"Gidget the Yahbut" by Misti Hope Wudtke

I worked for about a year at a flower shop in my hometown...I still go back to help out on holidays.  Cindy was the name of one of my bosses, and whenever she'd tell me something and I'd try to object, I'd make the mistake of beginning with "Yeah but--"

To which she would reply, "Yahbuts live in the woods!"

Well, I made an ACEO a little while back of a strange pink furry mutant alien flying squirrel creature, and it wasn't until after I was finished (and was thinking to myself, Good grief, nobody on eBay is going to want this hideous thing) that it occured to me that I'd painted a yahbut.  Not only did the ACEO sell, but somebody commissioned a bigger painting of the same creature, so I set about making a painting of my boss's oft-invoked yahbut.

So here it is.  Probably one of the overall brightest paintings I've made, and bizarre and weird to boot.  It's all right, though; Cindy and Karlyn (my other boss and Cindy's mother) both like bright and/or pink things.  If you're ever passing through Shawano, Wisconsin, stop by and see their fluorescent pink delivery truck (it's quite the eye-catcher).

Yahbuts, in case you aren't aware of it, are stupendous hoarders of acorns and other seeds and nuts.  They're zealous in guarding their caches and suspect even the most benign of creatures of plotting to steal their hoards.  This particular yahbut was on her way back to her cache with an acorn in tow when she spotted an innocent sulphur butterfly perched on a branch nearby.  Forever paranoid, she glares and edges cautiously around the butterfly, clutching her prize tightly...

It fell upon my sister Hanni to name it, and after much pondering and contemplation she said, "Her name is Gidget, but everybody calls her Gizzy."  I think it's quite fitting.

8" x 10", ink & watercolor on watercolor paper, 2007.