Mouse practices his dives.

Mouse climbs upon the diving board and prepares for his first dive.

Mouse watches the children swimming at the town pool.

Illustration Friday "Idle" Finally feels like summer today!

Finished this small painting today of my daughter and my cousins' dog, Gage. I found out that he had to be put to sleep recently due to old age. I'm sending it off to them in memory of their dog who lived a long and happy life.

Revisited my idea of a story about a mouse that wants to practise his diving at the local swimming pool. Need to work on the story itself to see if it has possibilities!

The hummingbirds are aggressively chasing each other other around the yard today. I saw one bird "muscle in" on a butterfly to get him off a bee balm flower this morning. They do not tolerate any competition! Also had a great blue heron fly low through the yard today, and then land in our neighbor's yard. That's unusual---I've never had one so close to the house, usually they are at the nearby lake or flying way up high over the house. Maybe it was a young one that got confused.

Week one of the 3 week challenge is completed. It's been a good motivator so far! Also got me looking back at projects and concepts that might be worth a second look.

Thought I'd continue on the mouse theme today. I had written a story about a mouse at the town pool, maybe I should revisit it for some inspiration for a finished piece for this week's part of the 3 week challenge.

Not sure where this image came from, just doodling last night for the 3 week challenge and these characters appeared. Maybe a correlation to the woodchuck that's been invading our yard and eating our perennials. Also been having a few sightings of a doe and 2 fawns running around the neighborhood. My husband has been applying a foul smelling concoction around the perimeter of the gardens to try and keep the deer from visiting. We've had the Have-A-Heart trap baited for "Chucky" but this one is smarter than his predecessors.

I imaged my childhood pets dancing the Tango for Illustration Friday!

I've joined the world of blogging

Ann Marie inspired me to get my blog up and running in time for the 3 Week Challenge---check out http://mydogisapancake.blogspot.com/ for the details. I'm excited to get started on some new pieces and motivated to post my first illustrations.