Giraffes? Girafffes!

October 10, 2011 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 12 Comments

I’ve always liked giraffes. I had been taught that giraffes are one of two living species (the other being the okapi) of the family Giraffidae which had evolved from palaeomerycids during the early part of the Miocene epoch. I was taught that they are even-toed ungulate mammals and were herbivores to boot. I was taught that they definitely did not dance.

Silly me.

Fortunately I found this book Giraffes? Giraffes! The book review in that link says it all…

“Giraffes? Giraffes! is the first in the series, and puts forth the following novel theories: that giraffes were not part of any evolutionary chain, but came here from Neptune, by way of very long (but convenient and fast) escalators; that giraffes are expert dancers, but they become angry if you ask them about their dancing; that giraffes control over 90 percent of what we see in mirrors; that the Giraffe navy is as strong as ever, contrary to recent claims in the popular press.”

I KNEW IT!

Well I didn’t really know know it but I had suspected as much.

Imagine my delight when we went to the zoo and the baby giraffe was out. She and her mother were kept out of the public eye until a few weeks ago. She is 14 months old, is 6 foot tall, weighs 105 lbs and is already proficient in tap and jazz. She will eventually reach 16 feet and weigh approximately 2500 lbs. She looks tiny compared to the other giraffes.

She’s such a doll. She pretty stayed in the same spot for about 20 minutes, then she went over to the fence and tried to nibble on it. The poor thing learned the hard way that the fence is electrified. She wasn’t hurt but she was very confused. She went right back to her spot and stood there looking at the fence to see what else it would do.

You can see how tiny she looks in this photo.

Here’s Mom. She’s lovely isn’t she.

And here’s Baby!

There was also a young mountain goat out and about. Unlike giraffes, mountain goats do not dance.

They do have lovely singing voices though.

This is a mini ( ATC /ACEO) in acrylic.

It measures 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2011

Welcome to the jungle…

October 9, 2011October 9, 2011 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 21 Comments

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.

The leopards are so pretty.

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

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.

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.

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

A Farewell

August 29, 2011April 8, 2014 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 30 Comments

My little ball of fluff with the big blue eyes passed away Saturday at the age of 23. She died in my son’s arms with Sampson by her side.

Minou was six pounds of dignity, disdain, fury and frivolity. She was so small and yet she meant so much.

Thank you Minou.

Thank you for the years of love and loyalty.

Thank you for waking me up every day. I now have to learn how to use an alarm clock.

Thank you for teaching every dog you met how to respect a cat. When we brought home a 150 pound mammoth of a dog from the SPCA, in less than a minute you taught him to never chase cats again. And he never did. He chased dogs. So that was helpful.

Thank you for your War on Earwigs. It started way back in ’89 and not once was it funded by taxpayer money. You fought well, you fought hard and you never gave up. Generations from now, tales of the Fury with the ice blue eyes will haunt the dreams of earwigs everywhere.

Thank you for eating my brown couch. You were right. It was ugly, it was old and yes, I do keep things for too long.

Thank you for making senility look fun. In the last year, I didn’t scold you for sitting on the dining room table because I knew that in your heart, you sincerely believed that you were sitting on the couch.

Thank you for biting every vet you met. Especially the arrogant young one in Colorado who insisted that it was easy to give a cat a pill. He tried for an hour and he still bears the scars today. He lost his arrogance and gained a much needed respect for small animals. Good girl.

Thank you for sitting with Max that noble dog as he lay dying, you licked his muzzle and you cried. Thank you for taking every puppy and kitten we brought in to your side. You trained them well, scolded them and babied them. And now they cry for you.

Thank you for sitting in my lap, purring and offering comfort when my child was sick, when my husband was at war, when my Dad passed away. I don’t tend to let people know when my heart is breaking. I’m silly, I make smart ass comments, I carry on. But you always knew. You were always there. Throughout the times of joy and the times of deepest sorrow. You were there. A little brown and black ball of fluff with big blue eyes purring and yowling and fussing.

Now the house is quiet and you lie under the purple mums by the forest’s edge.

And I miss you so much.

I will always miss you.

Goodbye my little friend. Meow.

Artist Trading Cards (or ATC’S, ACEO’s or minis, whatever floats your boat)

August 17, 2011August 18, 2011 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 17 Comments

Recently I joined a trade on Wetcanvas. For those who aren’t sure what I’m talking about. An ATC (artist trading card) is about the size of a baseball card and can be in any medium. And you trade them like baseball cards to other artists. It’s fun, you get to meet artists all over the world as well as being great practice. Plus it’s nice to get real mail once in a while as well.

If you’re in this trade with me stop reading this until you get your mail. 😀

The theme of this current trade I’m in was Animals. Here’s a couple I did. These are all the size of a baseball or playing card..they will appear larger on your screen then they actually are. These are all acrylic, except for the skunk which is pen on acrylic.

Hope you enjoy.