The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of my all time favorites. Story is good, but for me, the illustrations make it!
We have a wild and wonderful gardener in our family, Am, who got several of us started on milkweed plants. As a kid, we had them in the midwest, but they were very different than the ones which are the dietary staple of the monarch butterfly. She hands out plants to whoever wants them!
This seems to be my butterfly nursery. This is only one of many fat caterpillars – hopefully they are forming cocoons and not getting snatched up by the local wildlife. Sad if they are, but hopefully not, but such is the cycle of life.
WWM #14: Furry Things – A “Wooley Bear” Caterpillar
Furry things – what could that be? A weird bit of fabric, fuzzy socks, your husband’s bewhiskered face. For me, caterpillars! When I was a kid in the middle of nowhere, furry caterpillars were our playmates. They were so beautiful and soft, and you couldn’t tell which end was the front until it moved. We used to race them.
WWM #14: Furry Things – From a Video by Maria Raczynska
Besides caterpillars, cats are wonderfully soft and fuzzy. I really like cats, but with a household more inclined to dogs at present, I admire them from afar. Cats are such characters – nutty, languid, predatory. A cat’s personality is unique and their expressions priceless.
When I was thinking of the prompt for today’s prompt for #WorldWatercolorMonth2019, I realized I could use a bit of thought about how to paint fur. For the caterpillar, it was clear in my mind – I just referred to some photos to see how they might look. On YouTube, of course I looked up “fur watercolor” – so many came up. The one I thought was best was the one below, by Maria Raczynska. One reason it is a good video is that the final painting is well executed, and she also shows you the reference photo at the beginning. Watching this video – which is rather longish – was worthwhile. I actually learned a lot from it while still doing my own thing. Resources like videos make learning anything so much better.
For “Furry Things” I have two items this time. Both worked out really well and I felt really confident while I painted. Some days it just comes together – and today was one of them.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 