I've got too many skulls at the moment, so I am pondering selling a few.

These are natural skulls, professionally cleaned, bleached in great condition. If you're interested in any of them, drop me an email ASAP (foxfeather @ foxloft.com without the spaces)! They are full skulls including the bottom jaws. At these prices I'm not planning to take individual photos of them but I may eventually take a group pic.

I will NOT be shipping any of these outside of the U.S. - federal permits are required and unless you'd like to order a large quantity of them, I'd rather not fuss with it.

Coyote: $30
Raccoon: $25
Red Fox: $25
Otter: $35
Mink: $20
Bobcat: $35
Badger: $40
Beaver: $25

Shipping: $6 for one skull, $2 extra per additional skull (includes tracking).

Thank you to everyone who recommended music in the last entry, I'm going to be going through the list and sampling everything. :) I'll let you know what I think once I have!

I realized I'm generally listening to the same library of songs over and over, and even on Pandora I'm getting a bit stale.

So I thought I'd ask, what are some of your favorite songs? Bands? Do you have a favorite pandora station?

I like pretty much all music, save for rap. If you suggest something, I'll give it a try!

Where does your inspiration come from?

That is the number one question I am asked about my art, from other artists and the nonartists alike.

My inspiration comes from life! From everything. Everywhere I go, all that I see, everything I do adds to my overwhelming fount.

I think one of the number one things that can help many artists, especially those who would ask this question, is to learn to really see the world. To open your eyes and become an observer. As artists, it is our job to capture emotion, moment, experience - to share these wonderful snapshots, ideals, ideas with the world. How can you thoroughly share and connect with something that is not dear to your heart and clear in your mind?

Society bombards us with information. Flashing lights, media ads, sights and smells of the city. Everything is fast paced, in your face. As a result, most of us learn to shut down. To put the blinders on to cope. How many times have you walked down the street and never seen the people you passed? How many drives have you taken where you 'wake up' at the end and wonder where the last fifty miles went?

When you practice observation, you will be amazed at how the world opens up to you. When you learn to live in the moment - the world is an amazing place. Look at the grass, the trees, the squirrel snatching someone's tossed away hamburger bun.

This has the amazing side effect of perspective - reminding you how easy it is to get entrenched in your routine, your own head. How easy it is to block everything out and let your problems circulate, enlarge. When you're involved with the world, it's much harder to focus on yourself and let yourself slip into destructive or depressive patterns.

So go watch an ant for an hour. Lay in the grass and marvel at how many species are really growing in your lawn. Try to follow a squirrel through a city. Sit in a coffee shop and people watch.

If you can't find anything interesting or inspiring in your life, that is a big sign you need to shake up your routine a little. If you can, travel. It doesn't have to be a huge trip, get out and take a different route around your neighborhood. Find a new bike trail. Windowshop at a store you've never been to. If you absolutely can't, open yourself to your daily routine. Look at what you do, think how you would describe each thing to someone else if you were writing your auto-biography. Notice a new tree, a crack in the sidewalk.

If you haven't done this before, or have fallen out of the habit of it, try it (again!). You'll be amazed how it can change your mood, your perspective, spark ideas.

For me, personally, animals are my biggest inspiration. Working with them, sharing my life with them, I am constantly amazed and re-inspired. Before my home became a host to these awesome creatures, I would spend the day at the zoo, volunteer for the humane society, work at wildlife rehab. Anything, to be around them. My art focuses on the unique spirit of animals and their connection to people, culture, and individuals.

However, I get inspiration from everywhere. Music, travel, culture, behavior - all of these things are especially fascinating to me.

I can remember clearly, one day driving home exhausted after a long overnight shift at work, grumpy and drained. When nearing my house, I shook off the zombie mode and opened my eyes.

Beyond the street lights I saw a beautiful sunrise, the orange light casting a golden glow on the farm field at the farthest reach of my view. It was so simple, so beautiful, the play of colors and light. Someone else could look at this and think, another midwestern stretch of wasted cornland, or just not see it at all - but seeing this, taking a deep breath and smiling, I let everything else wash away and realized just how amazing anywhere can be, if you just look at it from a different viewpoint. We all chose how we react to any given situation. Love it or hate it, doesn't change what is - just how you feel about it.

