CASHEW, TORTOISE, BEAVER, JAGUAR

I finally got some much needed down time today. These past two weeks have been very intense with projects and the last of this string of assignments was due today. Whew! As promised, here is an update of new work.

SPECIAL VIEW OF THE CASHEW

This piece was for an assignment called "Special View." Being able to depict special views is the great thing about science illustration because you can show things that would be impossible in real life. Cashews are one of my favorite nuts and the plant is absolutely beautiful. Cashews are native to Brazil and produce fruit of rich reds, pinks, yellows and greens. One of the most curious things about the cashew is that each fruit only produces one nut explaining why cashews are more expensive than other types of nuts. I wanted to show the cashew plant, fruit and nut in one illustration. Apparently, you can eat the fruit (which is delicious), but because they are delicate and do not export well, Brazilians are the only lucky people able to enjoy the sweet fruit. I hear you can get dried cashew fruit here so I'll be on the look out for that. We were allowed to choose any medium for this assignment and I chose watercolor and color pencil on illustration board.

AFRICAN LEOPARD TORTOISE SHELL

This specimen is another Bone Room treasure I purchased last term. After some good old google searches, I discovered that this shell belonged to an African leopard tortoise. I was immediately attracted to painting this for our "Watercolor Spot" assignment because of its gorgeous and elaborate pattern and color. I've also discovered that I love the way watercolor goes down on Strathmore illustration board. All future watercolors will be done on that surface.

NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER

In the similar vein as our "Special View" assignment, our Design of Information Graphics assignment was to create a glow through or cut-away view. I unintentionally did both a glow through and a cut-away of the North American beaver. The skull was a glow through while the beaver lodge is a cut-away. I really like being able to use specimens that I own and I have a beaver skull that I got from Paxton Gate. I was really attracted to the hard orange protective enamel on the teeth as well as the unsual and identifiable shape of the skull. I really like my pen and ink drawing of the beaver lodge. :)

RUPI, THE JAGUAR and AN UNFORTUNATE CAPYBARA

Our "Acrylic Scene" was inspired by an experience that my boyfriend and journalist, Thayer Walker, had exactly one year ago. He travelled to Bolivia for two weeks to cover a story for Outside Magazine about a Puma refuge called Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi. You can read the article here. This is a portrait of the Jaguar that Thayer cared for. His name is Rupi. I also love that Capybara are a part of their diet because I love them. They are so funny looking.

So that is what I've been up to for the past two weeks in school. A list of assignments in queue:

Micro Habitat
Trompe l'oeil
Gouache Spot Illustration
Magazine Article
3-D Facial Reconstruction

Fun fun!