Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real.
Meanwhile, back at the real SNZ, Bikkie seems to be taking the throngs of real life visitors in stride, or at least in cubby trot! So just remember, when real life gets too surreal, there is always the panda cam!
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda
Who would have guessed my creative journey would have taken me into the realm of needle felted pandas, or even Panda Satire? Certainly not me! When I was in art school, back in the days when you could get a college education for less than the price of a house, if you were a painting student, you PAINTED! Nothing else was acceptable! You did not “waste” your talents on such frivolous pursuits as Panda Satire, for crying out loud!
For some number of years, I held to those principles. Eventually the realities of a more regular cash flow lead me down the path of printmaking (etching to start). Eventually I embraced other forms of printmaking, such as lithography, monoprint, and monotype. One of the universal truths I discovered was that all forms of making art have something to offer, and each technique you add to your tool box, circles back around and makes the other forms you practice stronger.
Working on black and white etchings made my paintings much stronger, with greater attention to composition and light an dark values.
The recession of 2008 hit me hard, and I needed something to cheer me up. Pandas were the answer. I don’t know what the question is. What I do know, is that one thing leads to another: panda satire lead to starting to write children’s book (another pursuit which has a long way to reach its conclusion) and it also led to making needle felted pandas.
Some of the stories are mine, but the felty panda troop inspires stories in the people who welcome them into their homes. I am honored to be entrusted with some of these stories, and rather than my usual dive into the archives today, I am going to share some of the photos sent to me by a lover of the felty bears. They have added their own touch to the settings, and as one who has always loved dollhouse miniatures, the exquisite details they have added to the scenes thrill me no end!
Be The Bear
Bob T Panda
What does this mean for the Panda Chronicles! Has PPJ (Princess Pinky Junior) arrived out of an alternative future to live with all the pandas at the Panda House? And now Beary Poppins has gone off on vacation? Is Mei doomed to a never emptying nest?
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
Thank you to my talented web guru, I once again have the Classic Editor to set upon my posts. He put in a different plugin to allow me to have my luddite tendencies a bit longer. It does seem to be doing this strange thing once again. where I lose the connection temporarily, but it does seem to allow me to keep typing.
I don’t know. It’s all a mystery to me.
Will Mei ever learn that it doesn’t pay to ask Pinky anything?
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
I seem to be having some technical difficulties, but hopefully, they will sort themselves out (and by themselves, I mean my very capable and accessible web guru, Nate Hoffelder who writes The Digital Reader and has a web guru business)
I wonder if some of my problems are due to my reluctance to give up the old editing interface that I’ve been using for the past 10 years, and move on to the new WordPress way of doing things….sigh…
I am trying the newfangled editing thingie, and I guess I don’t totally hate it. Maybe I will even get used to it in a few weeks!
Till then…
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda
Oops. The Ides of March (whatever the heck they are) were yesterday. I’m more concerned with the Ides of April (aka tax day)! Maybe we should be more worried about the Ides of Pinky!
But fast on the heels of the Ides, comes National Panda Day! No, I am not making this up. (Some people would say that EVERY day is panda day, and you know? They might be right!)
Pinky has another great idea!
Be the bear!
Bob T Panda
Yes, it’s the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, here in most of the USA, and you know what THAT means!
Sunday Funday KNOWS that this is one of your favorites!
There are more ‘toons to come, but first…Last week the world of children’s literature lost one of it’s greatest practitioners, Norton Juster.
If you don’t recognize the name, run, don’t walk to your favorite bookstore, and buy your very own copy of The Phantom Tollbooth. TPT is one of those books. Published in 1961, I read it for the first time a few years after that. For years afterward, I could remember little snippets, but could never quite remember the title, or when I had read it, but the magic of this book never quite let go. When I found it again, it was as if I had been shown the entrance to a magical place, not unlike tasing through the tollbooth itself.
There are so many great books being written for children and teens right now. But I re-read The Phantom Tollbooth every year or so, because it never fails to reveal something new, that I really need to know. I hope you already love this book, but if you don’t know it, what are you waiting for?
Well *bleep* and take your *bleep* and stick it *bleep*!!!!
Twinkies 2.0 put on a show!
I have extra frosting!
Today, you are a bear.
…if I were a panda, yadda dah dah da- da- da- AAARGH! I can’t stop!!!!!
After all, the playings the thing….
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda
We often get to things later, rather than sooner, but we usually get to them sooner or later! So p[ut your paws together, and give a warm Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire Lunar New Year HUZZAH! for…
Moooove it along, little cowpoke!
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
How the heck did THAT happen? I turn my back for one minute and suddenly, February is almost over. I mean, I KNOW it is the shortest month and everything, but is it really supposed to be THIS short????
But since time in Pandyland is somewhat…shall we say…flexible, we will soon have the Panda Kindergarten presentation for this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration (Which was cancelled the last two years because snakes and rats!!!) I can’t wait to see what the little darlings have up their paws, under the inestimable guidance of the leader of the Pandy Kindy, Bob T Panda!
Bikkie is a Beary deep thinker!
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
So many dolts, so little time! It is hard to imagine how the junior senator from Texas thought it was in ANY way appropriate to go jetting off to Cancun while most of his state was
A) freezing
B) without electricity or natural gas
C) without water, drinkable or otherwise.
His pathetic excuse of an apology tour on right wing propaganda “news” shows, demonstrates just how completely clueless he is. And this on the heels of his aiding and abetting The Big Lie, which contributed to Mittens attempt at armed insurrection. I’m sure there will have to be a ‘toon about this, but meanwhile…
Two headed, two faced…why is he still here?
Sigh…
I’m glad most of my Texas friends have checked in to let me know there are okay. Please feel free to chime in in the comments. I know that there are more of you out there in Pandyland.
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda