigs-in-a-blanket, make this tasty finger food for dinner tonight and serve it with a side of ketchup. Happy National Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day!

Well, cool.

And because I think piggies are much more fun to draw than Administrative Professionals, here is my blogsketch for today's celebratory shenanigans.

Enjoy! And may your day be fun-filled.

:)

...delayne.

Happy Earth Day!

Today, take a moment to happydance the Earth well.

Serenade her with song and laughter and joyful noise.

Make her smile with your shenanigans.

Read to her a story about flowers. (Or -- even better! -- write her one.)

Touch her beautiful young/old face with your bare hands. (Minnesotans, take those mittens off!)

Give her a gift of honey and wine and wellwishes and water. And words.

Write her a love song. (Sing it at sunset!) Or a love letter. (Tie it to a tree!)

Share your bread with the birds so they tickle her ribs with nibbles. Share your kitchen scraps with the worms so they calm her with caresses.

Bow your head and kiss her on the cheek.

And then thank her. For everything.
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Seriously Minnesota?

And it's this dark here, too!

It's Tornado Awareness Day here in Minne-snow-tah (emphasis on the snow) -- the sky is dark, the sirens are blaring, and this is what things look like out my front door.

C'mon, Minnesota....

I'm pretty much a nester. A cocooner. That one lady in the neighborhood who has a cat and doesn't answer her door. Much. So weather like this doesn't bug me anymore; I just brew a cup of tea, put on another sweater, and tuck in closer to the drawing table.

But it used to be that I had to slog to and from a bus stop five days a week in stuff like this (and worse; there's nothing like stepping off the Metro Transit in tornado weather). And I had to do it wearing a dress and heels. I'm a tee, jeans, and Converse girl; writing the words 'dress' and 'heels' gives me hives. And I tellya whut: it got old immediately. Two days of snow in my pumps and I was ready to kill something.

Not so much anymore; I'm better now. But this winter is pushing my buttons.

Still....

There's no denying that my neighborhood -- with its yards full of flattened leaf mold and thawing piles of fragrant dog poop -- is looking a lot prettier right now.
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Thinking Green Thoughts

This sketch in progress began as simply a way for me to play with new school supplies purchases, but it's gone on to entertain me now for hours.

I keep returning to it -- er -- him. The Green Boy. That's a penciled-in acorn that he's holding in his fingers, in case you can't tell.

Could this be the young Green Man? Is it Peter Pan, perhaps, offering up a kiss? I have no idea....

If I'd been thinking about it all ahead of time, I would have (hopefully) come up with a better-planned-out design. But had I done so, I can almost guarantee it would not have surprised me like this one has.

And now I sense a long, wordy, and introspective post gearing up about how my planned-out stuff sometimes comes out looking all forced and tortured, blahddy blah, and so I'll just shut up. It's the weekend, after all, and Life awaits! And here in my neck of the 'burbs the sun is shining and so I must step away from the keyboard and go worship it a little.

So I'm signing off until whenever. And I'm also sending you every-shade-of-green thoughts of Spring.

Now go have fun!

~delayne.
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Fairypost

And the Winner is....

Oh those Punchbowl folks. They just keep giving us fun reasons to celebrate (and DRAW, don't forget!). And today we're looking at Cordon Bleu Day.

A Punchbowl snippet sez this about it:

"Did you know that “cordon bleu” means “blue ribbon” in French? In the 1500s, the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit became known as “Les Cordon Bleus.” The knights used a blue ribbon to hang their talisman, and eventually the term became associated with distinction and honor. Today, we still award blue ribbons for excellence!"

So I'm awarding today's blogsketch to YOU. You win the Most Excellent Reader blue ribbon, my dear.

Congratulations!

:)

~delayne.
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Let's Celebrate Together!

I had no idea that today is World Party Day. And Punchbowl -- the folks who host my blog widget -- have this to say about it:

"Today is World Party Day! World Party Day (or P-Day) is a synchronized global celebration that seeks to make the world a better place. The motto for this holiday is “Party is the opposite of War.” The idea behind it is that we can only create a better reality by taking positive action and celebrating life (instead of passively promoting peace).

"The first World Party Day (known as World Party I) took place on April 3, 1996. The novel Flight by Vanna Bonta inspired the event. The story ends with a countdown to a mass celebration where all of humanity is united. Readers took the idea and organized a real worldwide party!"

Cool. Who knew that World Party Day was a real thing? Not me....

And since I'm unfamiliar with Vanna Bonta's novel I think I'll have to give it some attention too. (Have you read it? And what did you think?)

Have fun today!

...delayne.
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This Isn't the Post You're Looking For

This is me, Hulking Out.

Something is happening in my world right now that is catching fire a little and I'm not prepared for it. As a result, you may have followed a link to this blog hoping to read a post about tattoos. Please know that there IS one, but this isn't exactly it at the moment. 

Bottom line: I've been trying to make sense of a topic that explodes my head every time I think on it (if you're an artist, too, you might know what I mean....). And the more I let my thoughts vomit out and collect, the more I realize that sifting through the mess to make them coherent is gonna take some serious time....

What started my latest little meltdown was this: I shared a sketch online recently and received some positive comments, one of them being along the lines of, "This would make a great tattoo! Would you mind?" And I kind of fell apart inside....

It's not the first time I've been told that about a design of mine (it seriously happens almost daily). And it wasn't the request itself that put me into a tailspin (someone actually ASKED; how rare is that??). It's the sudden tsunami of feelings -- mostly negative -- that crash down on me now whenever I hear or read or write the word.

I get that the fad of tattooing has exploded spectacularly and that we can expect the fall-out to continue for eons; it's not going away or dying down anytime soon, probably not even in my lifetime. But I don't want my work to be dragged into it (oops -- too late!*), at least not until I can wrap my head around the idea. It just gives me the heebie-jeebies. Still not 100% sure why, exactly, which is why I'm exploring my thoughts from all sides.

The first thing I think to do when forced to face the equation of 'my work + tattoos' is to quit drawing completely and start sculpting instead. (Anyone who knows me knows that this is impossible.) Then I start thinking of erasing myself, my blog, my Facebook pages, my website -- everything -- from the Internet. (Turns out, that really IS impossible....) And then I think, "Dang it, I'll tear up my Fest contract just so I won't Hulk Out inside and get an ulcer everytime someone says the 'T' word to my face." THAT one seems almost do-able.

My rant for the moment, though, is how I manage to get sucked into it anyway, sometimes even without my knowledge or permission. And I tell you what: there's nothing like being completely surprised by the reveal of one of your designs inked permanently on someone's body. It'll do a number on your day, that's for sure. And guess what? You are partly responsible, so get used to it; better quickly figure out a way to give it a positive spin or you'll get to THIS point.

(*Deep cleansing breaths....*)

I said this wasn't the post. My real post is far bigger. Only right now it's so all-over-the-map that it'll take me some time to hone it and edit it and make it even vaguely almost marginally understandable.

But if THIS post gets you thinking at all or gets you interested in further thoughts or possibly a dialogue, stay tuned, 'k? Because there's more where this came from.

And -- I may even have hit upon a solution. And for that I can't be more grateful for the kindness of fans. (Thank YOU -- y'all know who you are -- for helping me see all facets of this issue.)

~delayne.

... 

*P.S.: There are tattoos of my work out there that were inked with my complete permission. As much as I still can't figure out why you'd want to mark yourselves with my work (you need no embellishments, sweeties; you're beautiful just as you are), I'm honored by the requests and still very much appreciate the monetary compensation. I wish all my tattoo-obsessed fans were like you.