Yawning Animals Series

Try to to read this without yawning ;)

I’m over the moon as I just released all 12 of my original yawning animal babies to the world for purchase! If you have been following along you know I began this series with Yawning Mister Moose back in February and I am currently in full production mode for the 2020 calendar that will be for pre-sale next month. Whoohoo!

I wanted to share a little bit about how this idea came about. It all started with a dream I had that inspired an illustration of a little yawning fox. It was one of those dreams where I was devastated when I woke up to reality. In my dream, I had been contacted by National Geographic to collaborate with one of their photographers to travel around and capture animals yawning. Pretty wild right? I’ll never forget how I felt when I woke up and went straight to my studio desk to draw this yawning fox at 7am probably yawning myself. See my old instagram post here

My grandfather (We call him Pampa) actually sparked the idea of me creating a calendar of yawning animals around their kitchen table over a cup of coffee one morning while I was visiting them in Denver...thus this series was born. It took me almost 2 years to get it out of my head and onto paper this past February. After spending time researching, I finally picked out my 12 animals and chose to keep them within the trendy “woodland animal” theme. But more specifically, all animals you can find here in North America. I also ordered a cheap tripod arm off amazon to film time-lapses on my phone of each one so I could share my process with you all.

As the series developed, I found myself feeding my inner child-like wonder as it was inspired by countless illustrated books I have read as a child with a combination of plenty of animal planet. It quickly transitioned from a simple, fun side project to something much more meaningful to me. It became my own passion project speaking my heart for the wilderness and all of its creatures. I recently stumbled across this quote on an AMAZING wildlife photographer Melissa Groo’s instagram post see here

“We Americans are reluctant to learn a foreign language of our own species, let alone another species. But imagine the possibilities. Imagine the access we would have to different perspectives, the things we might see through other eyes, the wisdom that surrounds us. We don’t have to figure out everything by ourselves: there are intelligences other than our own, teachers all around us. Imagine how much less lonely the world would be.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer

My intention for this series is that it would connect us to the beautiful creatures that we share our land with, some even in our own backyard. What I love most is that we all Yawn. Yawning is mysterious and contagious. It has a funny way of forcing us relate to them and gives us access to different perspectives like Robin spoke. I believe nature is all around us to teach us things beyond ourselves and lead us to a more compassionate, gentle and kind heart.

If you choose to purchase an original, I have decided to GIVE BACK and will be donating 10% of your purchase to the National Wildlife Federation. A non-profit here in the United States whose mission is to Unite all Americans to ensure that wildlife thrives in our rapidly changing world. They are striving to protect our wildlife here in the United States as well as preserve the land they call home.