So I ask again, what inspires you? :)

Kerrygold reserve cheddar (imported from Ireland - aged 2 years) is SO good. http://www.kerrygold.com/usa/product_cheddar.html

I've been eyeing the black label cheese at the store for a long time and since Mbala and I have decided to do more cheese-and-cracker type european breakfasts, I bought it. It's amazingly delicious! I've had some much more expensive fancy cheddars that haven't tasted half as good.

Nomnomnom!

One day Fox was out walking along. He'd been hunting but had no luck. It was a long time since he'd eaten. His stomach was growling so loudly he could hardly hear anything else.

Suddenly he realized someone was coming singing a song. Quicker than the flick of a horse’s tail, Fox leapt off the path and crouched down on his belly in the bushes

Louder and louder grew the song. Then Fox saw something begin to appear over the crest of the hill. It was a feather plume. Fox moved his front paws, getting ready to leap out at the bird he thought the feather was attached to.

But as the feather lifted higher and higher, he realized it was no bird at all. It was the feather attached to the top of a metal helm, which was attached to a fearsome looking warrior.
If he sees me, Fox thought, I can forget about my hunger forever! It was well known that fox furs were prized by humans. Fox shivered and tried to make himself smaller than a mouse, hoping he wouldn't be seen.

Closer and closer the man came. He was wearing fine clothes and Fox could hear the words of man's song very clearly now. It was a boasting song.

“No one is braver than ShiningSword," sang the young man
”And I should know that for I am he. No one wears finer clothing. No one is a better hunter. If you doubt this, look and see."

He was on his way to the apartment of a young woman he had been watching for some time. He was going to try to impress and then she would fall in love with him. A sure thing, he thought! His song and his fine clothing were part of the plan.

But Fox was no longer listening to ShiningSword’s song. He was not seeing those fine clothes. All of Fox's attention was on what he was smelling. Meat! That large pouch hanging from the young man's leather belt was full of fried chicken!

Fox's mouth watered and his tongue hung out. It had been such a long time since he had eaten chicken. His fears left him. The young man passed him by, but Fox's thoughts were far ahead.
Yes, Fox said to himself. I think there is a way. As quickly as he could, he ran along through the woods keeping out of sight of the road. Soon he was ahead of the man. Just around a bend, Fox laid himself down by the edge of the path.

He closed his eyes and opened his mouth so that his tongue hung out in the dirt. Not moving a muscle, he waited. Soon he began to hear ShiningSword's boasting song.

ShiningSword was so intent on his singing, trying to find a few more words to describe just how fine he looked in his Armani suit that he almost walked right past Fox. When he saw Fox out of the corner of his eye, he stopped. "Enh," he said, "what is this?"

A dead fox?" Picking up a long stick he carefully prodded the side of the animal. It did not move. "It is surely dead." He bent down and looked at it closely. It was skinny, but the pelt was in fine condition.

He picked it up by the tail. "Hmm, it has not been dead for long. It only stinks a little bit." When he said that, Fox's mouth opened a little and his lips curled back from his teeth, but ShiningSword did not notice.

Hmm," ShiningSword said, "maybe I should skin it out now." When he said that one of Fox's eyes twitched a little, but ShiningSword did not notice. "Neh," he went on, "I should not skin him out now. If I do I may dirty my fine new suitcoat. I will just take him with me." He unlaced his pouch.

He smiled, "when my beautiful Laurel sees this fox I caught she will know I am a great hunter. Then she will surely marry me. He dropped the fox in with his chicken, laced the pouch shut and began walking again. Soon he was singing again. This time it was a song about how great a hunter ShiningSword was.

Inside the pouch Fox lay still for a few minutes. Then he began to gnaw at the side. When he had made a hole large enough, he began to drop the chicken pieces out, one by one. Finally, when all the chicken was gone, he made the hole larger and jumped out to freedom and his best meal in many days.

