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March/April 2009 Cover Artist
The Importance of Friend Sheep

by Jennifer Doheny

Through my greeting card business, Urban Bird Designs, I show my gratitude to the bugs, squirrels and birds that live among us in our loud, busy cities, helping to connect us to the natural world. "Friend Sheep," on the cover of New Connexion, creates that important connection.

I take my job as a greeting card artist quite seriously. People take great care in choosing a greeting card that best expresses their feelings for another person, usually on very special and sacred occasions. I spend a great deal of time matching a particular sentiment to the right animal with just the right expression.

For years I knew that I wanted to create a card called "Dear to Me." I wasn't finding the image that best expressed the feeling I wanted to share until I was camping at Mt. Shasta. A deer, I now call Shasta, came right up to me at my campsite and let me take as many pictures of her as I liked. Finally, I had my "Dear to Me" deer.

We all connect to spirit in our own ways. Animal medicine is what resonates with me. I believe that we all have animals that guide us and intrigue us, whether in real life or in our dreams. To me, as an artist, animals are a manifestation of spirit that I can capture in a tangible way. I can physically draw an animal image that spiritually connects me to an audience. That's magic.

Together we can explore how animals can illuminate areas in our lives that require attention, how they assist us in embracing our personal power and how they help us to create our magic earth.

Read artist Jennifer Doheny's blog on animal guides at www.jenniferdoheny.com and see her greeting cards at www.urbanbirddesigns.com.