by Marty Coleman | Oct 4, 2009 | Thornton Wilder |
A vintage napkin from 2002, drawn for my daughters and put in their school lunches (yes, I drew one for each). The drawing stars Mechanoman and Oreo the Wonderdog.
I am putting it up because one of my dogs, wiggle dog, has lost her voice as a result of the fight she had with stumpy dog. Stumpy dog had a choke hold on her throat and I think it caused a ‘no barking’ thing to happen. She whines really well still.
I don’t always miss the bark, but I do feel bad for wiggle dog not to be able to express herself. I hope she gets better soon.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 3, 2009 | Encyclopedia of Characters |
Turtle is almost as old as Snake. She came into existence not long after a real turtle showed up on our front porch. It disappeared out our back door a few weeks later, but by that time Turtle had been drawn.
Early on Turtle represented the more spiritual, inward-looking side of life. Contemplative and deep. Snake was the charmer, the socialite, the schemer. Now they have matured into both being more well-rounded and kinder characters, though they do tend to slip into their old ways when things get stressful.
Turtle likes to travel. She has been to Bulgaria and The Isle of Man. Oh, and Lapland.
Take a look at an early appearance here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digioreo/3478778530/
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 2, 2009 | American Proverbs |
Day two of my thinking about dogfights due to wiggle dog and stumpy dog getting into a nasty fight a few days back.
I like the idea that in the fight between good and bad we all have inside us, the winner is which one we feed. How simple is that? What do you pay attention to? Which one do you nurture and pet and let sit on your lap? Which one do you give treats to?
Obviously I am talking abstractly. But the decision about which way to respond to an event or situation in life is often determined quickly, and quick decisions usually will follow what you are most practiced in; meanness or kindness, defensiveness or openness, love or hate, anger or understanding.
What dog do you feed?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Inside me are two dogs, one mean, one kind. They fight often. The one who wins? The one I feed the most.” – variation on a Native American saying
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 1, 2009 | Mark Twain |
Our dogs got into a huge fight last night. I heard it as opened my car door after coming from doing a photo shoot. At first I thought it might be one of them having a fight with a raccoon or something. But when they were going at each other like all hell had broken out. I yelled (useless), I kicked (useless) I got a garden utensil and used that to pry them apart. (eventually successful).
But all those things were the WRONG thing to do. They don’t care about you yelling. They don’t feel the pain of a kick right then, too much adrenalin pumping. And a garden utensil, well, it is dangerous!
What I found out later I should have done was take hold of their back legs and pull them away and in a circle. If you don’t have two people to do it to the two dogs at the same time, you should get a leash and put it around the abdomen/hind area of one and pull them away, tying them to a fence or something, then go to the other and do the hind leg technique.
The whole thing made me think. Besides thinking about how stupid I was (and how the dogs suffered more than if they had just kept fighting) I saw how completely and utterly intense they both were. They both were intent on the kill for the most part. it was scary to see. The smaller dog (wiggle dog) was really the aggressor, while stumpy dog was holding on tight! If you extrapolate that behavior to human pursuits, who is going to succeed in them? If you are in a competitive realm, then the amount of fight you have (willingness to pursue your goal, in the face of obstacles and setbacks) is more important that your natural talent and your background and connections. I am talking long-term here, not short-term.
So, don’t bite anyone, and don’t hurt them, but keep the belief and intensity of a fighter who knows they can succeed if they keep at it. Then your size, metaphorically speaking, will not matter all that much.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American Author
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A vintage napkin from 2002, drawn for my daughters and put in their school lunches (yes, I drew one for each). The drawing stars Mechanoman and Oreo the Wonderdog.