Too busy with his singing, ShiningSword did not even notice. He walked all the way to the town where his sweet Laurel lived He stopped in front of her stoop and stood there, singing till many people had gathered around.

He sang of his beautiful armor, of the many fried chickens he caught (he actually bought them on Ebay), of all monsters he defeated. Laurel came out of the building and watched as he reached back for his pouch. Now he would show them just how good he was!

When he held up pouch and saw that it was empty with a hole in the bottom he stopped singing. Turning around, he ran back off the way he came, humiliated. He learned that day that boasting songs do not make a person great.

It is one thing to find a fox and another skin it.

Been awhile since I posted one of these (nature you might-not-know-abouts), so here - have an amazing striped rabbit!


Found in Laos with only a few sightings ever (but an actual specimen as well!)

Check out some more info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/422674.stm

(And because I can't resist... Sparklerabbit!)

So I haven't posted any art here since... January? Oy. Well, for those of you who don't watch my online galleries, here's a bit of an update! I'll try to be better about spacing these things out as I go in the future. :)



A little something different - a more stylized/abstracted pendant I made for Mbala's mother for christmas.

( Lots more under cut! )

Ok, after just getting above freezing at night, it hit 90 degrees today and now it is sunny, thunderstorming, and dropping GOLF BALL sized hail bits all over our house. I'm not kidding, it's pelting our house so hard I'm afraid one of the windows will break.

Crazy, crazy weather!!

When exactly did the egg-basket-candy-tradition die off?

Mbala and I usually never eat candy but we decided to go out this morning looking for a single Cadbury egg.
We couldn't find one! Not at Wal-mart nor gas stations nor qwik-trip... they just apparently do not exist in this city.
I remember a time when you would seriously see displays of them *everywhere*. No creme egg for me. :<

And not just Cadbury eggs - but there was NO easter candy! Well, a few sad white rabbits at Wal-mart but the gas stations didn't even have any at all.

Is it the economic crisis or do people just not do that stuff anymore?

We bought strawberries and angel food cake instead - which is much better and healthier, but seriously... what's going on?

Since I'm making this again today, I thought I'd share! Eventually I'll put it in a nicer format and get it up on my cooking page/website but for now, here you go:

Ingredients:

1 whole roaster chicken
2 cans Ro-tel (find this near the tomatoes/sauce in almost any grocery store - if you cant find it you can use a can of diced tomatoes and a can of green chilis)
1 packet taco seasoning
Cumin - Salt - to taste

Take chicken, cut off some of the excess fat. Rinse and pat dry. Place in slow cooker.
Cover chicken with two cans of Ro-tel. Brush tomatoes off chicken so they fall to bottom of cooker.
Sprinkle whole chicken with taco seasoning. Cut breasts/thighs and rub seasoning in. Sprinkle with extra cumin and a little salt if desired.

Cook all day on low (till chicken starts falling off the bone, totally cooked - about 6-8 hours depending on cooker). Skim fat from top layer of juices periodically, discard.

When chicken is cooked, remove and put on cutting board, let cool.
Throw away the skin and bones, put good chicken back into sauce mix in cooker, stir.

Continue cooking for 1/2 hour or so - then leave on 'keep warm' until you're ready to use it.

This mexican chicken is seriously delicious - better than you'll get at most restaurants! It makes a large amount for under $4 (chicken + spices/cans) and can easily feed 4-8 people depending on what you do with it.

Make enchiladas, tacos, etc. :)



My favorite thing to do with it:

'Mexican Pizzas'

8 flour tortillas (try whole wheat or multi-grain, these are great!) - fry each of these individually in vegetable oil until crisp/golden brown. Place on paper towels to drain.

Place tortillas on baking sheets (with lip to catch juices) - cover with refried beans, chicken, cheese, fresh diced tomatoes and any favorite veggies (olives, etc.) This sounds dumb but Land-o-lakes White American cheese is delicious on these. I found out by asking that's what most of the restaurants here use! (And I thought it was some fancy mexican cheese, ffft.)

