day thirty-nine - sparrow

today: a self portrait

© jem barratt

that's me alright. i love how many photos there are of sparrows clawing other birds, be it their face or their wings. feisty!

g'night.
xj

day thirty-eight - cheetah

who else is sad that the rift valley doco is over? me too. boo hoo etc. especially since the last episode had some pretty great cheetah action in it.

speaking of cheetah action...

© jem barratt

as much as i don't like photos of myself, i do like any excuse to paint myself as an animal. so they balance each other out. it's also arguable whether this is art but it DID involve paint, so...

so far i have been a raccoon, a panda, a tiger and now a cheetah. maybe i could paint myself as every mammal in the world? that would be cool. not as cool as cheetah cubs though. they are some kind of wonderful mix of badassery and super cuteness with an air of superiority.

xj

day thirty-seven - another tree frog

amphibians are in trouble! seriously, i know everything is, but still... go here to help.

© jem barratt

how dare i be so demanding when i can't even tell you what type of tree frog this is. fair enough. but really all frogs need help so their name is kind of irrelevant anyway.

well THIS is not a fun post. sorry about that! nature's not always funny you know (only mostly).

xj

day thirty-six - black bear

i love poscas! it's true. except when they spontaneously explode all over a perfectly finished painting.

more than that, i love the facial expressions of bears...

© jem barratt

i can never quite capture the 'off' look these animals have. here's the original. my goal art-wise, is not to improve my skill, but to be able to capture the stupid faces animals have. they really do (especially elephants).

sometimes it's cute. sometimes alarming. either way, 'tardish animal faces are one of the main reasons i love animals so much, and i need to spread the word.

xj

day thirty-five - giraffe

giraffes have a fancy scientific name: giraffa camelopardalis. the second name alludes to their camel-like face and their leopard-like spots (the first name, of course, refers to their overall giraffey-ness)

© jem barratt

they are the tallest mammals, each giraffe has unique spots, and their tongues are crazy long. lions are their only predator, and seeing as lions sleep 20-odd hours a day, while giraffes have one of the smallest sleep requirements of any animal (two hours a day on average) who do you think has the advantage?

lions. obviously. they're LIONS.

BUT giraffes can bring down planes.

BUT BUT they have to fall a good 1.5m from mum to earth during birth.

BUT BUT BUT they look so funny when they're learning how to stand.
ah, their goodnocity beats their negatricities...
xj