The Lion and The Mouse

On WetCanvas (a forum for artists) there was a challenge to create something using Aesop’s Fables as a theme.

The Library of Congress, has each story in full (click link).  The illustrations alone are worth looking at. Many of the illustrations are interactive, I was charmed by them. Such a great site and resource, check it out!

Using ink and gilt,  I chose the Fable of the Lion and the Mouse. The following text is from the Library of Congress’s site. My original illustration follows it.

The Lion & the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion’s nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

“Spare me!” begged the poor Mouse. “Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you.”

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter’s net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

“You laughed when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion.”

A kindness is never wasted.

All text and images other than Aesop’s Fable are

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

 

 

 

 

Keep Clam!

Zeus is itchy.

It’s his yearly Autumn Itch.

So I bought him some itch relief stuff.

Let’s read the bottle..let me see..we have

Deep skin cleansing….splendid, that’s much better than shallow skin cleansing.

Complete body cleanser..even better, not much point only cleaning part of it.

Soothes ….great stuff, nothing better than a soothing soothe.

Clams.. sure a good clam is..What?…I mean..Pardon?

Hmmm..Yup that’s what it says..

Soothes and clams…

clams.

I’ve never had my dog clammed before.

Shellfish of me I know.

I wonder if it’s good for his mussels?

zeus exasperated

Sorry  I’ll scale back.

zeus lab dog sillyI know it’s getting ruff.

sammy drinking dog

It’s  load of carp really.

carp fish koi

Llama get back to the point.

llama blue eyes heterochromia

It’s not like this happens aviary day.

vulture It’s dragon on…

dragon lizard reptileNo use hanging around.

snake green hangingOr lion..

lioness sleeping lions cat feline

I’m just kitten..

lynx box cat feline

Sea ya!

dog lake water chase

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Procrastination, Corruption and Weird Animals..

And no, I’m not talking about Congress.

Alas and alack, my computer is corrupt. Not surprising really, I do live in Illinois after all. Yes, the State that was just charged with securities fraud which I guess makes all the Illini and our puppy dogs too, felons (allegedly).

“Oh I’m a felon, you’re a felon, he’s a felon, she’s felon, wouldn’t you like to live in Illinois too!”

*sigh*

So anyway, I have 2600 plus error messages on my computer. And yet it keeps on going, generating error after error after error. I’d like to say I’ve never worked with people like that but sadly, I have.

At least I’m over my Hitchcock/Poe/Ansel Adams stage..

tree1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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Almost.

whitetree©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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Okay I think I’m really done.

(I’m not making any promises mind you.)

I was considering going back to being a bird stalker (allegedly).

But my bird stalking desires were temporarily sated by finally being able to take a photo of the barred owl in my backyard. For almost four years he’s been back there yelling “Who cooks for you!’.  I don’t know why he’s so obsessed with what goes on in my kitchen but at least I now have his photo in case he breaks in and rearranges my pots and pans.

owl2©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013.

So at a loss at what to do with myself I went over to the local zoo.

Little did I know that they recently acquired a panda. Yes a panda!

It’s on their Endangered Animals Carousel.

This is the rare prancing, fanged panda.

panda©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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Then I meet the Tiger who was seems to be designed to make sure your child never ever wants to go back on a carousel.

tiger1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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And just in case that didn’t scare them..

leopard1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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Which explains why this one looks so nervous.

horse1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013.

But doesn’t explain the supercilious grin on this one.

zebra1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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Which is followed by my favorite, the not so rare naughty cat with a fish.

Cat1©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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And all this means is that I spent all day in a zoo and mostly took photos of fake animals.

Yeah, that’s how I roll.

I finally remembered how to paint again, thank goodness, I was getting worried.

This is an acrylic, of a pond near my house with ice on it as the sun was thinking of going down.

As you can see, I also remembered how to write run on sentences.

sunsetice©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013.jpg.

This is an acrylic that was done in a paint a long session on Wetcanvas (with thanks to Beth for putting her photo in Wetcanvas’s Reference Image Library).

palong5©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013.jpg.

And this one is also from a paint a long on Wetcanvas, which I hosted as a lesson in painting on a black background. My thanks to SBJ for the original reference photo.

Note: There’s no time limits on a paint a long, so if you want to join in, go for it!

pal7©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

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My apologies for not being around too much, other then sheer procrastination, I have no excuse.

None at all!

Take care!

I’ll be back.

(Please read that last part in a Schwarzenegger type of voice.)

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

A toad beat up my dog…

So Sampson the Wonder Dog got himself into a little altercation.

He went under the deck and decided to catch himself a toad. Then he took it for a walk.

And the toad was not happy.

And then Sammy was foaming and rolling around being sick from both ends at the same time..and well that’s more then enough about that.

So he ended up in the shower with me washing his mouth out over and over and over and over…

And then he had to take a bath.

That was one sick little dog. And mad to boot, he hates baths.

The toad was fine. I did have to read him the “Wind in the Willows” to apologize though.

When Sammy was feeling better, I asked him what possessed him to carry around a toad. He looked me dead in the eyes and said “I am a Carnivore.” as if that explained anything.

But it reminded me of the many carnivorous animals I was lucky enough to see at the zoo.

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Zebra, what are you laughing at?

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Carnivorous animals are meat eaters not carnival animals..

Pardon?

No, I can’t see you behind that tree..very clever.

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Yes Hyena, I know you can see him but don’t tell him that.

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And don’t bother telling the tiger either.

He’s a bit miffed.

He was just in his own private pool and when he wasn’t looking someone stole his towel.

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And the Leopard is ignoring everyone. He was quite hurt that the “Wind in the Willows’ didn’t have any leopards in it.

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I don’t know how you snuck in here, little Speke’s Gazelle, but you are too darn cute to be a carnivorious post.

Go on with you now.

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Oh, look what you’ve started. The Nyala is in here now, batting her lashes at everyone.

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And no, the baby bongo has come in too!

He definitely has to go back until those horns grow in..

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I need someone with some common sense to speak to the herbivores..

Hmm, the gorilla is deep in thought..

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Yes, sir..You want me to put a scary carnivore in here..

What kind of scary carnivore?

A Stork?

Oh I see, you mean a Marabou stork..

They eat carrion, frogs, fishes, other birds, small animals, garage and well pretty much anything that they can fit in their mouth.

That’s one strange bird.

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Well that’s done the trick.

Everyone ran back to where they’re supposed to be.

Alright then, have a good one folks!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Welcome to the jungle…

I’ve been brain-dead for a few weeks, not feeling terribly creative, forgot how to paint, the whole moody artist bit.

Blah whine blah.

So I went to the zoo.

(and no I didn’t have any children with me)

We have a pretty decent little zoo here. It’s not big, but the animals are sociable.

The Jaguar who is a big big gal was in a mood. She was huffing and puffing and making some strange noises. I never realized until today that a mad Jaguar sounds like a cow in heat. I swear she was mooing. Right after I took this photo, she shredded that piece of wood she was laying on like it was paper.

copyright belongs to Virginia Spencer

The leopards are so pretty.

Excuse the bars. For some reason they won’t let me in the cages.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011

The bobcats were frisky, I could have watched them playing all day. They are very small compared to the other cats. They’re not much bigger then Kitten, granted Kitten is a fat ass but still.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011

And the lion of course was being lazy. I read in the National Geographic that lions are one of the few animals who can sleep as much as they like. Makes sense, who would be silly enough to wake them up.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011

And just so Kitten doesn’t get jealous of me showing all these cat photos…

Kitten in pencil.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com,2011