I really would like to be a grandmother....soon! In the meantime, I have a tendancy to call my daughter's pets, my grandbabies...or...I suppose more appropriately, my grandfurbabies/grandfeatherbabies. I think I'll draw the line there - can't really imagine having a grandlizardbaby...although I suspect I would rise to the occasion... grandscalebabies...of course.
Lucy, is a Pionus Parrot and recently she and my daughter's girlfriend moved into live with my daughter and her beloved Siamese apricot point cat, Paris. Both Paris and Lucy are 'rescued pets', which makes them even more special to me. Hayley reports the 'girls' seem to be adjusting well to one and other. She thinks having arranged several mini-meetings before they began to live under the same roof, this may be a key to their compatibility now.
I haven't yet seen the two of them together, but seeing this photo of them taken recently, I let my imagination play the other evening. Have you ever seen a cat fly?
Original Photograph
Flight Lesson #1 - Paris and Lucy
Digital Illustration
I guess it's no secret, I have never lacked for an imagination! A few weeks ago, Hollie asked her Creative Team to dress up the Deviant Scrap mascot, Betsy the Cow to include in the Deviant Muse eZine as part of Deviant's first birthday celebration.
I decided I wanted to try to create something by hand, and well, one thing lead to another, and before I knew it, Betsy the Cow had begun to fade into the background, and in my head, I was reciting a very old song from my childhood. It goes like this.... (you'll remember?)
There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,
Imagine that! to swallow a cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a dog,
What a hog! to swallow a dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a goat,
Just opened her throat! to swallow a goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse,
She's dead of course.
Oh what wonderful memories this song conjures up! I can hear my Mom's voice and its varied inflexions, especially the 'wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her'!
Here is the beginning of the 'cloth' version - I must have really gone into 'right-brain' mode because, in retrospect, the bird beak impaling her eye well, it hurts to look at it! Sorry.
I am laughing as I create this blog post, wondering what Hollie must have thought when I fired this one off in an email to her.... see what I mean about ....the cow fading into the background?
Oh she was so very gracious in her reply as she gently reminded me that the project at hand was to be a 'dressed up Betsy'. I am embarrassed to tell you I replied back to her and suggested we....
.... (blush)...
Think Outside The Cow! I am so sorry Hollie. Can I blame it on my muse?
Eventually, I dragged myself back to the computer and dressed Betsy up....
Done. Sent. Then, back to my muses delight where I started to sing the song. But, after singing the first verse, if I wasn't challenged with yet another conundrum! Long story short. Spider? No Way. So, I substituted it for a snake. Are you counting the creative licenses? Note the Y upper left corner - as in Y would she swallow a fly? I know, it's deep, very deep. This is hard work man.
Act 3 - Cat and fly enter
Creative License #? - Zebra worked much better than the horse on hand...
All Together Now
There Was An Old Lady - revised....with a bit of "I've Never Seen a Purple Cow, and I Never Hope to See One"...
Digital Illustration now in cloth...and seated next to my sewing machine...TBC
Thanks for reading! Now - tell me, where has your imagination taken you lately?
Very Important Image Credits:
Holliewood Studios
Sherrie JD
Tumble Fish Studio
all at DeviantScrap.com
Lorie Davison
plus Two Dresses Studio
