Speak Softly - - -

"Speak softly, and ride a big dragon."

— Drebniks' Maxims

More from the Lemming, or less:

• "Autumn Equinox, Dawn"
  (August 28, 2015)
• "Insomnia at the Wizard's Tower"
  (August 21, 2015)
• " 'We Saved You a Piece' "
  (January 30, 2015)
• "It's Morning — Somewhere — Or Maybe Near Sunset"
  (September 12, 2014)
• " 'Anchovies and Peanut Butter?!' "
  (October 30, 2013)

Journeys, Destinations, a Dragon, and a Lemming

"Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. Then again, sometime it's not."

— the Lemming

Vaguely-related posts:

• "What a Beautiful Day for a Dragon Ride"
  (May 8, 2015)
• " 'We Saved You a Piece' "
  (January 30, 2015)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Holiday Travel Plans"
  (December 19, 2014)
• "It's Morning — Somewhere — Or Maybe Near Sunset"
  (September 12, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Guest Speaker"
  (September 6, 2013)

What a Beautiful Day for a Dragon Ride

Dragondale: a fantastic destination for a day out and about riding a beautiful dragon?

Vaguely-related posts:

• " 'We Saved You a Piece' "
  (January 30, 2015)
• "It's Morning — Somewhere — Or Maybe Near Sunset"
  (September 12, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Xanadu Springs"
  (June 20, 2014)
• " 'Anchovies and Peanut Butter?!' "
  (October 30, 2013)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming"
  (January 6, 2012)

From the Mind of the Lemming: Xanadu Springs

From time to time the Lemming goes for a walk. That's how the Lemming puts it.

Notes in the Lemming's album are a bit cryptic. For example, this one's labeled "Xanadu Springs."

Related posts:

• "Angst and the Artist: Interview With Narcissus-X"
  (May 30, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: The Lemming's Walking Stick"
  (May 23, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: A Far Horizon"
  (May 16, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Just Outside Hobbiton (maybe)"
  (April 18, 2014)
• "Coffee Cup, Doughnut: the Lemming's Back "
  (March 28, 2014)

From the Mind of the Lemming: Guest Speaker

The Lemming's mind wandered this week, and dropped in at a conference somewhere.

Almost-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Not Right for the Part"
  (March 17, 2013)
• "Thanksgiving Day, 2012: Desperate Times..."
  (November 22, 2012)
• "Lemming Tracks: A Change in Schedule"
  (May 14, 2012)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Valentine's Day Dragons"
  (February 14, 2012)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming"
  (January 6, 2012)

From the Mind of the Lemming: Valentine's Day Dragons

Slightly-related posts:

• "From the Mind of the Lemming"
  (January 6, 2012)
• "Gingerbread, Fruitcake, and Eggnog Nightmare #2"
  (December 23, 2011)
• "Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Fractal Geometry: Math, Art, and Science"
  (October 18, 2010)
• "Wiggly Buildings and Other Weirdness"
  (September 13, 2010)
• "Unreal Architecture: a Thesis Project"
  (June 13, 2008)

From the Mind of the Lemming

"Paint what you see" is one of those recurring bits of advice to budding artists. It's also pretty much what the Lemming did for today's post:



Have a good weekend: the Lemming will be back Monday.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: Thanksgiving, Cartoons, and a Look at the Lemming"
  (November 23, 2011)
• "Five Strange Video Games"
  (September 8, 2010)
• "Valentine's Day, 2010"
  (February 14, 2010)
• "Santa's Workshop, Pip, and a Disturbing - or Disturbed - Image"
  (December 28, 2009)
• "Lemming Tracks: Autumn Holiday Graphics"
  (August 27, 2009)

Weedy Sea Dragons: Two Videos

"Ghostly 'dance of a sea dragon' "
Earth News, BBC (October 29, 2009)

"One of the most elegant courtship rituals in the animal kingdom has been captured on film by a BBC crew.

"The dance of the weedy sea dragon takes place every year in the shallow seas off the coast of Australia.

"During the ghostly dance, two beautifully odd-looking fish mirror each other's every movement...."

The article's text and two gives a bit of extra information about weedy and leafy sea dragons, and where the footage was taken.

The main attraction of this page is the video: 3:57 of narration and music over some quite good nature photography. I'd have preferred that more clues as to the size of the fish appear - but this is a good piece of nature documentary.

And Now, for Something Not Completely Different

"Weedy Sea Dragon"

thelning, YouTube (December 23, 2008)
video, 2:40

"The weird and wonderful weedy sea dragon. Filmed at Jervis bay, NSW, Australia 1986. You can see at the end of the video how well camouflaged the weedy sea dragon is, which makes it difficult to find them."

The YouTube video has no sound, and isn't as elegantly edited as the the BBC video. On the other hand, about halfway through you see a weedy sea dragon with a diver - which shows the size of these odd-looking creatures.

---

A tip of the hat to therightblue, on Twitter, for the heads-up on the BBC article.

Lemming Tracks: Artwork From a Work-In-Progress

I Come in Peace


- - - But I'm not stupid. This graphic, and the other one in this post, are part of a work-in-progress with the working title "Castle Dampthorn."

This image is from the point of view of someone being greeted by a Peace Maiden.

Peace Maidens are women, generally young, who act as negotiators for the petty kings and landholders of their world. Unaffiliated with any kingdom, they are renowned for their honesty and impartiality. Although they wear chain mail, they travel the lands unarmed as a sign of their peaceful intent.

Kenningward


I'm not sure if this spot exists in the Castle Dampthorn setting. I created it as an exercise in landscape and architectural design while working on Castle Dampthorn, back in 2007.

---

Back to "Lemming Tracks: Digital Artwork Dredged from My Computer" (August 27, 2009)

Drawing Dragons and Dogs and Cats and Rats and ...

"Draw Dragons, Werewolves, Unicorns, Owls..."

"You can draw a dragon, a werewolf, a unicorn, and more, using the drawing lessons on these pages.

"These lessons are not meant to be copied exactly - they are intended to help you discover your own, creative way of drawing these mythological creatures exactly the way you want them to look.

"online drawing lessons

"These online drawing lessons teach you to draw your favorite magical animals from the Harry Potter books. You can learn about ancient mythology while you draw your very own versions of these magic creatures."

I've seen better instructional materials, but the illustrations and advice are pretty good. And, since they're free, you can't beat the price.

Someone who'd motivated to draw could get something from this resource.

Thanks for Everything, Mr. Gygax!

"Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons creator, dies" CNN (March 4, 2008)

Like many of my generation, I remember playing D & D, and A D & D. Mr. Gygax left his stamp on this culture: also, in collaboration with his wife, six children.