Bake in oven at 350 until cheese melts. Serve hot! These are absolutely awesome and make good leftovers, too. You can cut them up into 'pie' slices with a pizza roller and use them as appetizers as well. Serve with guacamole or sour cream, salsa if you wish.

Bonus: The tortilla packs usually come in 10s, so fry the extra 2 tortillas. Sprinkle one with cinnamon/sugar and honey. Add ice cream. Top with second tortilla, repeat. This makes a quick, delicious desert that complements the mexican meal perfectly! Ghetto fashion sopapillas. :)


Enjoy! Now, for me, back to painting!!

I love to cook.

One result of my loving to cook is wanting to grate my own cheese. I think it tastes fresher and better that way than pre-shredded cheeses. This precludes buying chunks of cheese from the deli to shred myself.

Now, I don't have any prejudice against grocery store workers. I've worked many jobs in my life including cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry in a hotel. But the fact that every time I go to the grocery store I inevitably have the same problem makes me really start to cast doubts on this job in general.

Each time I ask, simply, for a block of cheese. Not slices, a block. Take a cheese wire and cut off a chunk. I even know (pretty accurately) how many inches from a given bulk block it takes to approximate half a pound or a pound. Chunk of cheese. Not a big deal? Right?

Yet, every time, I come home with a bag of mangled cheese pieces and slices. The employees look at me like I am crazy. Who ever would want a block of cheese? Didn't I mean thick slices? The cheese slicing machine cannot make a big chunk. Despite my protests they stick it in there anyways (they are supposed to use it afterall!) and crumble and destroy my cheese.

Today, whilst putting away my groceries, I looked sadly at my bag of garbled cheese, worse than usual. It reminds me of many other experiences I have had with corporate workers who cannot or will not step outside the bounds of the repetition to think about what someone is asking for two seconds and solve the problem. Is what I am asking for really so crazy? Am I the only person in the world who wants bulk cheese in chunks?

I guess this is what I get for shopping at massive grocery stores. But we don't have a local, little cheese market. It makes me wish I lived closer to Nelson, that's for sure.

It's been some time since I posted, so I thought I'd give a short, general update!

Things here have been really busy - I'm not quite sure where the last few months have gotten to.
I've had some big projects that required most of my time but things are evening out now and I'm getting caught up in general.

Last week thornwolf flew out from California to visit, which was awesome! There was much good food involved - including an over-the-top dinner of berry-stuffed french toast smothered in bananas foster. Usually we eat healthy, really. ;)
It was mostly a working vacation and we just kind of hung out around the house working on art stuffs. Thorn helped me paint a 6 1/2 foot tall anthro husky wooden cutout to be my new mascot/t-shirt model. Mbala did an awesome job on the construction so that he folds up and is easily transportable. I'll get pictures up soon! :)
After dropping Thorn off at the airport I did a local siberian husky dog show. It was my first time doing a dog show in many years (I used to show/junior handle shetland sheepdogs a long, long time ago!) - it was awesome! The husky people are so much fun and the dogs are a hoot. One of the huskies howled through the entire obedience event, slowly wandering around and 'woo wooooing' about every command. What a great dog breed. :)

I'm definitely going to check into doing more dog shows (and dog art!) in the future. If you know of any awesome dog shows to check out, let me know! I'll probably stick close to home at first (though I'm sincerely tempted to do the husky nationals this year which are in Chatanooga (and how can you go wrong with a show titled 'Chatanooga woo woo'??)). There are shows in Rapid City, MN here, and Iowa that look like they could be worth attending!

I also got the pleasant surprise of being accepted into CONvergence in July - so I will be trying that out as my first fantasy/sci fi con. :) Looking forward to that one a lot!

Mbala and I are currently fighting off the flu, just the time of the year for that here, I guess. I haven't been sick in forever! All the animals are doing well, everyone is enjoying the longer days and ability to open windows and let in fresh air.

