Uh Hi!

Eh...Greetings! Hola! Guten tag! Aloha! Shalom! Bonjour!

Okay, I have explaining to do. You see, I've been going about this blog all wrong. I strongly felt I could only put up my art here and not much else. You know, the whole 'being professional' thing. I'm a painting MACHINE! Now problems arose this year due to a sudden influx of freelance work...and all those pesky NDAs that come with them. So I have been painting all this time, but I still can't show you too much of what I've done. Hence the silence.

Anywho, after a lot of reflecting and despairing over the negligence of this beloved blog, I'm back. I'm going to start posting other things besides just my latest piece. Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to be posting about government conspiracies or any of that jazz. But I'll try to make this blog a little more about art in general, not just the desperate pushing of paint and pixels I've been monotonously posting for these past 5 years or whatever it is. I never talked about the shows and cons, or my peers or the masters who have inspired me! So hopefully, this blog will grow in scope, not just as a platform to show off my latest...masterpiece (stop laughing!)....I hope this becomes a place to check out to learn a bit more about art, to have fun, to see what this field is about, etc etc.

This whole thing is still a work in progress, so bear with me. Having been a teacher for 2 semesters now, my thirst to share what I know has grown. So let's see where this blog goes....

Oh but wait! I'm not going to leave you with no artwork, ohhh....no no no no no!!! And just to prove I have a pulse and a life, this is a new collaboration with my lovely artist girlfriend, Christina Skapriwsky. 

What you've never seen a polar bear during the dog days of summer?

Mammoth Hunt

Mention the Mammoth to anyone on the street, and chances are, the first thing to pop into their heads is the Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius . The Woolly Mammoth lived around 135,000 to 11,000 years ago, during the time periods known as the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. The living conditions of this time period can be summed up in one word: cold.

The Woolly Mammoth’s range during their heyday was pretty much the entire northern hemisphere; preserved specimens have been found in North America, Eurasia and especially Siberia. They were pretty much the same size as their cousins, the modern African elephant: around 10-11 feet tall, 6-8 tons. They had dramatically huge tusks, up to 16 feet in length. Why exactly these tusks were so big is unclear, but it has been suggested that mammoths used them as shovels to dig through the snow in their never-ending quest for food. As their name implies, they had a thick, woolly coat of fur to fight off the cold, as well as skin glands which secreted fat into the hair, further insulating the animal. Mammoth lived in wide open tundra, feeding primarily on grass and when necessary, tree bark. Like elephants, females band together, forming sisterhoods led by a matriarch. Bachelor males lived a solitary lifestyle, only meeting with herds for mating.

The Woolly Mammoth most likely went extinct with the recession of the ice age 11,000 years ago. Mammoth range dropped dramatically (90% habitat loss in 30,000 years) with the retreat of the glaciers. Human hunting also added too much pressure, and Mammuthus primigenius passed from this Earth and into history.

Much of what we know about the mammoth comes from well preserved bodies. These bodies are frozen, not fossilized, thus allowing the preservation of skin, organs and even hair. In addition, as modern Homo sapiens existed by this time, cave paintings have given scientists further information about these animals.

Pachyderm Madness!

Seems I've been on an elephant kick lately. And why not? Our friends from the mighty order Proboscidea rank as some of the largest, more awe inspiring land mammals to have ever lived.



So first off is this on site painting I did at the Field Museum in Chicago, which I had the good fortune of visiting for the New Year (hi Kat!!!). This is Loxodonta africana, the African Bush Elephant, the largest living land animal on the Earth today. It measures in at around 20-24 feet in length, 10-11 feet at the shoulder and weighs in at a scale bending 7-10 tons. African elephants sport large tusks, both in males and females. They are a remarkably intelligent species, showing advanced skills in reasoning, learning and memory. Females band together, living in matriarchal herds. Males leave the herd after adolescence, grouping into bachelor herds, and then striking out on their own at full adulthood. African Elephants rank as 'near threatened' according to the IUCN. It won't go extinct tomorrow, but efforts must continue to be made to conserve these amazing animals.

In addition, here is a digital rough of my next painting, the hunting of the Mammuthus primigenius, the Wooly Mammoth. Final to come shortly.

Saw Whet Owl

A big side dream of mine has always been to somehow contribute my art to the field of biology. Despite being an artist, science has always been a big love of mine. In fact, I used to be a biology major in college before switching to art. (I probably would've finished my Bachelor's in biology if organic chemistry didn't have its way with me. ) My hopes of becoming a scientist has long since been packed away, but my passion for nature has never really disappeared.

I've decided it's time to put my money where my mouth is and try more science based artwork. I was looking for an animal that I've never really done too much of and I happened to find a photo of a Northern Saw Whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus). So I thought, ah, why not? So right here, ladies and gentlemen is my very first professional level biological illustration!



Aegolius acadicus is a small American owl (about 7 inches long with a wingspan around 18 inches), living throughout the US and Canada. It's a very plentiful species, occurring mostly in coniferous forests feeding on rodents and insects. Those living on the American West Coast are also known to feed on crustaceans. Its common name, the Saw Whet Owl comes from the sound of the animal's cry, said to resemble a saw being sharpened against a whetstone.