Meleagris gallopavos and COLOR PENCILS

GRAPHITE and COLOR PENCIL

COLOR PENCIL on WHITE PAPER

COLOR PENCIL on TONED PAPER

I had a little turkey obsession with my last assignments after a little run in with the on the side of the road on my way home from school. They were just hanging out on the sidewalk and street like they didn't have a care in the world. I mean, they probably didn't but they sure seemed to revel in making that unavoidably noticeable to someone rushing home to get homework done before sunrise. However, I DO think that they are gorgeous birds and it was fun to use them as subjects in our last two color pencil assignments. I bought a turkey egg from the Bone Room in Albany a little while ago and was happy to finally draw it. I wish I could say that I plucked the turkey feather from the birds I encountered, but alas, it was borrowed from my roommate, Danza, who has a small collection of turkey feathers.

Below are some pictures I took of the turkeys. Was so glad I had my camera that day. Seeing them pretty much made my day. To some, seeing turkeys cross the road may not seem like a big deal. Maybe it happens all the time to them, but to someone whose most intimate encounter with turkeys prior to that was eating a turkey club sandwich at a TGIF of suburban Chicago where I grew up, that encounter was pretty exciting.   

ANOTHER URCHIN

PENCIL URCHIN PAINTED IN PHOTOSHOP 

This pencil urchin might be one of the coolest specimens that I own. I got him at Paxton Gate in San Francisco. Do you like how I've assigned my specimen a gender? It's a boy. After determining that, I thought to myself, how DOES one tell whether an urchin is male or female? So I looked it up. It turns out that you have to pass an alternating electrical current of 10 volts through the animal and it will shed either its sperm or egg. Interesting.

Anyway, this is obviously just the skeleton, but the living urchin doesn't look that different.

This was done for our Design in Information Graphics class. The assignment was called 3-Point Lighting and the purpose of it was to capture a specimen in 3 different light sources - fill light, key light, and rim light. With these light sources you can capture a lot of volume with a lot of drama and effectiveness. 

WITH ACRYLICS

Our first acrylic assignment complete! Woo hoo!

 Much like an assignment from first term, we picked an artist using an opaque medium such as oils or acrylics from which to copy a small passage. I chose to copy wild life painter, John Banovich. The painting is called After the Rain and it is 15 x 22 inches. Sorry I don't have an image of the whole painting.

COPY

ORIGINAL

Part II of the assignment was to create a spot illustration of our choice. I love sea urchins and I own 4 different types of urchin skeletons (also called a "test"). Not to mention, it fits perfectly with my newly realized theme of edible specimens. :)

SEA URCHIN

I used to think that acrylics were a pain in the butt because the paint dried so quickly on the palette. Thanks to the program, I was introduced to a special palette called Sta-Wet and it keeps the acrylics wet for a really long time. I'm a huge fan and recommend them to everyone out there using acrylics. Before that, I was using a damp paper towel to put my paints on and covering them when I was done painting. It works just fine, but the paints in the Sta-Wet stay wet much much longer. Awesome.

CMYK

BLUEBERRIES IN COLOR PENCIL

Is anyone noticing a trend here? I seem to be attracted to drawing edible specimens. Hmm...let's see...oysters, oyster mushrooms in the redwood forest scene, frosted mini wheat in my texture exercise, sardines and anchovies in my sketchbook, garlic...

and I just picked out the subject for an upcoming project and, of course, it's edible. I'll be creating a botanical study of cashews. It's funny how those things happen without you realizing it. OH MY GOD! I just realized that for our next spot illustration, I'm going to be painting a turkey egg! Okay. Now I don't have anything else to say. 

BACK TO SCHOOL

It's that time! After having been on break for about 5 weeks, it's exciting to get back into the swing of things at school. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed having a break and all the play time I had birding, hiking, kayaking, surfing, skiing, going to the movies, nice dinners, etc. I'm just excited because our projects this term will be more involved and complicated both technically and conceptually as well. Not to mention, we will be working in COLOR!!! Yipee! Here is the list of classes:

Design of Information Graphics

Science Illustration in Color

Applied Techniques

Applied Techniques in Color

Did you notice we are now at four classes/week instead of three? They refer to this program as a "boot camp" and it really is just that. Love it!

We have some really cool assignments including designing a magazine spread, illustrating a editorial/conceptual piece, re-constructing a sculpted human head from a skull, learning gouache and acrylic, and In-Design. Jenny emailed some examples of editoral/conceptual pieces. Somewhat intimidating but very exciting.

Pretty cool, huh?

Ooh! The other exciting thing about this term is surfing! CSUMB offers a surfing course through the Kinesiology department and I'm going to enroll. I've become absolutely determined to learn. I think it's mainly because it is SUCH a challenge for me and defeating a difficult task is oh so satisfying. So we'll see how that goes as well!

Okay! Check back soon! 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE ORCAS GONE?

ORCAS OF SAN JUAN ISLANDS

Sadly, the orcas of San Juan Islands are disappearing. My boyfriend, Thayer Walker covered a story about leading orca expert, Ken Balcomb, and the vanishing whale population.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200911/whales.aspx 

Here's another neat article about killer whales. They are good company to have when you're in shark infested waters. I know most of us find ourselves swimming with great whites. I know I do. All the time. Point being, we don't want these incredible mammals to ever go away.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1231454/Killer-whales-Death-karate-chop-deadly-tactic-used-orcas-sharks.html

And finally, one of my favorite songs - Song For the Orca by Travis Morrison.

BY THE LIGHT OF A BLUE MOON

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What a neat way to move into 2010. Wonder what I'll be doing in 2028 when the year ends once again with a blue moon?

 I have so much to look forward to this year and so much to be thankful for last.  Obviously, every year you come away with lessons learned, new friends, new experiences and growth, but every "once in a blue moon," you find yourself leaving behind an especially memorable and profound year.  2009 was one of those years for me.  If I were a tree (and I often wish I were), 2009's growth ring would be inches away from the barely separated rings made by previous years.  

RINGS FROM A VERY OLD DOUGLAS FIR

It was one of those years that ended with things making sense to me where everything that happened within that year felt very resolved, making 2010 an easy embrace.  Hello 2010!