i (heart) odd-toed ungulates

Maggie

Meet beautiful Maggie - doesn't get much more classic yellow Lab than this... *More of my animal portrait work can be viewed here.

Tapir Redux

Got a little kick out of addressing this envelope to the "Hooves and Carnivore Team" at the Twycross Zoo in England (winners of my Paper Tapir Challenge). If I weren't working diligently in a one-woman art dept, I'd definitely want a desk next to those fine folks...

For My Mother

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

   to break my heart

     as the sun rises,

       as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open--
  pools of lace,
    white and pink--
      and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
   into the curls,
     craving the sweet sap,
       taking it away

to their dark, underground cities--
  and all day
    under the shifty wind,
      as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
  and tip their fragrance to the air,

     and rise,
      their red stems holding



all that dampness and recklessness
   gladly and lightly,
     and there it is again--
       beauty the brave, the exemplary,



blazing open.

~ Mary Oliver, excerpt 'Peonies'
 

Paper Tapir Challenge Results!

Thank you to everyone who submitted a tapir-mask photo in celebration of World Tapir Day! Each and every image made. my. day. There can be only one winner of my book givaway, however, and the hands down champion is shown above - I can't even begin to explain how thrilling it was to receive this image in my inbox. From the Twycross Zoo in Warwichshire, UK, this enthusiastic crew of tapir-keepers not only made 3 tapir masks (colored to differentiate between species!), they got their beautiful ungulate charges to pose with them for a photo!! It simply took my breath away - thank you to Sarah and her co-workers for the phenomenal submission, and for all of your dedication and hard work as caretakers and conservationists for such amazing critters.

Below, a few more of my favorite paper tapirs - BIG thank you to little Amaya, who patiently modeled the below series of photos on a rather unpleasant day to be outside... and I don't know about anyone else, but I'm already looking forward to World Tapir Day 2013!