THANKFUL FOR...

Happy belated Thanksgiving wishes! What a year. I feel like every year I have more and more to be thankful for because as I get older, I am more aware of all the people and things that contribute to a life I am so grateful to have, and my life becomes more rich every day. Thank you for reading my blog and adding to that richness. The support is always appreciated.

This year I went back to my parents' for the first time in like 10 years. They live in Mt. Prospect, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Ah yes...I am a product of suburbia. I learned at an early age that I wanted to leave that as soon as I could, but I digress. It was an absolutely perfect visit of quality family time paired with great eats. The feast was a satisfying mix of Korean and traditional Thanksgiving fare. Delicious! During the visit, my family and I spent the next day at the Evanston Art Center and the Art Institute of Chicago which underwent a major renovation. The museum is now even better than the already exquisite museum it had always been. We finished the evening at four star restaurant, Spiaggia (meaning sea in Italian). I know. Very fancy. We were celebrating my dad's birthday and if you can't splurge for a birthday, then when can you, eh? Here are some highlights of the outing.

BOOKSTONES

These were at The Evanston Art Center and were made by artist, Pamela Paulsrud. These stones are carved out of old books. I just loved the way the text in the pages create the texture of the rock. I also enjoy that you can still flip through the stone like a book.

DETAIL OF PAINTING BY LARI PITTMAN

Although I'm not the biggest fan of Pittman's work. I really enjoyed this part of the painting.

HINOKI by CHARLES RAY

I was, of course, very attracted to this piece. It was inspired by a fallen redwood found in California. The redwood was then shipped to Japan where master sculptors copied the redwood out of Japanese Cypress.

BIRD by ANDREW ZUCKERMAN

My parents bought me this book and I am so awed and inspired by it. It is a catalogue of photos featuring birds. I don't know how he does it, but I have never seen birds captured in the way he captures them. They are hyper-realistic. I just love love love it. He has another book called Creature and it is definitely going on my book wish list.

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday!

EVOLUTION

My friend, Hannah Berman, turned me onto a store in New York that sells natural world splendors. Looks like the East Coast has a Paxton Gate or Bone Room of its own.

THE EVOLUTION STORE

WHAT A HOAR

A hoary bat that is...

HOARY BAT

Lasiurus cinereus

Scratch board is a medium that is sort of the opposite of pen and ink. You apply ink on clay coated paper and then scratch away the ink where you don't want it. You will often see scratch board that has been pre-inked in black, but the disadvantage to that is you don't always want the whole surface to be black. Whoa. Imagine if I had to scrape away black around the whole bat. It's much better and faster to only paint the areas that need it. I'm learning that science illustration is learning how to make the most efficient yet effective illustration. Ha! Despite that, it is still pretty time consuming. I guess some things you just can't speed up.

LINKS

Awesome links sent to me by awesome people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJjeG4ZFn6E

http://thinkanatomy.com/

http://www.axs3d.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVEC0ERdnE

CYNTHIA

These are drawings that were done by my classmate, Cynthia. Cynthia is the kind of person that makes you smile every time you see her. She is like japanimation with a plethora of information. You can basically ask her any question regarding biology and she has an answer for you - not only an answer, but the correct answer. I absolutely love these drawings. I think they pretty much sum up what I know of Cynthia. Incredibly intelligent, great sense of humor with a simple and clean aesthetic. You must click on the images to see the labels and really appreciate these drawings. One of my favorites is how she showcases a hair on the whale. On top of that, I love how she includes japanese translations. See? Japanimation. Awesome.

OVERCOMING FEAR

I have a pretty intense fear of water due to a bad experience with it when I was really little. I wouldn't put my head underwater until I was about 8 and learned how to swim at a similar age. Then once I learned how to swim, I was like a little fish. I was at the YMCA all the time or at the outdoor pool in the summertime all the time. I loved it. Growing up near Chicago, I obviously wasn't getting any exposure to the ocean or a feel for what it's like to swim in it. The extent of my swimming took place in pools or lakes where the water is pretty still and very inviting. My first ocean experience was in Italy when I was 20. The wave took me out and I swallowed a bunch of sea water. I got out and didn't go back in that day. I didn't attempt to go back in the ocean until moving to California. My first attempts were in LA where the temperature of the water doesn't shock all of your muscles into tensing simultaneously. I did okay. Never actually "swam." I then decided it was ridiculous that I harbored a fear of the ocean and that I needed to do something to get over it.

Surfers - Man, I've always been attracted to surfers and surfing, and the more I watched them, the more I wanted to be able to get out there and do it, too. This past year, I was determined to learn. So I did. I've been 3 times. Each time was terrifying, but each time also got easier. Yesterday was my 4th go and I actually popped up AND more importantly, it was the first time I went in without fear. I'm not sure which I'm more proud of. Yay! I loved it and I can't wait to get back in there.

WATERBOX

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

They're finally here!

Anjel Van Slyke and Connal Hughes at Cabbage Design Company commissioned several artists to create designs for Waterbox - a stainless steel water bottle company. They not only worked with Waterbox to create this new line of bottles, but designed a great identity logo for the company as well. I was commissioned months ago to come up with a design and they are now available at REI among other retailers. I don't want to list those just yet until I know for sure which stores carry them. Several of my talented friends also created designs including Hannah Berman of Pie Bird Press and Olivia San Mateo of Olive-Route Design. Thanks Anjel for thinking of me!