Fun with a ball point pen

Lately, the only pen in my pocket has been a seven-year ball point (supposedly the ink will last for seven years, but I'll likely lose it long before 2019). I have been having great fun working on a full range of grays using just the one implement. Fun!

This dog is made up from my memory of dogs while sitting in one of the many waiting rooms I get to enjoy on a regular basis. :)

sheep reference thrills

Today I am thankful for a few slow moments at the reference desk. I've written seven letters, and drawn a big horn sheep - and I still have 2 hours to go! The New England Journal of Medicine has come up in five of my last seven searches for folks. I'm sure that means something.....

the truth, the vole truth and nothing but the truth

This little meadow vole just got accepted into a juried show today. I created it a while ago for a wildlife illustration class. During the research for this image, I came across an article referencing these little rodents as the largest pests of commercially grown artichokes. Wacky.

pen pals who don't write back

My grandmother is almost 95. Arthritis keeps her from writing back. When I lack interesting tidbits to share about my children, she gets a quick sketch. 

Send me your address, and you too might get a hug in the mail. :)

sunny Sunday afternoons

A crappy photo I took of a one page Toast comic I drew in my journal yesterday afternoon. I find I draw a lot of these, but only one or two ever make it into the published zine. This one won't make the cut because a) it isn't all that funny, and b) it takes more time to explain what it is about than to read it. The green bin referenced above is the street-side city compost bin (see pic below). The garden looks much better now, though there is always work to be done. :)

books books BOOKS

This is one for the book nerds. :)
For those of you uninterested in the entire list, some quick recommendations:
The Toaster Project - Thomas Thwaite. Follow Thwaite as he makes a toaster from scratch. Really.
Blackout & All Clear - Connie Willis. I swore I'd never read a WWII novel again, yet I could not put these down.
Sacre Bleu - Christopher Moore. Funny. Artsy. Profane.
anything written by Carlos Ruis Zafon

(read the whole list below.....)

A beetle smackdown

Published these two images over at the From the Stacks blog today. I knew if we kept doing the Illustration Smackdown long enough I would eventually get a critter I had drawn/painted before. I did both of these images in 2006 - the color image as a live demo done on the public floor of the museum. I had started off doing a butterfly from my own collection, which was crumpled by an inquisitive 3yo while I chatted with his mother. The Naturalist Center had a pair of beetles under glass, so I pulled out some new paper and got to work.

Exhibits and an invitation

I have been hard at work on several exhibits lately. Two are done and one is in the works. 

Above & below I am working with Mollie Cueva-Dubkowski, a Careers in Science Intern at CAS, to create an exhibit in the Library Reading Room on Ecuador. Mollie is a fabulous writer (as evidenced by this blog) and her exhibit is fascinating to look at AND educational. There will be another blog post (it's in the works now) with more images, as the Reading Room is not open to the public without an appointment.

Also, this past Monday, myself and a number of wonderful volunteers, hung the Nature's Jewels show at t he Tilden Environmental Education Center. pics below!

visiting an Oakland landmark

Went with my girls to see the Oakland Ballet & the Oakland Symphony perform the Nutcracker at the Paramount Theatre. The theater is a fabulous example of art deco. Above are some rough sketches from the walls in in the lobby and the theater proper.

Memory sketches done during intermission. The set designers did a great job of carrying the art deco theme onto the stage. After a while I began to look, not so much at the dancers themselves, but the negative spaces  highlighted by their moves. 

My next LIVE appearance!

On the off-chance that you are in the Bay Area this Thursday, I will participating in the California Academy of Sciences craft fair. The Craft Fair will be held on Thursday, November 29 in the Forum gallery (2^nd floor above the café), inside the Academy. The sale will go from nine o’clock am to four o’clock pm (9:00 to 4:00). I will have cards, buttons, the latest issue of Toast, and will be signing copies of my field guide, Golden Gate Beach Wrack.

Golden Gate Beach Wrack makes a great gift!  You can also order it here: http://hotfromthetoaster.com/fieldguide.html