It’s Monday, and we’re well into the NFL/NCAA/high school football season. Some of you are waking up this week with feelings of excitement and enthusiasm. Your team crushed their opponent this weekend, or squeaked out a thrilling victory at the last second. But for others, like myself, your team lost. You will be looking back on this weekend questioning play calls, officiating, defense, and more. This one’s for you and me. We’re all in this together. We stand united as we root for the losers (or as we like to call them, the “underdogs”). Character is built in times like these. Plus, there’s always next week. And the stage is set for thrilling seasonal comebacks. So, remember this: it’s not YOU that lost, it’s your team. Your happiness doesn’t rest on whether or not one team scores more points than another team. So cheer on your humble players. Cheer them on to victory. Or be with them in defeat. We love football (sometimes).

Thought I’d show off my latest illustration in my line of illustrations featuring oversized things (my last post featured a girl wearing really big shoes). Halloween is just around the corner. Get those boots shined. The biggest pumpkins always go quick. I thought about putting a large carving knife in the little guy’s back pocket, but decided against it. Kids shouldn’t walk around with knives in their back pockets. I put this one up on iStockPhoto. Click here to get more information on purchasing the rights to use this image.

Hello, everyone. I wanted to point you in the direction of a new program my dad, Donald Cleland, is creating. I should have posted this a couple weeks ago. He has created a theatre program for home school children. Actually, a better description is he’s extending his program that he established over 20 years ago. Back in 1986 he created a summer theatre camp for kids on summer break. The program is called Ya! Theatre (Young Actors Theatre), and to this day it continually sells out every summer. A brief description in his own words:

“In Ya! children will discover and nurture their creative and performing talents. They’ll find a place where they will be treated with respect, patience and dignity.  It’s also a place where their imaginations can run wild amidst laughter and fun.”

Don has dedicated his life to sharing his passion for building character in our youth, and has used his love of drama as a vehicle to do so. Being an elementary and middle school drama teacher for over 30 years he is the perfect person to teach a program like this, and he has garnered respect from the education and art communities in Hillsboro and Forest Grove, Oregon. If you have children in the Washington County area I suggest you check out his website (www.yatheatreclass.com) for more info. He has programs for home school students beginning in later September, so I suggest you hurry.

My wife, Rayna, re-created the branding/logo for Don’s program, and I whipped up this site in WordPress. Enjoy!