This week's topic made me think of the way nature uses camouflage, but it also brought to mind: hiding in the open. So I've returned to one of my favorite styles where two images overlap.
Running free is a state of mind.

This topic struck a nerve. I'll never understand why artists (of all shapes, sizes and assorted colors), whose job it is to be more observant and sensitive to the world in general, are expected at the same time to develop a thicker skin than most other professions. How many times will a doctor be told, "Yes you do lovely work, but your style just isn't right for us."
So my little rooster, Bandi Boodle Boo, who traveled the world to find his crow, is now travelling the mail encountering rejection and hopefully (someday soon!) will find acceptance seemed the apt subject to illustrate this topic. I took a more emotional approach to creating this.

Why swim suit of course! We took a weekend get-a-way to Port Aransas, Tx. We left Friday, so I didn't know what the theme was--I just did the pencil sketch for my own amusement after we'd spent the day playing in the surf on Sat. I scanned it and colored it in Photoshop. (A little artistic license with the color of the water--it was pretty murky and filled with loose seaweed that would wrap around our legs--ick! The kids still loved it.)
While this is not my personal vision of paradise, I'm sure the kids might have a different perspective. Last night I took them to Ready, Set, Play which is a nicely appointed warehouse sized storefront filled with inflatable bouncers--the fancy ones with mazes and slides. My daughter and I had been before but this was my son's first trip. His jaw dropped and he clapped his hands to the side of his face as we walked through the door and he saw a Kid's Playland Paradise.