World Water Week

This week, it turns out, is World Water Week.

In observance of this, Cincinnati and twelve other cities are participating in the TAP Project this week, "a campaign that celebrates the clean and accessible tap water available as an every day privilege to millions, while helping UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world." Customers at participating restaurants in these cities are given the opportunity to pay $1 for their complimentary water, which will then get passed on to UNICEF who can put it to great use: for each dollar, one child can get clean drinking water for 40 days.

More information about the human right to water:
World Health Organization--Right to Water
World Water Council

and what you can do:
WaterPartners International
Journeys Within Our Community
WaterAid

Illustration Friday: HEAVY

"Heavy" takes me back to high school. I remember weighing my backpack once and having it hit something like 80 pounds. Yikes!

Illustration Friday: GARDEN

I have to admit, I had a hard time getting in the mood for this week's topic right away, since we got dumped with a foot of snow this weekend. But I'm more ready for spring than ever, especially as my 40 degree walk home today was full of tiny little rivers of melting snow. Bring on the baseball, the sunshine, and the tomato plants!!

[My garden, as of Saturday afternoon...]

March forth!

I love that today is election day here in Ohio... it's just so poetic to be voting on March 4th, a day that sounds fit for revolution. Plus, I just love voting. The ever-talented Jim Borgman had this cartoon on the Enquirer's website today--that's how I feel after every election, not just this one.


So here I go, off to vote for a presidential candidate, for the school and zoo levies, and for my uncle for judge. March forth!

Illustration Friday: LEAP

Happy belated Leap Day, virtual friends! This illustration certainly constitutes an experimental leap for me. Usually the act of drawing and the act of coloring are completely separate in my process. I won't consider putting pastel to paper until I have a tight line drawing all ready to transfer via tracing paper.

But today I've been working on a commission that involves the most realism I've used in a long time, so it's freeing to scratch out this quick little piece. Keeps things interesting, Also, I'm vaguely sick today so I don't have the patience to spend more than ten minutes on this. And with that, I think I'll go lie down.