Hot!

For no apparent reason, I’ve redrawn this one image several times. However, this time my reason is the Illustration Friday’s Topic “Hot.” So, here you go… again.

Just in case your curious:

The third time.

The second time.

The first time.

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Hot Chicks!

So, I think I can safely say that today, I was one hot chick!

Anything over 75 degrees is too hot for me. So let’s just say today’s weather topping off at 109 really ruffled my feathers!

I don’t want to count my chickens before they’re hatched, but IS IT FALL YET?!!

Fish Noir

RED HERRING

This week’s Illustration Friday theme is “red” and the first thing that popped into my addled brain was “red herring”. So I thought, hey,  I’ll redraw and repost this from a couple of years ago. What the heck, I’m on a roll.

Most mystery novel and film buffs know that a red herring is a plot device used in film noir, murder mysteries and suspense films, to distract the audience away from the more important aspect of the plot. The red herring can sometimes be a character, believed by the audience to be the killer, only to discover later in the film that they are innocent and another character, never even considered is, in fact, the murderer.

Now that you have your twist ending, do you know where the term red herring originated?

Wikipedia tells us:

A tradition whereby young hunting dogs in Britain were trained to follow a scent with the use of a “red” (salted and smoked) herring. This pungent fish would be dragged across a trail until the puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odor of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (which has a much stronger odor) across the animal’s trail at right angles. The dog would eventually learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent.

I’ve also heard that British fugitives in the 1800s would rub a herring across their trail, in order to divert the bloodhounds pursuing them.

All this talk is whetting my appetite for a bit of kipperes and toast (NOT!) and a Hitchcock film or two (YES!).

 

SkADaMo 2013 Day 4

“DOG AND PONY SHOW”

When all other ideas fail me I can always depend on my trusty animal idioms!

It’s really been fun and the SkADaMo list continues to grow. There are some really kick-butt sketches going on! Check out the list of participants (at least the ones who sent me their links) here.

… like a fish needs a bicycle

.

This idiom only works for those who have never met Finola Dorsal. She, unlike many of her species, may not need, but prefers a bicycle to other means of transportation.

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So, upon hearing of this week’s Illustration Friday theme, “bicycle”, who could help but think of a fish riding a bike. Who I ask you?

advent calendar – day 10

Some presents really HIT THE BULL’S EYE!

idle

The Illustration Friday theme for this week is “idle”, and I have to say, these dog days of summer, when temperatures rise to triple digits, tend to leave one in somewhat of an idle stupor. However, I managed to shake loose from my torpor for a moment in order to reintroduce these little chickadees. 

Of course, last time I posted these hot chicks, I got some… shall we say… interesting hits on my blog.

Go figure.

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So, I finally swallowed hard and registered for the SCBWI conference next week in L.A. It’ll be my first time attending and I have to admit, I’m a wee bit nervous. But it should be informative, inspiring and fun, especially if some of my blogging buddies happen to be there. So, are any of you wonderful, talented people headed that way on August 7th? Let me know. It would be fun to meet up!

Hitting the Bull’s Eye

or

“It’s all breezy, fun and games until someone loses an eye!”
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This week’s Illustration Friday word is “breezy” and my submission is a bit of a stretch, but hey, it works… no?

So anyway, a bull’s-eye is the center of a target in both archery and darts. The shot taken to achieve this feat is called hitting the bull’s-eye.

Although originally a sports term, bull’s-eye can be used for pretty much any design or pattern utilizing concentric circles. Bull’s-eye can also be used to describe a lens of short focal length, a circular window, a piece of glass inserted into a ship’s deck, or those round, striped mints you stuff into your pockets when the waitress isn’t looking, as you leave the restaurant. That’s right, I know you do.

Being quite the versatile idiom, “hitting the bull’s-eye” along with “hit the mark” and “hit the nail on the head” is used when someone or something is absolutely correct. For example: “Honey, your remark about my butt looking fat in these jeans really hit the bull’s-eye. Now here’s your pillow. Enjoy sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Anywho… bull’s-eye… versatile… oh yes, the origin… no luck there. Although it may have been used since the 17th century, the etymology seems to be a mystery. At least none of my sophisticated sources (Google) has revealed anything.

I do have one question however. Why a bull’s eye? Why not a fish, bird or, I don’t know, a moose eye? Perhaps a dinosaur’s eye? Something to think about on some breezy, Spring evening, while sipping a nice fizzy, champagne cocktail and you’ve nothing more important to ponder.

time

IN A RACE AGAINST TIME

Murgatroid soon realized his race against Time was futile. What he did not realize, however, was that Time had, just that morning, tested positive for steroids.

21 day creative exercise-day 21

I don’t want to get all up on my High Horse or anything, but I’m done. Stick a fork in me I’m done!

Actually, it was a really great experience and I sort of hate to see it end. So, I may do it again some time in the future. But for now, I am free to do as I please, which actually, probably won’t be all that much different from this exercise, hee hee!

You just never know, do ya?

Thanks everyone for all your great comments, feedback and cheering me on. I really appreciate it more than you can know. You’re all a stupendous bunch, you wonderful bloggers and blog readers you!