PANDEMIC ADVICE FROM A BEAVER

heidi08 Beaver Art March 14, 2020

I’m sure we were all comforted by the product placement infomercial from the white house yesterday, but just in case you are still feeling rattled, this should help.This brilliant animal essay is from artist Ricardo Levin Morales. You can access his work here. The entire series is wonderfully helpful and reassuring.

I have given up hope on the John Hopkins site as they stopped reporting California yesterday and cured 7 people who were previously regarded as dead. This wonderful new site more than makes up for the loss. It’s called Worldometer, and their virus information’ even down to the state level, is outstanding.

In the meantime I have been cancelling beaver comittmments at a great rate, slashing them with a vorpal sword if you will, telling Earth day we can’t be there and backing out of my April presentation at the American Canyon Library. I hate cancelling things and am very loathe to back out but now I’ve got a kind of rhythm going. The hardest part is knowing that we don’t know whether the beaver festival can happen or not yet, and realizing I still have a lot of things to do assuming it will, even though part of my brain is telling me not to bother.

I will take the beavers advice and limit our exposure for now. And use the hibernation time to think about the future.

CHOSEN

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Rehabilitation March 11, 2020

Things are looking bleaker by the hour, and we decided yesterday that we can’t be at JMA earthday event this year – if it even happens, which since the county health department is advising folks to cancel events with more than 50 attendees I’m guessing it won’t. I think we need our souls to be soothed, an I think Anna Speshilova is just the artist to do it.

Charming Watercolor Illustrations of Women and Their Animal Companions

Russian artist Anna Speshilova creates charming watercolor illustrations that visualize adventures through fantasy forests and friendships with the animals that inhabit them. From woodland tea parties with wolves to flying through the night sky with owls, each whimsical artwork looks like it’s straight out of a storybook.

Rendered in her distinct, delicate style, each of Speshilova’s illustrations feature washes of watercolor and fine line work. Her ever-growing portfolio not only showcases her skills with a paintbrush, but her fantastic imagination. Speshilova’s illustrated characters include humans who live in harmony with forest animals, reminiscent of Disney’s Snow White. In one image, a girl rides through the woodlands on a moose, while deer, hares, and foxes gallop alongside her. In another, a different female character reads a book while a group of polar bears, rabbits, and various other creatures snuggle up beside her.

Wow, these are truly beautiful. I am reminded of all our friends caring for injured birds, opossums or harbor seals. It begins so simply, I’ll just give this an hour or a weekend, save one fledgling, feed one baby raccoon, and suddenly without realizing how it happened it becomes an entire way of life. Looking back you tell yourself you’ve chosen it all but you in reality, it’s chosen you.