7 a.m.

It's getting colder outside, and every winter I wonder how gulls can stand hanging out in Lake Michigan in the freezing water. This is an older photograph from a few years ago at Oak Street Beach. It was just below freezing, but he didn't seem to mind.

Bird count:

Northern Goshawk - Accipiter gentilis

Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus

carry-boo

It's about time I post something other than a bird. So today is dedicated to one of my favorite mammals, caribou!

Bird count:

2 American Redstarts - Setophaga ruticilla

Black-throated Blue Warbler - Dendroica caerulescens

Whip-poor-will - Caprimulgus vociferus

Mallard duckling - Anas platyrhynchos

Corvus corax

One of my favorite animals ever; ravens! They have one of the largest brains in proportion to body size of all birds. On top is a commissioned watercolor on tea-stained paper and underneath, another page from my sketchbook.

Back to working on my finals...maybe after supper.

distractions

This month has been full of distractions; the art sale, new tv shows, birds, the pressing need for sleep, and bunches of other things. 

Here's another one. I needed a short break from my attempted all-nighter working on my animation final due in less than a week. Hence my post. A quick drawing from my sketchbook of a peregrine falcon mount in the museum. I was working on a final drawing project of tiny bird skeletons (will be posted later) and got distracted by that pair of eyes staring at me from the end of the counter. 

Bird count (from Wednesday)

Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis

Lincoln Sparrow - Zonotrichia lincolnii

purple candy mountain

Just a little pastel drawing I did this summer on some leftover stained paper. The giant purple blob in the middle didn't seem to work with anything until I turned the paper around and saw the mountain!

Bird count:

2 American Redstarts - Setophaga ruticilla

Black & White Warbler - Mniotilta varia

Mourning Warbler - Geothlypis philadelphia

Chestnut-sided Warbler - Dendroica pensylvanica

sandhill cranes

Two of my favorite photos from last Sunday's mini-expedition to Indiana's Jasper-Pulaski park to view the annual Sandhill Crane migration. There were tons of cranes in a huge field accompanied by a large number of deer as well. The best part was the crane's sounds multiplied by thousands.

Wow, it took me over an hour to get home today when it normally takes about 30 minutes. Note to self: don't leave house the day after Thanksgiving - EVER! 

The drawings are from the prep lab again. The first is a Dark-eyed Junco I found on the sidewalk in front of the humane society a few weeks ago and the second is a Pintail duckling I made a study skin of after finishing the drawing.

Now my task is to lock myself to my light-table and animate for the next week straight.

Bird count(from Wednesday):

Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus

American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla

Black-throated Green Warbler Dendroica virens

Blackpoll Warbler - Dendroica striata

Black and White Warbler - Mniotilta varia

American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis

100 birds so far...

From top to bottom:

Great Horned Owl

Carolina Chickadee 

Bat Falcon

Common Loon (last two)

Today offered some unique things for me in the prep lab. The American Woodcock I prepared was not only the 100th bird I've prepared this fall semester, it was half-albino. I'll try to get a picture of it up soon. The goldfinch had a plumage I'd never seen before, the Moorhen had a broken beak, and the Red-tailed Hawk that I almost had to skin had been hit so hard by a car that it's heart was forced up into it's throat! Needless to say, when I opened it up, I realized that it was just a little too beat up and will become a skeleton specimen instead.

Bird Count:

American Woodcock - Scolopax minor

Common Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus

American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis

As requested, here are a few more bird drawings done on tea-stained paper. From top to bottom the species are as follows: Cedar Waxwing, Western Screech Owl, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the Northern Cardinal. Well, I'm off to Indiana for the day to see the annual Sandhill Crane migration...more images will be up soon!

Penguins and Pumpkins

Two of my favorite bird drawings, a Chinstrap Penguin and an Emperor Penguin. Both done on tea-stained paper; drawn with ink, pencil, and white charcoal.

Bird Count (from yesterday):

3 American Redstarts - Setophaga ruticilla

Cape May Warbler - Dendroica tigrina

Also - Smashing Pumpkins concert last night at the Chicago Theater - Awesome! No better way to waste time right before finals than going to a rock concert. Kudos to you, Billy Corgan, for being amazing for 3 hours straight and then coming back out even after admitting you were tired with a cold! 

-one of the ink drawings I did this summer of a screech owl from photos I took at the Lincoln Par Zoo.

The start of a very busy week...

Here are the 4 original line drawings used to create my screen printed bookmarks for the holiday sale. Hopefully I'll get a chance to scan some of the finished ones before the week is up! From left to right: 

Resplendent Quetzal - Pharomachrus mocinno

Gila Woodpecker - Melanerpes uropygialis

Indian Peafowl - Pavo cristatus

Blue-crowned Motmot - Momotus momota

Today was also exciting because I was able to create study skins of the pair of Dark-eyed Juncos I brought into the prep lab exactly one month ago. Hundreds of birds have come in this fall and clogged up the study skin production line, but I was finally able to work on the ones I found. It was very satisfying to complete the entire process myself. (being the one to actually find the birds, and then be able to prepare them before being catalogued into the Field Museum's collections)

Bird count for the day:

2 Dark-eyed Juncos - Junco hyemalis

Rusty Blackbird - Euphagus carolinus

First post in a new blog!

Well it's about time that I organized a place to show my artwork online! Until I learn how to make my own website, a blog account seems the easiest way to post images and a surprising number of people do just that. So here it is! I'll start off with 3 cloud drawings that I'll be selling prints of at my school's winter art sale this weekend.