IF: early

There's a Hungarian proverb that says "Aki koràn kel aranyat lel." meaning "Who wakes early finds gold."
For this week's theme word early my inspiration came from a memory. As I used to live in a village I remember waking for the crowing sound of a rooster at the break of dawn.

A common character in Hungarian folk tales the rooster symbolizes honesty, pride, courage, vigilance, strength and other different things in different cultures. 
The ancient Greeks believed the rooster rose to attention and saluted the sun every morning with a hearty cry, symbolizing victory over night.

In Christianity the rooster is noted for crowing three times after Peter denied Christ. As such, it became a symbol for Christ’s passion. 

To this day the rooster seen on a weather vane is steeped in symbolic meanings that deal with watchful vigilance against evil, as weather vanes are commonly seen atop churches and houses.

IF: equipment

My take on this week's theme word was inspired by this and this music that I have been listening to a lot lately. My rat is off to a fair with his equipment of gòlyalàb or stilt in English, which is common to see in festivals in Hungary.
Anyhow.....I love medieval and Hungarian folk music. It's just very close to my soul and it always lifts my spirit. :)

graphite in sketchbook

IF: fearless

“The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave.” ~unknown

This is a sketch for this week's Illustration Friday's theme fearless, which I will make it into a painting next. :)

IF: detective

You can all pretend to be detectives for the illo I've made for this week's theme ;)
.....as the story goes....one day a little girl was walking home from school and as she went, she lost something.....but what? Can you guess? (WARNING! it might be too easy)
She had to search for it everywhere and on her way she not only observed some interesting things, but luckily, also found what was missing.

graphite on illustration board

IF: linked

Just a doodle I did this evening.....I guess it fits for the theme linked....two birds linked in a song. :)  It's acrylic on a piece of cardboard.

My daughter submitted her own illo and I think she came up with a much better idea than me..and a lot faster too! ;) You can take a look at: leticia-floatingideas.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

IF: adrift

size 8"x8", acrylic on canvas

IF: clumsy

clumsy twirl of a squirrel... :)

size 8"x16", acrylic on canvas

IF: confined

He would like to get out...but he can't...

Check out all the other wonderful confined submissions at... http://illustrationfriday.com

size 8"x10" , acrylic on canvas

IF: renewal

Happy and creative new year to you all!

Here's my take on this week's theme renewal....after days of snow fall I was thinking about how the snow covers up everything in my backyard with a white fluffy blanket...including the tulip bulbs that peacefully sleeping underground and waiting for renewal and grow into a beautiful flower...as they do every spring.

The bulb was drawn on handmade paper and attached to the watercolor background.

I had another idea for this topic and I couldn't decide which one to choose...so I will post this one too. The idea for this came from my youngest daughter's teddy bear Honeycomb. It's still her favorite toy that she can not part with and sleep without so it comes with us everywhere we go..on a plane..car...by now a well traveled bear :) and who once in a while needs a renewal.

Which do you like best?

IF: pioneer

This is my submission for Illustration Friday's word pioneer. 

I've found this picture of my youngest daughter when she was five and dressed up as a pioneer at a festival. One of the activities they had there was to wash clothes by hand the old ways...well, she really worked hard and  happily hung the cloths out to dry after.

My pioneer little girl with a pioneer bird. :)

IF: undone

First I thought I will post my undone illustration for last week's "hatch" topic...but  on second thought I rather post this finished piece that suits for the theme. Though undone has a lot of other meanings..in this case the cupcake is undone eating by a little mouse...who heard my steps and run away before I could capture him :)

I'm glad I could post an illo for this week's topic... and even better on Friday! Life has been busy for a couple of weeks now...and it's getting even busier before Christmas. Ok...I have to go back to my baking now!...it's still undone ;)

size 6"x6", acrylic on canvas