couldn't help notice how fast you cranked this one out. So beautiful with such ease. My favorite part is the telephone poles and the bird nest in the tree.

Another awesome pic. Uh...bird nest in the tree? Am I due for new glasses or just a new imagination? I guess either one wouldn't hurt, huh?

No, don't get new glasses laurael! Actually, I didn't intentionally put a bird's nest anywhere, but my daughter and I found a little bloop I must've done in one of the little mesquite shrubby things (I don't know.. I just make it up as I go lol) that could be a bird's nest. Thug is very observant!

They are exactly as they are supposed to be... they are able to cock their ears at that angle. It is something they do when they become predatory and aggressive. One of the fascinating things about them. In some photographs I have seen of them, one ear will even be cocked upward and the other outward. (In this one, his left ear is actually cocked up from the back of his head inward more than his right one... his right one is almost in between stages.) Strange, I know, but an accurate depiction.

I considered doing them the other way, but I thought it was more interesting like this... I couldn't decide if it would disturb ppl and take away from the essence of him.. perhaps it has, maybe I'll change it, I don't know. Does it bother anyone else? (It would be extremely easy to change if it is disturbing)

mountain lions are supposed to be disturbing! ;p;

wow...meow! This is neat. So real, I like the wiskers >:3

lol NOoooo they were both there..but after my long ride home in the snowstorm.. I had to take one....

lol Happy Bday Davin

thanks you guys..

This is so pretty :0

Makes me want to swim after have running for a mile today.

Awesome.

My grandmother knew the lady in red

My grandmother is the lady in red. :)

After the operation, they cook them. They are a delicacy. They have alot of protein and are an excellent aphrodisiac. >;)
Very pretty drawing! >:D
|XOD|

<melts> Excuse me, I'm moving into your pictures. At least when I'm having dental work... ...I have favourite mental places I go when they're working on my teeth (I don't tolerate local anaesthetics, so I *have* to use those sorts of techniques...), and your pictures have now become the first paintings (by *any* artist) to make the list. You may take that as the high compliment that it is, and well-earned, at that, Cindy. <smiles with sincere admiration>

I've never looked out from the Mesa Verde ruins at sunset (those ladders are scary enough in daytime, and that's BEFORE I became acrophobic), but this looks just like the kind of thing I'd expect to see, so you've got the feel you describe, dead on, with this picture. *impressed smile*

I hope there are more pieces of this type coming... ...and at this rate, I may have to ask you if I can save some to my hard drive, as I'm not sure I can stand to part with them! *wistful grin*

On the useful suggestion side of things, I thought you might like to think about using a glow similar to the one you used on the horse and cowboy, to edge the ruins (should you work on this further locally, or do more pieces like this, since I see that this one is marked as "finished"), and give an indication of the light pouring up and over their edge, from the sunset, because I think it would have that same almost magical effect that it did in the cowboy picture.

And, as an extremely minor detail, there's a stone that appears to be sticking out toward us, about 3 rows below the bottom of the window on the viewer's left, beneath the middle of the window, which gives me the feeling that it's about to pop right out of the wall toward me, and cause the window to cave in. It could be intentional, it might not, and it's perfectly believable either way, but it gives me a loss of the feeling of tranquility that this piece otherwise conveys, and instead creates a sense of dramatic tension, as though something in me is waiting for the remainder of the wall and window arch to collapse. I thought you might want to play with that, in future works, since your paintings tend to have a very emotional impact on the viewer (to judge from my own response and that of others), making that emotional effect into one more tool in your palette, so to speak.

P.S. to thug: Cindy is not alone in putting in 3-5 hours at a stretch on a single piece of artwork; I do it too, (and though I don't compare my work to hers, so do many of the *other* artists whose work I like) and that's not allowing for interruptions. How did you think that her pieces got so good, anyway? *grin* Good artists aren't *necessarily* speed demons (though they can be); what makes a good artist, IMHO, is that they're just good at being expressive, whatever their medium of choice, regardless of how long it takes them -- which is reassuring to those of us who take longer on our own pieces, even when we aren't at Cindy's skill level. :)

I hope this comment has been useful, and not *too* long, this time... *worried look* I tried to cut out anything not directly related to *this* picture. I don't see anything left I can leave out.

About 5 hrs in one sitting is an avg. for me here... some I worked on for 8 or more at once, because they usually take up so much space that I can't get back in to edit w/out asking for more space.

Gee, thanks alwayslearning... maybe you should have a job as a writer? lol And yeah, the rocks that appear to be about to come out are intentional... these things are barely standing as it is and crumbling as we speak. I'm so glad that someone recieves the feeling I try to impart when I paint (or draw). That's what makes it satisfying. This place has inspired me to bust my real paint out again.

you always do the coolest skies. :)

Thanks, Cindy, I'm pleased ta meetcha! :) I'm even more pleased that you found the comment helpful, and that it cheered you up. I know what it's like to have too many nights when sleep eludes you, and a friendly comment can make a world of difference to me, so I try to aim for saying something both friendly and useful.
FYI, my hallucinations tended toward the bizarrely entertaining, the sole convincing one being <flourish of trumpets> a cardboard box. It's a funny story, message me sometime when you're bored or need a laugh, and I'll tell it to you. :)

Wow! This is beautiful, DBA! I love the sunset sky! And, I think that the horse's shadow is sooo cute! ^_^

Willow: no, we're fun to talk *at* :)

meh...texas. =P

Gotta have it in your blood to understand.

Texas *shudder*
It's like being in a permanent heat wave, no I like it here in Illinois. Snow is good.
But Texas has made me entertaining. Yes, kids at camp are greatly amused by my Illinois/British/Texan 'accent'.

But About the picture. 'Tis lovely as always, wonderful shading, and the folding is amazing *yes*

Of course I know of Clemens, nicknames never stick with me. (And it's the Astros he plays for)

WOW. your amazingly great at this! its no fair. i love it though

HOORAY! for Nolan Ryan! He's definitely the best :D

Bloody hell. Finally a sharp, crisp, clear, and bloody good piece! Fantastic. Only things that jump out are the lips are so detailed and glossed, then the skin seems just...blah. The lips look as if they're floating in a skin coloured space. And the sides of the lips where each one meet, they seem a bit too..joined. As if its just one lip which loops around. But, bugger that...the lips! The cherry! SHIT HOT!

what else is there to say? you're awesome.

hey biopsy- you stole my comment! grr!