This is rather off the subject of pandas and other bears, but I know some of the readers of the Panda Chronicles have from time to time tried their hand at making some art. I wanted to give those folks (and others who like to get a glimpse into the artists process) a heads up. My good friend in real life David Daniels is doing a Zoom demonstration through Daniel Smith’s Art Supply. You can also watch it on Facebook live HERE.
This will take place on Friday, January 27th at 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. Dave is a brilliant painter, a kind, funny, and experienced teacher. He lives in the DC area (I made him go with me to see the pandas once or twice, notably when Mei was sequestered with tiny baby Pinky and we watched them on the panda cam in a restaurant. I never did hear the end of that. But I digress.
This is a great opportunity to see Dave in action, in case you were thinking it might be fun to take some painting classes, either in person or on Zoom.
Meanwhile over at Substack…
I shared my annual tribute to Mehitabel, gone from my couch, but never from my heart, and definitely not from art and The ZooNooZ Nooz desk at Panda Chronicles Headquarters. I hope you’ll check it out!
It means Pinky thinks she is right about something!
And now Frank and Mikey will be ready for Easter Bunny duty!
It must be about 12 years (more or less) since I started posting Panda Satire online. Here is the original Year of the Bun ‘toon for those who have joined later.
The year of the bunny…..Oh that panda kindergarten!
It is futile to resist the pookiness of the Pookies. Don’t even try!
It is a sad fact, that when bears come into contact with people, the bear is often the loser. When I visited the Calgary Zoo a few years ago (in the “before times”) their resident grizzly bear was a many times offender. They had his rap sheet posted outside his enclosure. He was one of the lucky ones. Instead of being killed for his many incursions on cars and garbage cans, there was a place for him at the Calgary Zoo, where he has lived a long and peaceful life.
Pookie Two’s mom, from Montana, was not so lucky. She had become habituated to grazing in garbage cans, and while we could only hope that she might eat a certain congresswoman from Colorado, she won’t get the chance. But don’t tell Pookie Two. She thinks her mom moved to a farm upstate. Do you want to be the one to tell her?
I didn’t think so.
Be the Bear Bob T I hardly ever eat out of trashcans Panda
I know I tend to re-use names. For the first couple years of my descent in to Pandaholism, all my panda stuffies were named “Bob”. We will try to differentiate between the Seattle Pookies, and Bikkie’s friend from Alaska, Pookie.
I’m sure we’ll manage!
And while I really hate leaving the island to go into civilization, I am determined to shepherd the Pookies at The Woodland Park Zoo through their cubbyhood! I know I should not bring this up, but we could be looking at a temporarily (we hope it’s just temporary) panda-less existence here in the US. Memphis’s pandas leave near the end of this year, and the Pandalanta Pandas and the DC pandas contracts are running out. There is still no word on whether pandas will return to SanDiego. The pandemic put a definite crimp in the budgets of the zoos and the US is not getting along particularly well with China.
We are going to have to fall in love with some different sorts of bears.
It means it’s time to make some New Year’s resolutions! Or is it?
I don’t know…is it really productive to look at all the ways you failed last year and say you’re going to fix those things, except you’ve been making the same resolutions for…oh, I don’t know…50 years and you haven’t done any of them yet?
Maybe I need to resolve more achievable goals. Like: Eat more cake Take more naps Don’t sweat the small stuff Embrace your inner Panda
What are you going to do next year? Who’s with me? Join the Cake Party!!!
On the twelfth day of Crisp-Moss, My Panda cam Did See….MX: no, Pinky, you may NOT have a Bamboo-tini!I can’t hear you….F-F-F-FI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-VE Cuppycaaaaaaakes!whew!Everybody sing!
Well, here we are, heading into the final days of the year. We have passed the solstice and the sunlight will be creeping back, a few seconds longer each day. It has been my privilege and joy to share these ‘toons with you. I kind of hoped we would be out of the pandemic days (not to mention the political nightmare we still can’t wake from) but here we are. (and here we are again!)
I hope these panda ‘toons have helped you get through whatever form your year has taken, and I plan to continue writing and drawing these ‘toons and sharing them with you.
Stay strong, stay safe, be kind, and don’t take any crap from the forces of darkness!
I hope you are able to safely gather with the people (and bears) you care about the most this holiday season, whatever you do or don’t celebrate! Save me some pie!
I tried to get a new ‘toon done for today…I really did.
But I decided it was a better thing for me to spend some time painting and then a little time outside in the garden, and there might also have been a nap. Mebbee. Our story will return next week and we will find out just who was causing Mommee Mei’s landline dial phone to ring.
I want to say a few things about our beloved, fetid hellsite Twidder. I have gotten to know so many of you there and after a couple years of bumbling around there, I finally figured out how to use it in a way that made sense to me. I really hate starting new things and trying to figure out how not to lose any of my friends from the different groups I gravitate towards.
There is of course, the most beloved PandaTwitter.
That’s where I will find most of the people who dearly love our black and white bears. These are the folks that I can revel in a bit of panda improv, a fun way to get a little playfulness into our lives. Those who live close to DC generously share the photos and videos that they take when visiting our favorite pandas. If I did not have those daily reminders of how much I love the pandas and the community that has sprung up around them, it would make me sad.
Then there are my friends from the world of writing and illustrating for kids. what I’ve learned from you could fill an entire bookshelf. I know that at least some of us will find each other as we wander the internet diaspora. To @markeology, creator of the infamous #cookiepitch, I say to you, never before have I had so much fun coming up with crazy ideas for books that dare not be written.
Then there are the people I follow who are tweeting about the things I think are important.
The journalists and the legal community and other writers who are saying the things that need to be said, about fairness and inclusion and corruption and just plain evil. Twitter has been where I find those people and subjects that I need to explore further.
But with the takeover of Twidder by He Who Must Not Be Encouraged by Naming Him, I see dark times ahead. I think about my cousin Ruth’s husband Bill, whose family sent him and his sister to live in England as children in the 1930s. They left Austria while they still could. I believe some of his family was not so lucky. The tyrants and thugs who smashed the windows of Jewish merchants in 1930’s Germany have their contemporary counterparts today. HWMNBEbNH plans to let those whose transgressions on Twidder were so bad that they were suspended, back on as early as next week. He has already invited TFG back on.
As vulnerable people begin to suffer assaults by these trolls, can I really sit by and try to hide in my pleasant little corner of Twidder? I kind of don’t think so. So in the not too distant future, I will be packing my twitter posts and heading for kinder lands. Some of us have already landed on Mastodon. You can, of course, still find me here. You can even subscribe and get your panda ‘toons sent directly to your email inbox. (Signup is on the upper right of the main page, and maybe on the bottom if you are reading this on your phone.) You can also read my weekly blatherings on Substack.
I hope we don’t lose touch. Know that your support means a lot to me.
And hey! Don’t you want to find out who called Mommy Mei?
