Straight from the Springs Preserve and into your House

I have been honored to have been exhibiting my work at the Springs Preserve since February.  I had to pick up my work yesterday which is great news for you! I am slowly taking photos and adding them to my Etsy shop. Some of the work is getting purchased as fast as I can load it. (Very exciting!)

Here is just a taste of what you might find:

Common Buckeye butterfly, dragonfly, and cicada

Hummingbird with Yucca

Gambel's Quail

Kangaroo Rat

Desert Cicada Work in Progress

With all the amazing feedback I have been receiving from my dioramas, I have been inspired to make more framed specimens. Cicadas have been on my brain a lot, as well as dragonflies. Shown above is the progress of some of the different stages of cicada creation this weekend. I've had a lot of fun experimenting with different materials and techniques when building this little guy.

First, I sketched out the entire cicada to make sure I had all the proportions right. Since I knew I was going to make the wings out of vellum, I had to figure out how to attach the wings while making it look natural. Deciding the best course of action for this was to make a back plate to sandwich the wings between. Before beginning the coloring process, I traced the veins of the wings onto the vellum with a sepia micron pen and set them aside for later. I have also found it faster to begin my projects by painting a gouache base coat of color before adding the color pencil details. After all the pieces are created I then fold, score, and curl the paper for a more realistic look. Finally, I glue it all together and mount it to a piece of bristol paper to frame.

I hope this helps answer questions, but doesn't dispel the magic of how I make my little creatures.

Hummingbird Extravaganza!

So I went to the store last night to find half the frames were broken. This forced me to consider alternatives. I think I'm going to end up spray painting the black frames since they are too dark, but pleasantly surprised at how nice the white looks. Last night I had fun drawing Allen Hummingbirds. I think they are my new favorite. I just love their little face!

As soon as I am able to take a break from hummingbirds, I have been itching to draw some quail. I see them running around outside of my house and think they are the cutest. I can't help but smile when I see them scuttle by with their fleet of young.