This is my ripped off art entry for 2008. I was pleased to finally get to pair up with one of my favorite artist's Vicky Knowles. (Platypus) I love how Vicky puts hats on all her fun little creatures, how she uses a lot of stripes, and of course all those BIG eyes. Her whimsical characters are something I love to do in my paintings so this was a VERY fun project, although I did find doing an actual background very challenging! I couldn't just pick one thing out of Vicky's work to paint, so took a bunch of Vicky’s paintings and found the things in it that I wanted to use in my version of her art. I proceeded to smoosh them all together in my own composition called---"Party at the River!" I used transparent watercolors for the most part, but there is some acrylic in the background (dark area-top) I hope Vicky likes it. We are "gifting" our pieces to each other, so I can hardly wait to see what she comes up with for ripping off my art. (no pressure V!) Explaination of last image (Vicky's original art pieces--and what I used from each) #1. I kinda used her background squiggle trees, and of course the “Wiggly Worm” that’s in the foreground. #2. I used the Rabbit #3. I used a BUNCH of her fun critters. The Squid, the green ice cream cone, the other little striped chick with the hat (hard to see him) the yellow chick, blue fish and the clam (I added the hat). #4. The pink wormy critter off to the right -Lori