More Sssnake Visssitorsss!
—and Consistent Consistency
Hubby and I were excited to have another snake visitor recently: a Gopher Snake!
Gopher Snakes are one of the most common snakes in Arizona and can grow up to 9’ long! Our latest Gopher Snake visitor was about 4’ long, a more common length. Here is my 5” long illustration of it, in my Perpetual Journal!
In that ginormous 😆 5” long drawing, I wasn’t able to include much detail showing the beautiful pattern of scales on the snake—so here’s my photo of the Gopher Snake so you can see for yourself!
WOW! Mother Nature is the BEST artist!!! And look at how well the snake blends into the landscape.
That’s not all our recent snake goodness, though—last Saturday, Hubby & I had another snake visitor: a Coachwhip Snake.
Coachwhip Snakes get their name from the braided appearance of their scales, which look like the whips that stagecoach drivers used to use. These snakes can be either black or reddish/pinkish (we’ve seen both varieties in our yard).
Hubby & I enjoyed seeing our Coachwhip visitor (the black variety) for all of 15 seconds* before it sped away and disappeared into the desert, so I didn’t have time to take any photos. However! You’re in luck 😁 because I have this photo of another Coachwhip visitor (the pink variety) in 2022.
Check out that pink, black and white pattern! Wowzer! Amazing!
* Coachwhips are known to be fast snakes, and (depending on the source of your information) can move at 3.6 miles per hour, 5 mph, 8 mph, or even 10 mph. (My trusted source—the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum—reports 3.6 miles per hour, so I’ll go with that.)
Consistent Consistency!
🎺 Doot, do-do-DOOOOO!
That’s the trumpet fanfare announcing that as of last Saturday, July 19, 2025, I’ve maintained my Daily Art Habit for 300 days in a row!!! 🎉 Woo hoo! Go me! 🥳
This means I’ve put pencil, pen, and/or paintbrush to paper for at least five minutes/day, for 300 days in a row. One day recently, all I did art-wise was spend 5 minutes painting small yellow dots on an illustration of a flower—and that’s okay! Consistency is key and those 5 minutes were very pleasant!
Appreciating little things in life, like the beautiful and intricate patterns of scales on snakes, or painting happy little dots, reminded me of this quote:
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Thank you for being here! I appreciate it. See you next week!
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Your depiction of our sssliver-y visitor/friends is another handsome addition to your third-year entries to your journal, no doubt enhanced by your many consecutive days making Art—wonderful, steady, necessary inspiration for us all in our times of increasing, chaotic challenges and perils. Thank you.