The animals I have chosen are endemic to one particular tepui in venezuela called Mount Roraima. These mountains are so steep and tall that they are as isolated as individual islands and have developed over thousands of years species that are endemic to each particular one. It is not the case for all animals and plants, but each have at least one animal or plant species endemic to them.
The flora and fauna I have chosen for this illustration are
Below are some examples of the images Im using to better understand the anatomy and exact appearance of the animals and plants for my Great Lakes Alvars image.
Upland Sandpiper
A relatively small bird that feeds largely on a diet of insects and depends on prairies as its main habitat for hunting. It is largely widespread around the US but the loss of prairies to farmland has affected the size of its population greatly in recent years. It is still, however, listed as an animal of 'least concern' on the IUCN List of Endangered Animals.
Loggerhead Shrike
A small yet quite predatory bird that has been donned its name due to the large size of his head in comparison to its body. It has also been called the Butcherbird because it has tendencies of eating field mice, lizards and other small birds among other creatures. Its nickname however comes because of its lack of talons, which is needed to eat this type of prey. It instead impales its prey on barbed wire or spiky trees where it is much easier to then tear it apart Despite this behaviour, throughout the year its diet in very largely comprised of insects and seeds.
Dwarf Lake Iris
This plant, like it name suggests is very small, reaching a height of roughly 10 cm. It is one of the life forms in this illustration that is truly threatened and lives in a region of the Great Lakes Alvars. I could not deduce, because there wasn't any information, if it has a direct relation to any of the other species chosen for the illustration. I imagine, as I've included species of butterfly, that these depend on the nectar of this flower to some extent and therefore directs the birds that feed on them. It is a stunning little flower.
Ram's head Ladyskipper
This is a very unusual small flowering plant that is also characteristic of the alvars. It is a type of orchid and considered very rare. The plant is considered threatened as well and it grows to a maximum height of 30 cm, but can flower at a younger maturity.
Cooper's Milkvetch
Yet another endangered plant that is found in the Alvars. This plant grows on prairie-woodland ecotone as well as riverbanks, ravines, and lakeshore. They grow up to 3 feet tall. This plant is a flowering and fruiting one. Its flowers are small and white.
This article is a breath of fresh air, and in my opinion, important. I believe that in the struggle for preservation and reform, especially if you want to keep people motivated and positive, the achievements and pay-off of efforts need to be highlighted as well in order to keep the population aware and not desensitised.
The exctinction crisis is dire, and reform and change needs to happen. These topics matter to me and are something that I need to voice in my practice, and hopefully help in any way I can in the future.
I finally got around to the print room and did an afternoon session as a keyholder. I think my work on the Cheshire cat has really helped me prepare for this crazy demanding print. The size is around A3, and the linework again makes it so that I have to line it up perfectly, or close enough. I've put alignment dots on the positive so that I can get it as close as possible. But I didnt consider to leave enough of a white border for framing, so if i sell them they will have to have the dots in view. I am a bit disappointed but Ben says it isnt such a bad thing, that it makes the image more interesting, so I'm a bit reassured.
Had good feedback from Teresa today, want to explore colour. Also trying to think of processes that will be viable with the time left until submission. I originally wanted to do these drawings A2, now I see thats crazy. I am aiming to work in A3 and then blow the pictures up to a2, and possibly colour them afterwards.
‘A different dimension of loss’: inside the great insect die-off
Interesting article about the massive loss of insect population, which also mentions the 'sixth extinction'. Some scientists argue that insect populations are going extinct up to 100x faster than they would without human-caused effects on the environment.
"Everywhere, invertebrates are threatened by climate change, competition from invasive species and habitat loss. Insect abundance seems to be declining precipitously, even in places where their habitats have not suffered notable new losses. A troubling new report from Germany has shown a 75% plunge in insect populations since 1989, suggesting that they may be even more imperilled than any previous studies suggested."
This article highlights how the more immediate danger to insect life on this planet comes from our agriculture techniques and habits. And it not only affects insects:
"According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at current rates of soil loss, driven largely by poor farming practice, we have just 60 years of harvests left. And this is before the Global Land Outlook report, published in September, found that productivity is already declining on 20% of the world’s cropland."
But anyone of my generation (ie in the second bloom of youth) can see and feel the change. We remember the “moth snowstorm” that filled the headlight beams of our parents’ cars on summer nights (memorialised in Michael McCarthy’s lovely book of that name). Every year I collected dozens of species of caterpillars and watched them grow and pupate and hatch. This year I tried to find some caterpillars for my children to raise. I spent the whole summer looking and, aside from the cabbage whites on our broccoli plants, found nothing in the wild but one garden tiger larva. Yes, one caterpillar in one year. I could scarcely believe what I was seeing – or rather, not seeing.
Have been looking at sea otter anatomy and photos of sea otters diving underwater. I think its going to be tricky to capture the way the light falls on them underwater and how the fur looks. Have to practice with paint and pen.
I have started illustrating the second poster design for my Preacher editions. Herr Starr is an unusual character. One who is definitely a villain but has some quirks. One of my favourite scenes is when he is in a training camp and he has to do a line-up with all the other applicants. He is standing shirtless and you see that this very serious character has a nipple chain. In the comics his character is a bit more 'out there' but I like how the show kept the characters essence using subtleties.
My draft for this image is based on that scene. With the classic Herr Starr stance and air about him. i haven't decided what other elements to encorporate to have it feel more like a sister poster to the Amazing Ganesh, but I still really like it regardless.
I really enjoy doing my drafts in red pencil. It has a nice line quality and it allows me to work with less pressure. I then turned the line black on PS and have a decent image to play around with. I am going to spend a lot of time developing this digitally. I have an old Ganesh draft that didnt end up being the one that I printed, picture attached, and I think its minimal quality might make it go well with this image. Theres more i'd like to do to this design however. I think with there need to be more elements in the image that point towards Herr Starr's storyline.
Great wealth of information on this site about botanical art, artists, history, and tips. Really learning a lot.
Also getting to rediscover the incredible Billy Showell. Amazing watercolour botanicals. Left is one example. If I could paint 1/10 as good as that, I would die happy. pimp.
She's got some free videos and tutorials that I am currently watching. I know at this stage that I want to include colour and would be quite keen on improving my watercolour skills. I also would like to experiment with ink, which I think has a really rich colour, and may mix well with watercolours as foundations. Got to play around.
I think I will select the Cooper's milk vetch, ram's-head ladyslipper, dwarf lake iris as these plants are among the rarer species that grow in the Alvars, as well as having very bright and beautiful blooms that are a source of food for the insects of the area.
I have decided that the cormorant that is going to be illustrated in the Kelp Forests of Alaska is the Red Faced Cormorant after doing my research (all articles I have red appear as links on blog posts)
I have been collecting images as reference as well and studying their anatomy through the resource of anatomical illustrations. Really interesting stuff.
Stunning illustration of cormorant musculature from "The Unfeathered Bird" by Katrina van Grouw
Some images for reference
Diving reference images. Not the same species of cormorant but still a cormorant, helps understand their movements underwater.
