Anyone know what that was?

I'm on a mission now. To find out what kind of spider that was on my car (that is pictured in the previous post- photo not drawing...) I just spent the better part of 30 minutes trying to figure out what it was and I'm not happy with my google search results.

1. my boyfriend said it looked like a brown recluse (um...aren't they "brown" in color then?)

2. When I shot that theory out of the water he came back with "maybe it's the male black widow?" (o...m...g...)

3. At work, I asked someone what they thought it was, from the blog photo and they said "that looks like one of those brown reluses" (ok really? Maybe he's color blind too?)

4. I saw a blog on my search that had a picture of a similar one, about the same size (size of a quarter)- but it had 8 really long legs, mine only had 4 long front legs and 4 short back legs.

At any rate, I would like to know what kind of spider this is, to know if I see another one if I can just thump it away, squish it, or leave it where it is. Because honestly, I'm a spider killer, because I hate them. I've contorted myself in many a weird angle to squish those suckers with my shoe- but something about this one...really did not sit well with me, and I didn't want to just brush it away with my hand, hoping it wouldn't cling on for dear life (to my flesh).

Fair warning, if you look up "Brown Recluse" on google- the images are really gross. Hands and body parts of HUMANS looking like a war zone because of the damage those little things can do.

Just because:

"Take it From a Texan"

Some of you may or may not know that while I was in high school I liked to draw a comic strip to humor my family. I called it "Take it From a Texan". At the time I was desperate to be a Texan and not live in Wisconsin. There was something magical, to me, about Texas. I've since learned that it's like any other state...except for the large bugs and insane humidity. so today, while looking for some inspiration I remembered a thought I had from last night:

In case you can't tell that's a giant spider with a cow-boy hat riding ontop of a car, while a girl inside is singing along with the radio. (Yes that's a classic VW Bug- No I don't have one...anymore.)

There is a caption for it that reads "NOTE TO SELF- Having a fear of spiders and living in a state thats slogan is "Everything's bigger in Texas" may not have been the wisest decision..."

And see, this comic strip, if you will, appears in my sketchbooks only, because, well...no one understands it except for me and my family.

But I decided to decode this one to share with ya'll (see, it's kicking in).

Yesterday on my way to lunch from work, I almost had a heart attack trying to get in my car. There was a spider on the side of my car by the drivers side door, making it very difficult for me to open the door to leave. "why didn't you squish it?" you ask? Well this is what it looked like:

That's the actual picture of it that I took trying to not go crazy and run across the parking lot speaking in tongues to get someone to kill it. (seriously scared of the smallest spider)

I'm pretty sure a bright yellow spider with red stripes means it was created somewhere in the 9th gate of hell, and therefore should not be toyed with. By the time I got to my destination for lunch, the thing was gone. But all day I couldn't stop thinking about it. On my way home from the grocery store I was thinking to myself that it would be really retarded if I got out of the car at home and there was the mutated son-of-a-gun holding as tight as possible to the roof of my car eating a bug. And by mutated I, of course, mean that the sun and humidity level caused the thing to grow 1,000% bigger than he was at lunch time.

But yeah, no spider on the roof, and I haven't seen the devil spawn since yesterday at lunch...and well, now in my sketchbook.

Is it itchy in here to anyone else???

Panels...because they look neat

Monkeys revisited. Yeah that's right. Upon request via a comment, someone wanted to see more animals, and more detail...ok.

Monkeys in panels are always welcome, right?

This guy just happens to also enjoy bananas in a tree.

Tania's Giraffe

She asked for it. I mean seriously.
Giraffe take 2. are you ready?

Yes, this is based off the last giraffe from earlier- but this one is especially for Tania. It's her giraffe. And her drawing if she would like it (comes with red draw-thru under the pencil as well!)

Shnika and Edward

An actual drawing, drawing for once :O Shocking, I know!!!

This was a mother's day present from my co-worker Ed (pictured on the right) for his wife Shnika (pictured on the left).

