Doodle 14 - Irrational Fear

 

Irrational Fear

"Some fears are rational and some are irrational."  That line was taken from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.  I really enjoyed the movie they made from it, one of my daughter's favorites for a while.
I really liked this drawing.  I think it may have been a little stronger before I added the pen and made it strickly black and white, but it's still fun.  I wanted the expression to be a little more afraid, but I didn't get it.  I toyed with the idea of placing some kind of pattern on the umbrella, but couldn't get something I liked.  I wish I had drawn it with four or more panels showing so I could alternate black and white, but with only three it didn't lend itself to the alternating colors.
So, here we have a clearly water based creature, who is afraid of getting wet in the rain.  To me it's an analogy of a real characteristic we often have of limiting our opportunities for fear of things that really are no threat at all.  It likely lies in our forgetting who we are, what we are capable of, erroring on the side of caution when, if we explored the environment a little bit we would find a place to thrive.  To be successful, know who you are and where you fit, what is a danger and what is not.
Enjoy,
Tyler