This weeks Illustration Friday is special – well, they’re all special, but this one is extra special! Interestingly enough, my inspiration last week is the same as this week. Read the email we received this week as IF participants and you’ll see what I mean:

It’s hard to make ripples in oil soaked water. But throw enough stones and you will!

It’s not about the politics or the corporation. It’s about the animals. It’s about not feeling helpless in the face of an overwhelming disaster. We’re illustrators. We don’t lose touch with that kid inside who marvels at the creatures who swim below and fly above the sea. We draw them. We are inspired by them. We need to help them.

The Ripple blog was started on the 45th day of the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe. The oil spill in the Gulf is now over 50 days old with no sign of stopping. We may be too small as individuals to do some grand gesture- but together our small gestures can be grand.

This week’s Illustration Friday topic is “Ripple” and I ask you to consider creating your work this week as a small 2.5″ x 3.5″ sketchcard. The subject should pertain somehow to the Gulf – the oil spill – the oceans and the creatures that live in it and around it. The cards can be submitted to Ripple Sketches as a jpeg along with your links and a few sentences about you (ie: where you live, etc).

These will be made available for a small donation of $10.00 to either The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies or The International Bird Rescue Research Center. I have no affiliation with them. Every penny will go. When the cards sell, we ask for a donation confirmation and you will be asked to sign the back with a thank you. Then mail them to the address you are sent. If we all do small acts together – we can cause a ripple – and it can grow. We can DO SOMETHING. Thank you, thank you for checking this out and thinking about it.

Kelly Light

So, in light of this weeks topic and the special cause behind it, I went digging in my closet and brought out my favorite little set of watercolors. Here is my contribution:

I Will Fly Again: One | 3″ x 4″ | Watercolor, Pen and India Ink on Watercolor Paper

This really got me back on the watercolor wagon…I’m thinking of doing a small series. Helping the rescue effort will be one of the best motivators I’ve had in a while.

You can see this and other artist’s donated illustrations at Ripple Sketches.

We finally got around to making a vegan pizza with diaya ‘cheese’ and homemade dough. We’ll warn you now: you will not be able to eat just one slice…you will eat the entire pie. But, you’ll feel entirely free of guilt upon completion. Yes, it’s that good. Good for you, good for animals, good for the earth.

We used the dough recipe from the Vegan Family Cookbook with a little more flour, some leftover marinara sauce, and about 1/2 a package of diaya.

We must say a great big thank you to Chef Chloe for this awesome recipe. What a complete delight to make and eat. It really gets the gears turning for similar dishes.

We had to make a substitution due to a pantry malfunction. Pine nuts weren’t in our cupboard and a trip to our grocer left us wondering, “Where have all the pine nuts gone?” So, tahini stepped in – we have also used walnuts with great success. Mmm. We also amped it up a bit with more garlic. Double mmm.

We just wanted to post a few more pictures of the garden as proof that our green thumbs are indeed green. We’ve transplanted once successfully and it looks like we’re going to again. We suspect there are a lot of experienced gardeners/farmers gasping at the moment. We’re not feeling too good about upsetting the plants again either, but if we don’t do it they will choke each other out and die anyway. Chalk this up as our first lesson learned: use bigger pots. ;-)

Now for those pictures:

I’ve just added a bunch of designs to the Minted 2010 Holiday Card Spectacular. I’ve been getting reminders to join in on these competitions for a while and somehow just never found the extra time to create entries.

This time I did it! I’ve even submitted designs well before the closing date. So, even if I’m not awarded any ribbons, I’ve got a mini-victory under my belt!

Now, go check out my designs on Minted and vote if you like ‘em! I’ve included a few of my favorites below: