A view of The Great Lichen Forest

Here's Pattillo Armadillo as he scampers toward the Great Lichen Forest, his hero's journey almost complete!

Illustration from 'Pattillo Armadillo and the Dream of Green,' my unpublished children's book which traveled to NYC to be considered for Little, Brown's publication list 2004/05.

Drawing by Jude Cowell 2009+

Relax! and stroll down another Cosmic Art Path to a magical forest where Indian pipes bloom enticingly from the forest's mulchy floor.

And here you may see the celestial sights that Pattillo enjoyed when he stopped at the Turquoise Observatory during his hero's journey to the Great Lichen Forest!

With or without fairies, Children's Art is so fun, isn't it?

The thing about my character, Pattillo - he can never see the fairies all around him (armadillos have notoriously bad eyesight, more's the pity, but they make up for it in other ways), yet you, Lone Viewer, may always spot a fairy or two flitting about and watching over the little fellow!

Indian Pipes

My botanical drawing of these mystical little Indian pipes shows them rising in ghostly cluster from a shadowed forest floor.

Indian pipes are sometimes mistaken for fungi but they are a true flowering plant. Yet their leaves lack chlorophyll and present as scales along the stems.

Therefore they are unable to manufacture food, so their tangly masses of rootlets live quite intimately with subterranean fungi. Both then take their sustenance from decaying organic matter and from living tree roots.

Blooming in summer, Indian pipes' single nodding cup-shaped flowers do resemble small clay pipes atop their waxy stems.

And who can say that fairies don't play tunes upon these lovely creations of nature-- or puff a puff or two?


Indian pipes by jude cowell (c) 2008 Use only by express permission of artist.