Profile of a Tuna

Quickie portrait of my cat Tuna

Pied Pipin'

I always enjoyed my walks through Vancouver. So often I'd encounter the local wildlife, that between the skunks, raccoons, cats, and squirrels I felt like the Pied Piper of West End.

Sketches from a visit to the California Academy of Sciences

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Wild Cat...Tuna's Anger Level as of Late

Man Tuna's been a pain in the ass lately. Sometimes I think we actually adopted Stitch.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Marine Iguana

Here's a quick warm up painting I did today in about a half hour. I'm trying to speed up my work process and trying not to sacrifice quality at the same time....I think I need some more work on that.
So, this is a Marine Iguana native to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin's favorite haunt. He described them as "hideous-looking" and "most disgusting, clumsy lizards." I'd disagree, it's called character ;) They're generally found on the water's edge where they hop into the ocean to feed on algae and seaweed. A distinctive white spot or "wig" is often formed on their head from sneezing out all the salt from the water. It lands on their heads and Voila!, iguana wig!

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Tuna, the Wild Domestic House Cat

I think I have O.C.C.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Cat Disorder) She's my animal of the day and no stranger to my blog, my little cat Tuna. She's about 3 1/2 years old now, and can truly be a nightmare, but for the most has brought me more joy than any pet has.

I've really been trying to push my realism lately with my painting. Getting her to pose for this was a challenge, so a lot had to be based off memory and having quick bursts of speed painting when she actually would return to the position. Oh well, I pay her in treats, so she's happy

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) The Harpy Eagle

Here's some quick studies I did of the Harpy Eagle. These birds are beautiful and HUGE. They're considered the largest predatory bird in the world, with a wing span up to 7 feet and talons equal to that of bear claws. Their range is from Southern Mexico to the rain forests of Argentina, AND they're the national bird of Panama. The name comes from Harpyja, the predatory half-woman, half-bird monster of Greek mythology. They expand out their facial and head feather to form a disc shape in order to focus in sounds waves to improve hearing, which is similar to what owls do. It's diet includes tree animals such as sloths, monkeys, and other birds.

Surprised, Shocked, And All The Rest

Yes we're surprised...,but at what? Stay tuned.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Puppy!

Puppies!

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Rattlesnake

The Rattlesnake! A very dangerous venomous species that rattles its tail when threatened. "The rattle is composed of a series of nested, hollow beads which are actually modified scales from the tail tip". The rattle noise is made when these beads shake up against each other. New ones are formed each time a snake sheds its skin. Baby rattlers cannot make the noise since they only have one bead at the time of birth. It isn't until their first molting that they gain the additional bead and have something to rattle against.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Canadian Geese

Canadian Geese. Ahhhhhh, the lovely birds responsible for covering our driveway with their "goodness" when I was younger. I still see them honking all over the parks here in the bay area. It's a honking voice you can't miss. Good times!...just try not to be under them as they fly through the sky.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) Raccoons

Raccoons are my animal of the day, inspired by listening to a friend of mine telling of raccoons spying in on her at her apartment in SF. They're cute, but definitely not so innocent.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) American Bison

Welllllllllllll, they're also called buffalo, but apparently they're only distantly related to either of the "true" buffalo, the Asian and African buffalo. Bison is a Greek term meaning ox-like animal, and buffalo was a name given to it's European and Asian counterpart by French fur trappers. This one's a little sleepy.

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) B. Rhino

This is to kick off my new effort to create an animal a day for the next year. They may be sketches, cartoony, realistic, stylized, whatever. I just want to do whatever I want drawing animals, which I love. So today is the Black Rhino. Word. There are Black Rhinos and White Rhinos, and while both are actually gray, the difference between the two is the shape of their upper lip. Black Rhinos have a pointed upper lip, while White Rhinos have a rounded one. Woohoo!

Return to O.Z.

Back to da zoo, Oakland Zoo that is. It was CHILLY up there today, but always worth it to go. It's been a few weeks since I've been there because of my work and life schedule being a little hectice lately. But here I is!

Draw Ya Later Alligator

Yeehaw, another fun day at the Oakland Zoo. It was so nice and warm in the Bay area this weekend, I had to get out. I decided it would be lizard day. I was about 3 ft from the alligator, which even though there's a small iron bar fence between, it gives you a rush. I get the feeling it could have easily crawled over it if it wanted to. AND now that this is done, we get to go to my other favorite zoo tonight...Zachary's Pizza!!!

Welcome to My World

This is dedicated to an awesome artist and friend, Pascal Campion. His work and drive has inspired many people including me, and I'm honored to know him. Recently he and his wife had their first child, a little girl named Lily. In his work it's common to see bright colors, birds, elephants, and a myriad of other forest creatures all enjoying life. Check out his work here

Wolf Pack(ed)

Playing around with tessellation again for this week's illustrationfriday.com

FINALLY!!!!!!!

Oh man, finally! I've been slow to post this week because I decided to bite the bullet and finish my new website. I just really needed to get an updated site out there for my peeps. AND, I can now actionscript like an S.O.B.!...so watch out! I plan to keep adding little tidbits over time, so come back to visit here and there. See the new site here.

A Clutter of Crocs

Oh man I hope M.C. Escher doesn't sue me for this ;) In today's litigious society he'd already have me court. Ok, for the "Clutter" theme of illustrationfriday.com again I thought I'd experiment a bit. This was tough! I guess it's gonna take some more practice, but it's fun at the same time. I read up on tessellation here, check it out.