illustration friday

Man, this working during the day thing is cutting into my creative time. I managed to doodle a few versions for this week's theme while watching TV this evening: Adoption. I wasn't sure what approach to take for most of the week. My first thought was about adopting pooches. Then I thought to draw adopted kids (one of my best friends through elementary school was a Korean little girl adopted by a caucasian family, and one of my bridesmaids, a friend since high school, was adopted as well). Then I remembered the first pet Lizzie and I finagled an adoption of: our stray cat Tom, who we met one afternoon in our backyard after school. We used to bring him into the house and feed him and cuddle him and dress him in our Cabbage Patch Doll clothes. He was the gentlest, sweetest cat we ever knew. His favorite place to perch once dressed was on our toy shelf above the heat register in our room.

Unfortunately, I am really crap at drawing animals. I was not all that happy with my sketch of Tom...especially in the dress.

So I reverted to dogs. Because I feel like Casey is really our little girl. My first black lab ever was when I was young too, I think maybe 7 or 8. Dan was a sweet pup, and I loved to carry him around like he was my baby back then.

The thoughts/doodles evolved back to my little girl now. She's been adopted a few times! First by my boyfriend at the time who had adopted her from a farm downstate. When we broke up, he was going to keep Casey...but then he eventually couldn't find an apartment to move to that would accept pets, so she became all mine. Bwah-hah-hah-haaahhh.

And then when David came along, he became her dad and fully adopted her as his own little girl too.

But in the end, I think she's the one who's adopted us all. She is one of the most wonderful little hairy people I've known in my whole lifetime, and I am so glad that we all adopted each other.