Wildlife Calendar Etegami Challenge: 12 months of animals

Every now and then I challenge myself to paint things I might not try otherwise.  A beautiful World Wildlife Fund calendar gave me the perfect challenge: paint etegami of 12 different animals. A few were easy, a few were very challenging

January: The Arctic Fox

How to paint a white creature. I had previously tried using the brownish yellowish color that is true to the arctic fox, but it looked really...well..yucky!  Just a few strokes of grey did the job. I didn't capture the sweetness of the fox's face.. I will continue to search for a way to paint white creatures on white snow!!

I dedicate this to all of my "quiet" friends

Original from the WWF calendar

February: Penguins

Interesting to find a good quote for this one. But I was painting this during the Women's March and thought..marching is not enough. Learning and listening and figuring out what's going on is just as important.

The WWF photo

March: The Blue-footed Booby Birds

These birds are so comical and wonderful.

 I love the way they lift up their blue feet proudly marching on.

A friend whose house was flooded badly in Hurricane Harvey asked for this one.

She said one step at a time was the only way they could get through recovery.

April: The Red-Eyed frog

There is a project for children in Syria to bring them hope.  

There was a request to send artwork to the children in the shelters and daycares

 to cheer them up and let them know someone cares.

They asked us not to use words since the kids couldn't understand our language anyway.

This is one of three I made for the kids using symbolic stamps instead of words.

May: The Tiger

This is one of my favorites. The eyes really get to me, like they are staring right at me.

The words are from Katy Perry.

 I fell in love with that song and this tiger helps me understand it.

I sent it to a young woman who said it was perfect for her at that moment in time.

What joy to hear those words!

June: Elephants

Another one painted for the Syrian children.

Love is understood in any language.

I am sure the Syrian children cling to their parents in the midst of unspeakable violence.

But love remains unconquered

July: Sea Turtle

I learned this technique from my mentor and master etegami artist Debbie Davidson.

You paint the ocean color right over the entire turtle and then add a few colors.

Thus, the turtle becomes one with the ocean.

August: Jaguar

I have always loved cats. Even strangers have said that I have cat eyes.
True or not, looking into the eyes of these magnificent creatures is a joy indeed.
I didn't mean for this one to be looking right at the viewer, but he is.
So the words seem to fit.
The patterned spots were fun to paint!

September: Manatee

I seldom make up my own words, but this is my own prose.

In response to the fact that manatees are getting hurt all of the time

by encounters with boats and human pollution.

So many endangered animals.

It makes me sad

November: Rhino

I just thought this baby rhino looked so relaxed and happy.

This was painted with a sharpened chopstick which
every now and then lets loose a "blob".
I ended up giving this to my son when he finally got his B.A. at age 34.
I was so very proud of him that he never gave up.

December: Polar Bear

I am not particularly proud of this one.

It was my third attempt and none of them pleased me. 

But I present it anyway to show that sometimes, there are pictures that turn out..well..

you fill in the blank!