I love this animation more than I can tell you. Dave Jones is the creator, and he says about the film:

I made this back in 2005, working with the kids at Natimuk primary school. The older kids did the interviewed some of the older people in the town and then the prep/grade one kids illustrated the stories. The interviews were actually done in the same old school building that they had done their schooling in some 70 years prior. 

There's something about the way children draw that's completely captivating to me. I always wish I could capture that sense of freedom and imagination in my artwork. When do you think children start to become more aware of themselves and their artwork begins to lose that quality? I wonder sometimes if I'll ever want to have children, and it's seeing things like this that make me think I probably do. How amazing it must be to witness such freedom and creativity from these budding little humans! I also love the stories told by old people about their childhood days and the trouble they got into at school.

Anyway, please watch this animation-- it's so amazing!! And check out the rest of Dave's work, because he's quite the talent.

Here are some of the things that are happening in my studio right now....

I'm working on:

1. painting a dress for a fashion show at the High Museum next weekend as part of the opening event for the Salvador Dali exhibit. Next addition to the dress: glitter. Lots of glitter.

2. Paintings for the upcoming Enormous Tiny Art Show.

3. Getting ready for Renegade Chicago.

4. Larger paintings for Gregg Irby Fine Art. (You can see the corners underneath the dress...)

Among other things not pictured! Busy busy times.

What are you working on these days?

I'm fascinated with old painted signs on the sides of buildings. When I was growing up in Boulder, CO, I used to love driving to Denver because there were a lot of old buildings with faded painted signs to check out. I like to imagine what life must've been like in their heyday.

I picture streets bustling with newspaper boys and working men with curly mustaches and suspenders and bankers in fancy pin-striped suits and monocles, with old Model T cars driving around on cobbled streets. Maybe I've seen too many movies! It sounds like I'm describing something from Newsies, doesn't it?

(Speaking of Newsies, have you seen this funny video of a scene from Newsies set to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance'? So funny.)

I love old relics from the past, don't you? Are there any cities that you particularly love for their history and old faded painted signs? New York City is a great one, of course, but what other places have you visited that have this kind of old charm?

{image above from A Continuous Lean blog}

{image above from Sell Sell blog}

{image above from Polish Hill blogski}

{image above from Mark Simonson}

{image above from Primal Pics}

And above is one of my favorite photographs that I took soon after we moved to Georgia 3 summers ago-- I still love this old painted railroad sign every time I drive by!

{image from fanpop}

...this would be the one I would choose. I don't think I would ever go to sleep if I lived somewhere where the Northern Lights lit the sky up like this. It's so magical. And that teepee so warm and orange against it.... 

Have you seen the Northern Lights before? I never have, although flying back to Ithaca one time when I was in college the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said if we looked off to the left we could see them really faintly off in the distance... I couldn't see them, unfortunately, so I've yet to witness the magic with my own eyes.

If you've seen them, where were you? Or, do you live somewhere where you see them regularly? I'd love to know! I want to know where I need to travel to see some really spectacular ones.

Look at this phenomenal version in Maine (from geology.com):

It sort-of makes me want to cry that our world can be this beautiful. Do you know what I mean? Does that ever happen to you? I don't think I'd be able to tear my eyes away from such beauty....

Oh my gosh, y'all. Do you remember Lisa Frank? I was *obsessed* with her when I was a kid-- I had notebooks and folders and probably even a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. Trapper Keepers! Ha ha.

She popped into my head this morning, so I had to do a google search. She doesn't seem to be so popular these days, but her website is just as crazy and colorful as what I remember from my childhood. (Not the website, because websites didn't really exist then. Did they? Hmmmm. I'm old. Anyway, I remember her crazy wild colors and unicorns and puppies and rainbows.)

Who wouldn't love this? Oh my god, I probably died over this unicorn image when I was a kid.

Yes.

And yet another. This is too good! Check out the Trapper Keeper version of this image.

And on a somewhat random note, in my googling of Lisa Frank, I came across a story about a real live PINK dolphin. I'm not kidding. Here is a photo:

That is REAL, my friends. Apparently it's an albino dolphin that lives in Lake Calcasieu, in Louisiana. It's a salt-water estuary of the Gulf of Mexico... let's hope that the oil hasn't reached this rarity. Read the article about the pink dolphin! You can find out what color eyes it has...

Have a good Thursday!