ALABASTER, VENETIA, SLIT, COFFEE, BILBO

 You know ALABASTER the egret. Some people associate alabaster with the soft white stone used for exquisite carvings. Others think of how Mary broke the alabaster container to anoint Jesus with the expensive spikenard perfume it contained. Still others speak of "angellic, pearl-like, alabaster skin". Me? I think of my white egret friend who follows me around the pond and listens to my stories.

The page before that is another flying critter.

I couldn't help but call her VENETIA. Black butterflies have a mystique all their own, but when you add the luminescent blue vents to her wings, well, she's a "knockout." Actually, Venetia represents all the butterflies; recently, a lot of them have been coming by and posing to be sketched--the white, yellow, orange, brown, especially the little gray fella (who's really a metallic lavender).

The critter before this one flies in the water...it's called "swimming", I think.

SLIT is probably one of the oldest of my friends at the park. I still remember when she was a spry thing shooting around in the water, loving to play games. Now she unhurriedly, easily, smoothly pours herself through the pond. "What're you doing here by yourself?" I've asked, and seem to be met with "well, you're not by yourself now, so that's good, isn't it?"

("Slit" doesn't mean She'll cut your throat. It's just that she has a scar--a slit--near her lip, from an accident a long time ago.)

The last 2 pictures posted are actually the first two on the zine. I wasn't sure about posting them because I've already shown you so many pictures of these two, but since I've shown you the other 5 critters of the zine, it didn't seem exactly fair not to show them.

COFFEE the crow is yes, my "artist friend" who has adopted the name "Ble Curie de Sans" (Black Iridescence). No, he did not make this zine; I did. Really.

The critter on the first page?

BILBO my trusty pal in the Irrigation Ditch. I hear Red Ear Sliders are popular pet turtles in the U.S. Bilbo would be elated to have an owner do something about her shell situation. A casual observer may not notice right away, but it stopped growing at a certain point while the rest of her body kept getting bigger, so in some places, it looks like she is wearing a playsuit instead of being completely hidden by armor.

I've sketched so many turtles--I counted 49 pictures the other day--they hold still so are ideal for amateur artists like me.

I hope the other critters understand I might draw them less, but I still consider them ideal friends.