I do have to apologize for the poor quality of the photo, but people keep requesting the 11" x 14", which doesn't exactly work with my scanner at home, so I'm forced to take shadow ridden photos with my digital camera. This just so happens to be the close up. The pulled out, further away picture that I took is kind of blurry and has an awesome shadow of my hand holding the camera in the bottom left corner.

But anyway. Ed informed me that his kids didn't believe this was a drawing. they thought it was a photo printed off the computer.

I love kids. :)

Someone asked for it.

I have a love for monkeys. I admit it. It's actually a love so great that I will stop everything else I am doing to sit down and watch any one of the "Planet of the Apes" movies when it comes on tv. It's sick really.
If I go to the zoo, either the first or the last stop has to be where the monkeys are. In Wisconsin I would just go to the Monkey house that they have, and sit where the Orangutans were and watch them for hours on end.
Or I would go to the section that had the chimpanzees and hang out until I could get a good photo to draw later (which I do have one in my sketchbook from high school)
Even at the Ft. Worth zoo I find that I'll go to where the gorilla's are and just watch them- not draw, just watch. One time I was attempting to draw the silverback gorilla they have, and a hurd of wild kids showed up to pound on the glass I was looking at. The old gorilla had been fine with me sketching away, but decided he wanted to pound on the glass too, to scare the kids off. He did it so loud and so quickly, and with such anger that I decided it was best if I leave him alone too.
I even felt a little weird about the Dallas zoo, when they had to shoot an escaped Gorilla that had bit some people. Mainly because I was supposed to have gone to the zoo that day to sketch for awhile, but opted not to.
It was probably just tired of the little kids throwing things at it, or pounding on the glass. Seriously, they need to have a class on proper zoo etiquette before they have any school sponsored field trips to the zoo.

Anyway, I ramble too much. I love monkeys. Any kind. They fascinate me to no end, and are always fun to watch. I haven't been to any zoo in a long time, and I miss it. So I thought up this little hob-gobblin on my own today. I do realize that the foot resting on the branch should have the thumb wrapped around it to make it look better, compositionally. But what can you do...except appreciate those "damn dirty apes" :P

Quote

Aspire to greatness.
Do not settle for mediocrity.
Do as much as is within your power to advance your mastery of the craft.
Don't rush.
Be patient.
Learn.

-Mitch Macial

News? ***Orphaned Works Bill- Make it Stop!***

***UPDATE*** Please click here to send a quick (will take 2 minutes or less to complete) message to your House Judiciary Committee member to STOP the Orphaned Works Bill!!!

It's on every art forum thru out cyber space. I just saw this posting on the ConceptArt.org forum. This is important.

Ok, as we all know, I'm always behind on the times. Today a friend of mine emailed me about something that concerns me as well as all other artists dead or alive. It's a little disheartening to read about and of course I'm months behind on. But at the same time it's so unbelievable that it's hard for me to comprehend if this bill was read correctly (that may be a little out dated, but one of the only ones I could find doing a google search...this may be more current). But anyway, the uproar and the upsettingness is here. If any of this passes, I'm sure I won't be the only one who may take a hiatus from doing some art and just wait for someone to go "ok, we give...please do some work that will be yours forever and ever and you'll get all the profit from- we need artists!"

Giraffe?

By using the worlds smallest pencil, I drew a giraffe a few minutes ago.
I can't say that it's my best work, but it makes me grin.

Although I keep noticing that all "creatures" I've been drawing lately are facing to the right, have giant feet and the same freakin' nose. I think I'm ok with that. To be quite honest.
Although what I'm not alright with, is the habit I haven't broke myself of yet. Drawing with a tiny tiny pencil. What can I say, the thought of using a pencil until it won't fit between 2 fingers anymore, pleases me. Although my art teacher in high school told the entire class that once a pencil is smaller than the width of your palm, you need to throw it away and get a new one.
HA!
sorry Mr. D...but the pencil is still bigger than my palm...until I sharpen it again. (Yes I know that particular part of my palm is smaller than the actual palm itself...semantics people!) I actually have another pencil that I use that's bigger, but this one is my favorite.