Challenge no. 9

Nov. 13 - 23

Mr. E. Lear, with Foss the cat, as drawn by E.L., himself.

Illustrate a poem by Edward Lear.

"Edward Lear...was a British artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularized...He travelled widely over much of his life before settling in Sanremo. He never managed to marry, though he did propose it, but he had good friends and doted on his cat."
[link]

To give you an idea of the High Cultural Tone to be considered, here are a few nonsense verse illustrations he created for his books:

A particullarily fine example:

You'll find all poems Lear, here.

And Wikimedia Commons with his illustrations, here.

 
Have at it! 
All submissions due Friday, Nov. 23 at midnight.

Bonus Challenge: Post a sketch of Lear or Foss the cat in the spirit of the Macey's Day Parade. Can (should?) include costumes. 

Every Teardrop, Strawberry Swing and Mylo Xyloto

Coldplay has some really cool videos out there. I'm sure some of you have seen these, but if you haven't check them out.  Mylo Xyloto reminds me of Ryan Woodward's baseball animated comic book. Really really awesome.

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Strawberry Swing

Mylo Xyloto: Hurts like Heaven

Little Sami Deer

I happened to look up the Sami people of Norway this week---the native, nomadic, reindeer herders of Scandinavia--- and wanted to somehow use that for this week's challenge. So. Here's our little Sami girl out on a stormy day, playing on the mountainside with a miniature, invisible reindeer friend. I'm sure there are other exciting animals in this part of the world, but who wouldn't want a little magical reindeer all for themselves? It's probably bright blue too, and can fly, and can make cake appear, and is nice and soft, and always smells like peaches.

A Real Big Chicken.

My imaginary friend is a real big chicken.  But, he's not afraid of anything! So together we do crazy fun stuff.

"Good Night Mom"

My imaginary friend as a kid changed all the time of course, but usually stayed in the ball park of being some kind of jungle cat with wings. And we'd fly around impressing people. 

So five years in DC and Detroit and two kids later my imaginary friend has changed into a large, warm, nanny that holds me like I hold my kids. The idea came to me while reading "Good Night Moon" to the kids. Wouldn't that be heaven to have someone put you to bed and then sit with you while you go to sleep...just knitting something warm for you to wear and stoking the fire? Moms just need a mom sometimes I say! And maybe they could stop things (lovely children) from trying to wake you up too? A girl can dream. AHh. Heaven I say.

My Imaginary Pet Dragon