It's also our three year wedding anniversary tomorrow. :) mbala <3!

I am making apple-and-wild-rice-stuffed, apricot-and-ginger glazed cornish game hens for dinner.

Cooking makes me so happy. :)

Mbala and I just walked for two hours to Coldstone and back. We promised not to go there ever unless we walked our biked and we hadn't been in months. I also haven't had ice cream in ages.

We got there and I realized though I'd grabbed my backpack and phone, I completely forgot my wallet. :<

So... no ice cream for us. Just muddy, wet feet and muddy, wet dogs. :< :< :<

I guess it was the universe's way of telling us we should have bananas for dessert instead.

The last few months my time has pretty much been completely taken over by a big project I've been working on, so the standard getting-up-really-early, going-to-bed-really-late, and doing practically nothing but working has been the norm. I'll post more about it soon but for now -
Endangered Ark Art Card Deck!

This weekend, though, Mbala and I decided to take a short break from it by only working a partial day on Saturday then heading up to the Twin Cities for a big home show there. We walked around for hours and still only saw a fraction of it. It was nice to see a lot of the materials in person (Insulated concrete forms are just awesome!) - and we met a really neat architect with a beautiful portfolio and down-to-earth attitude. He was extremely professional seeming but not lofty, and even though we were kind of dressed like hobos (tshirts, old jackets) he didn't talk down to us. That's a big deal to me - sales people especially tend to underestimate me, much to their detriment.
After that we went to a small gathering graciously hosted by brerandalopex (the Sofawolf guys!) which was wonderful and relaxing. Great food, great company, and really laid back. :) We don't get out like that a lot and the timing was fantastic. It was awesome to meet you, ursulasart - I still find you quite charming, as well. ;)

The only bad thing was getting home so late - that plus daylight savings time meant getting in around 3am. We're on a pretty early schedule so it's made me a bit loopy. I still want to be up by 7am then I'm just a zombie. Sunday we worked and then treated ourselves to a late showing of the Watchmen. Not normally the type of movie I'd go see (we don't go to theatres often or watch movies for that matter) but everyone was talking about it. It was neat! I thought it was missing a lot of character development and felt a little bit like way too much going on in one sitting, but that is perhaps because I haven't read the graphic novel version (and that's also being nitpicky - I think it was worth seeing). I look forward to doing so to compare! I've only ever read a handful of graphic novels before so I'm woefully out of the loop with that.

We also have a rental car for now since someone sideswiped our parked car downtown (their fault) and so there will be lots of dealing with the insurance companies on that, but at least we aren't stuck anymore.
Today is a big catch-up day for me. Finishing up a bunch of glass pendants, some commission things, organizing emails, cleaning the house, and running errands.

You know you're in Minnesota when...

You open a local cookbook and the first recipe you see has a main ingredient of:

1 squirrel, cut up


I love it here. :)

Mbala's intense hatred of my rice cakes amuses me incredibly much.

"I did not move to America to eat puffed rice!"
(In soviet Russia, rice eats YOU!) ::duck::

I hadn't bought them before, but I might have to buy more just for the novelty factor of it. ;)

It's one of those nights I want to curl up and watch a movie and stay up late talking to friends.
Alas... I will spend the evening working instead and then perhaps treat myself to something to read.

Also, watching Jodie (the cockatoo) thoroughly enjoy eating seaweed (which I don't particularly care for) makes my miso soup experience that much better.

Happy weekend everybody. :)

Playbow Husky Shirts!

My "Playbow-Husky" image was licensed by the great people at Offworld Designs (who did such a fantastic job printing them up for MFF) - so I now have them available for sale via my website! They're in a really fun khaki color (dark but not too dark, a little different!) - I am taking preorders for guaranteed sizes (they are being printed up this week). So if you want one, now's a great time to grab one!

Since so many people seemed interested in it, I made up a quick tutorial on the new method I'm using for transferring images to paint. Again, it's not something I uniquely created but there didn't seem to be much in the way of documentation so I hope my experimentation saves you some time. :)