Swimming and showing off for my Mum

Illustration Friday's word of the week is SWIM as suggested by Abigail Davidson 

"I went swimming in the pool that was built among the rocks, while Mum and Walt sat on the side." Pen and ink Illustration by Sandra Santa Lucia for Dorts Stafford's Wagging Tales book.

The TALENT of Chess

March 1 to March 7 Illustration Friday's topic is: Talent suggested by Childrens Illustration

"Games - Chess":  Black and white Pictograph Communication Symbols by Sandra Santa Lucia/May/1988

Chess, a game of strategy and talent is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a checkered gameboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments. 

Pictograph

A pictogram, also called a pictogramme or pictograph,[1] is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance.

Pictography is a form of writing which uses representational, pictorial drawings. It is a basis of cuneiformand, to some extent, hieroglyphic writing, which also uses drawings as phonetic letters or determinativerhymes.

Mountain goats - dressed in a WOOLLY white double coat

This week's  Illustation Friday's topic for February 15 - Thursday, February 21st is — "Wool" as suggested by Claudea A. Larrauri

Mountain Goat pen and ink line illustration by Sandra Santa Lucia

Facts about this animal: Both male and female mountain goats have beards, short tails, and long black horns, 15-28 cm in length, which contain yearly growth rings. They are protected from the elements by their WOOLLY white double coats. The fine, dense wool of their undercoats is covered by an outer layer of longer, hollow hairs. In warmer seasons, mountain goats molt by rubbing against rocks and trees, with the adult billies (males) shedding their extra wool first and the pregnant nannies (females) shedding last. In the winter, their coats help them to withstand temperatures as low as -50 Fahrenheit (-46 Celsius) and winds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h). 
A billy stands about 1 meter at the shoulder and weighs about 90 kg. It has longer horns and a longer beard than the nanny. Adult males typically weigh between 45 and 100 kg, while females are usually 10-30% lighter. The mountain goat's feet are well-suited for climbing steep, rocky slopes, sometimes with pitches of 60 degrees or more, with inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can spread apart as needed. Dewclaws on the back of their feet also help to keep them from slipping. 

 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mountain Goat". 
Did you know? that by inhabiting this extreme and remote habitat mountain goats limit competition from other ungulates and predation risk? 
Factsheet: Class: MAMMALIA; Order: ARTIODACTYLA; Suborder: RUMINANTIA; Family: BOVIDAE; Name: (Scientific) Oreamnos americanus; Name (English): Mountain goat; Name (French): Chèvre de Montagne; Name (German): Schneeziege, Bergziege; Name (Spanish): Cabra de la montaña, Cabra de las Rocosas. http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/pick-a-picture/oreamnos-americanus

50's & 60's sweaters

A shortie, skims the upper part of a full skirt illustrated by Sandra Santa Lucia

Women's weaters in the late 50's early 60's were  pretty basic.  If fact cardigans, often part of a sweater set, and v-necks seem to be making a comeback. Another popular sweater was the shortie, often worn over a full skirt showing the waistband. The line drawn fashion illustrations of the sweaters below were drawn with pen and ink and pencil.

These cardigans and v-neck appeared in the Calgary Herald newspaper in the early 60's. Pencil illustration by Sandra Santa Lucia

reverse

This week's Illustration Friday topic is reverse. 

"Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other." 

– Arthur Schopenhauer

  

All of a sudden Doreen let out a scream, "There's a bear on the path!"

pen and ink book illustration by Sandra Santa Lucia

Who wants to be inside…a bear that is!  

The subject chosen for this weeks Illustration Friday , depicts one of the illustrations which I drew for Wagging Tails a  book about a Banff family and their four-legged friends. In this particular illustration depicting three friends who had been enjoying their hike to Johnson Lake when one of them spotted a bear!  They're leisurely hike soon became a very fast reverse speed hike away from the lake!

hands of time

Hands of time are so very beautiful. 

Hands of one who has lived a long life often have skin that is deeply etched with the wrinkles of time. These hands tell us stories of love and hardship. In these hands I see a person who may have toiled long hours creating a life for all those around them more comfortable, always striving to do the very best with what they had. I also see hands that may have held their partner, little children…possibly their own sons, daughters, grandchildren and sometimes great grandchildren. These hands are hands of love that remind me of my Mom and Dad's beautifully etched hands.

 ink illustrations of hands by sandra santa lucia

Old age is not for sissies. – Betty Davis

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. – Virginia Woolf

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.  – Doug Larson

Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.  – Mark Twain

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.  – Mark Twain

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.  – Jean Rostand

An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have:  the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.  – Agatha Christie

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.  – Henry David Thoreau

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  – Henry Ford

Age is like the newest version of a software - it has a bunch of great new features but you lost all the cool features the original version had.  – Carrie Latet

The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines. – Plato