The Happy Land of Bears on Bicycles...

Just a bear on a bicycle...

Hello there, and may life be treating you well, wherever you are.

This week,  I found myself yearning for something more. A deeper, cuter, and more profound level of escape. And I found it in a brilliant new course run by the illustrator Lisa Glanz.

"Drawn to Whimsy" has reminded me that, some time ago, I used to draw lots of whimsical animals, like this one, or these marmots.

The Drawn to Whimsy workbook (besides being a permission slip to spend extra time in the happy land of bears on bicycles) has given me just the encouragement and structure I needed to approach it all in a more unified way. As well as *the* cutest course notes I've ever encountered.

And a whimsical whale with a suitcase.

So both the drawings you see on this page are informal coursework and work-in-progress, rather than having any final outcome or destination as yet. (And no, I'm not an affiliate for Lisa's course-just enthusiastic about it).

Also, yes, the flowers will return (and/or join the animals...). But in February here, the fastest route to a world of whimsy, just for now, has been these cuties and their friends. I hope you've enjoyed it too, and as ever, thanks so much for being here.

More soon.

PS. Update on June 4th 2026: The cute bear at the top of this post has found his niche: on a Father's Day Card...

Cute Bear on A Bicycle With Balloons Father's Day Card
by BoundingSquirrel

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A Bunch of Roses Gif

Tap click or right-click here to download

Hello there

Hope life is treating you well. If however, you need a bit of a pick-me-up, feel free to download and enjoy this bunch of flowers (and/or send them to someone else as well).

If you're the sort of person who'd rather just think about how thing made, then it's also, broadly a really fast time-lapse of the different stages I tend to go through to make a sketch like this.

Take care, and more soon.

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It's OK to Go Slowly...

It's OK to Go Slowly...
Digital Acrylic Painting/Digital Art Journaling
 in Rebelle 7

Hello there

How is the new year going for you? 

In the midst of all the frantic goal setting I was trying to do, over here have suddenly realised a wild truth...It's OK to go slowly.

More than OK, actually, as by some strange alchemy of the universe, it seems actually to make ideas come together faster, and more accurately.

Who knew. Well, maybe everyone except me, to whom it has been a total revelation, in the midst of the attempted rebuild of everything to do with BoundingSquirrel. So I created this cute sea turtle more as a "note to self", as well a piece that maybe others might resonate.

A Google search suggests a sea turtle's preferred speed doesn't go much above 5 miles an hour (depending on the current, and/or surrounding dangers).

And yet these same creatures cover long distances, eventually. So that's the calm, steady energy am aiming for with the rebuild.

About that re-build

On the rebuild, there's good news and bad news.

-The good news is that I do now have a solid plan. (Cue cheering and sighs of relief all round).

-The bad news is that it's probably going to take most, if not all,  of 2024 to get it exactly as I'm dreaming about it for you.

(And there was me, trying to get it all done in a fortnight :-). Duh.... ).

Soooo...

As a big part of the plan still involves sharing happy art on a regular basis, how about, just for now,  I carry on doing that right here, and just switch things over  s  l  o  w  l  y and calmly...even one at a time (what a concept :-) ), telling you about them as I go?

Well, that's the plan :-). And the calm but determined not on which I'll wish you a lovely weekend. 

More soon.
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