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CougarBird

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My friend ajdouce told me this story when she came back from a camping trip. She was talking about a cougar AND a bird, but my little warped mind imagined it into one creature.

Here is her story:

"The Nearly Disastrous Tale of the Elusive Cougarbird

It was summer when I heard the wheezing cry of the Cougarbird.

I had survived a night of drunken night swimming and adventures running around a campground in the dark.

I awoke to the sound of what I thought to be a wildcat, for there had been several warnings to campers about cougars wandering onto campsites. It was a wheezing, yapping noise that rustled in the bushes, steadily moving closer to my tent.

My keys. I thought, grab the keys and get to the truck. Against a cougar, this nylon tent would be a grave. Only one thought terrified me: the truck was locked. Even if I could slip out of my tent quietly and race to the truck door I’d be fumbling to unlock it. Imagine, locking a vehicle door when camping in the middle of nowhere.

The yapping grew louder. “HAA.”

The hungry cougar beckoned to me, lurking just outside the safety of my tent, licking its chops for the meal to come.

I inhaled deeply, deciding it best to leave my feet bare. The notches of the zipper painstakingly separated as I drew it open a sliver.

I saw no cougar, but something had destroyed our campsite. Food and beer bottles were strewn around the fire pit. Of course this could have been due to a night of drunken stupor, but that’s what the wise cougar wanted me to think to set my mind at ease. Meat must taste better without tension.

“HAA.”

In a flash, I ripped open the tent door. It smelled like a beautiful morning and if I was going to die by cougar-mauling, damnit, I was going to do it right.

I tightened my grip on my keys and darted for the truck, letting out a battle cry should the cougar be nearby.

Yet, when I came to the truck door there was no cougar, just a bird in a tree, tilting its head to the side at the sight of me.

Yes, a bird. Nothing spectacular, no ferocious battle that resulted in a sweet cougar pelt or a litter of sated cougar cubs. Just an oblivious looking bird that decided being hungover was the best time to scare the shit out of someone."


I painted this in 2009. I'm done with it, but actually it's not finished. I didn't like where it was going and lost interest. Not to mention I had no idea what I was doing back then. I thought painting a night scene meant make everything really dark. Sorry if the image is hard to see.

Photoshop CS4 and a Wacom Bamboo tablet

Image size
1000x514px 464.74 KB
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