Raccoons -- Love 'em or Leave 'em
Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010
by Carol Allen Anfinsen
AnfinsenArt
I like raccoons. They’re cute, perky and smart. But like mischievous children, they can get under your skin. They tip over garbage cans that “go bump in the night.” They invade people’s attics; and when confronted, they may get downright mean and nasty, or so I’ve heard.
But sometimes they don’t. My husband saw a sleepy raccoon crawl down from a tree one morning to return to his own pad. I confronted the coon on our front walkway. I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me. We both held our ground and stared for a good minute or two. It was my first up close and personal look at a live raccoon. For the coon it was too close for comfort. He took off like a scared rabbit; so much for the “mean and nasty” profiling.
Another “coon encounter” occurred early one morning on our routine 3.5 mile walk. Three raccoons were taking a last drink at the water’s edge before going home to begin their daytime slumber. It was a remarkable sight and inspired my painting: “Raccoons at Sunrise.”
When I’m not painting, I’m drawing. I use my small sketches on cards and for illustrations in the picture books I’m working on. One of my favorite sketches is a raccoon head that I drew quickly to recall a recent sighting.
I wanted to capture the raccoon’s expression. I wanted to portray a tender, simple creature. But like all artwork, appreciation is subjective. To the friend I gave the card to, the drawing seemed too sweet and loving, and she asked if it was a pet or a dog I had once owned. When I told her it was a raccoon, she said “oooh, raccoons are nasty things aren’t they? I always thought they were mean.”
She saved all the original cards I made for her, but not this one. Profiling, based on poor information or past experience. At any rate, the drawing I viewed with affection as a beautiful work of nature was to my friend something else.
This experience brought back what I learned as a writer: “if you fall in love with one of your words or phrases, beware. If you get too attached to what you write, you may not be able to cut when necessary” that holds true for artwork as well.
For additional drawings and paintings go to my web site at:
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Although I am aware that these adorable creatures can become "mean and nasty," I can't help seeing first of all how cute they are. lol I love to watch them eat - their little paws are so tiny, and yet they move with such wonderful precision. And as for falling in love with a word or phrase ... never any truer words were spoken. Great article!
Don't know what happened in my comment above ... I'm absolutely certain I rated it with five stars!
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