Subtract...and you have an addition. Or 3.

Rough pencil sketch this week. Been busy. Also been watching the eaglets hatch on Eaglecam (way over in WV). The third one finally hatched this morning. It's 2 days behind its siblings, so I hope it will be ok. And also I saw Mom eagle step on one of them. Kind of scary. Dad eagle must be thrilled, because he's brought enough fish to feed an army of hatchlings. Eaglecam is my zen break from pre-spring break students. And if we have time they get to look, too (otherwise they're too distracted to actually work).

Legendary

Legendary poetry

Legendary bird

For this week's Illustration Friday theme, I was going to draw legendary comic heroes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, but I'm better at drawing animals and decided to go with the raven. I was just rereading a biography of my favorite illustrator, Arthur Rackham, which I'm sure influenced my choice.

Still fighting this cold. Doesn't help to have students coming to school sick...and that it is still snowing in the middle of March in the mild Pacific Northwest. When I see the doctor tomorrow, I'm sure she'll say I'll just have to let it run its course. Of course.

Intricate

Who says extra-terrestrial spacecrafts have to be boring and practical? Perhaps this alien race is gifted in intricate spacecraft adornment. I really like how this one turned out. :)
Don't forget to check out everyone else's interpretation of this week's theme: intricate. I note that I am not the only Gillian there. I was 21 before I ever met another Gillian, so it always catches me off guard to see my name not associated with me. Fun, though.

For some reason, this post isn't loading right on the link from IF--at least not on my browser. Technology. Whatevs.

Also, please catch up with Splinky the Space Cat. Michael Smetham is quite gifted in building his ongoing storyline around the Illustration Friday word each week. I am in awe.

Shhh.

Closer...closer still....

Perimeter Alert!

Hmm. Truffle has led Pearil to the lair...what will they find? If you click to enarge, you may see where the security system is.
I meant to finish this this afternoon and get it posted earlier, but the eye doctor dilated my eyes. Best laid plans....

Breezy

Breezy just sounds like it should be fun. What could be more fun than surfing the breeze?

Mary Had a Little Lamb!!

Here's the dress. 99.75% done-enough-for-school. I forget how slow I am at hand-sewing. Must include a slam on Jo-Ann Fabrics: For as big a store as they are, their fabric selection is very poor. In order to get something a little truer to the period, I would have had to make more of an effort and drive to another city. Nevertheless, it was a fun project for a one-day event.

The post title refers to one of the guesses for my character. I only have a handful of students who know who Jane Austen is. Now when they have to read Pride and Prejudice in a few years, they'll remember that crazy get-up Miss F. wore. Here are some other guesses: Princess. Mary Poppins. Batman's girlfriend. Charlotte Doyle (yay! Someone remembered a book we read last year!).

Our Assistant Principal came as one of the Three Musketeers. I don't know which, I can only remember d'Artagnan, who isn't one of the three. Fabulous. And one of the Science teachers came as Ms. Frizzle. Very few of my students came as book characters. My favorite was Nancy Drew, complete with magnifying glass.

Red Radish by Wednesday. I promise! Can Truffle really sniff out the villains?

Odds and Ends

Red Radish will be back...soon. I've been trying to actually keep up with grading stuff.

Also tomorrow is Read Across America Day. At my school we are having an event: dress up as a book character or wear your pajamas. The temptation to wear my pjs is strong...mmmm comfy.... We are a uniform school, so I expect most of the student body will show up in pajamas or just civvies and declare to be a book character that's present-day. I will be wearing a Jane Austen-era dress. I still have to hem it and finish sewing on the edging at the neck and the waist embellishments. My principal assumes I will be showing up dressed as a superhero of some sort. She doesn't pause to think that superhero women all wear skin-tight and/or skimpy outfits. I, personally, do not want to show up in a skin-tight outfit and then have to teach middle school boys all day. No. Thanks.

Speaking of Batman, next week starts the big no-Batman Batman event. Gotham Gazette, followed by the Battle for the Cowl arc and one-shots and finally bringing us back to the return of Batman and Detective, though probably still without Batman. I think I'm going to be stuck with Kate Kane's Batwoman for a while. Not entirely thrilled about that. I already pine for Bruce. Bruce, who is...

Panel of cave-Bruce from Final Crisis#7. Thanks DC. Thanks a lot.

...at present crouched in a cave drawing the bat insignia on the wall next to (presumably) someone else's drawings of antelopes...

...altering history as we know it. Just kidding. I'm sure none of the lives he will have to live banished by the Omega Sanction will actually have an impact on the modern DC Nation, but it would certainly make an amusing story if it did.

Back to hemming.