My sister-in-law lives in very nearly a perfect example of wooded suburbia, which means...deer. Lots of ’em. And of course, in the spring they're hungry and they eat everything. Deer are especially fond of tulips, and Joanie sent the family a wry snapchat of a single flower they missed, which I memorialized in this card.

birth day card

I happened to make the card while doing a hour or two (or more) hangout with Fran, which is why the doodling is so elaborate. Because this was the height of the lockdown, I didn't actually mail the art, only an image of it—another reason to make it special.

birthday card, graphite, watercolour and coloured markers on paper. Roughly 5x8.

I was quite proud of the way I painted the tips of stems brown, to make it more obvious that all the other flowers were missing. Honestly, it's not really super-obvious, so it's a good thing I don't make my living from funny greeting cards, cuz I'd starve.

birthday card, interior.

I'm not really very good with humor—I'm sure someone could have phrased this more snappily.

birthday card

I've always liked the ‘shoebox–a tiny little division of Hallmark’ on the back of those cards; I used to enclose my initials in a hexagon (a swipe from Michael Whelan's wonderful logo) and so this is callback to that.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.