Selknam Final Scratchboard

Study for Selknam Scratchboard

This was a quick study for my final scratchboard piece (which is currently being graded, so no picture yet!). It shows three characters in the Selknam initiation ceremony in Tierra del Fuego. My final piece was a chart of ten of them in two rows. 

Maori Ta Moko

Pen and ink drawing of Maori facial tattooing (ta moko). The two on the outside were mapped from photos of maori men so that the whole design can be seen more clearly.

cuckoo layout

The text is just stand-in (unless you read latin, in which case it won't make much sense, anyway).

cuckoo chick in a reed warbler's nest

First Scratchboard- Canada Goose

Scratchboard is paper or board topped with a thin coating of white clay. You apply black ink, then scratch out areas to reveal the white clay. You can also go back with a black pen to add in fine details. It was fun! I was inspired by the Canada Geese that I see in the park near my apartment. This was just a quick exercise to warm us up for our final project.

Sketching at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

I was tired of my graphite sketches receiving disdainful looks from whole school groups of six year olds, so I drew two pink animals, and suddenly I was the belle of the ball. (Chilean Flamingo and Purple (shhh!) Striped Jellyfish)

Skeleton Study-Domestic Cat

direct observation... didn't quite get to the feet

Quick Skeleton Study- Red Fox

We went to the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum and drew the animals in the display cases. Then we imagined where the skeleton would be on our particular specimen, and drew that in, too.

Sardine on Coquille Paper

I was motivated to work pretty quickly on this one, because the fish was lying on my desk emitting a powerful smell.

Field Sketching

Watercolor and Adobe Illustrator

Accurate Drawing Using a Grid

the reason this squirrel looks like it has no bones is because it has no bones! It was a stuffed and mounted specimen that I checked out from the UC Santa Cruz collection.

Star Anise

not so sure stippling is my thing

White Tail Deer Skull in Graphite

Rose Hips in Four Styles of Pen and Ink

the dog ate this one. or rather, she shredded it and I taped it back together, scanned it, and did my best to photoshop out the tear marks. First experience as an art restorer