"Daedal" progress

These are sketches of "Randal" the afflicted bear that I made the rug sculpture of:

This first one will become an oil painting I think...





These next two will be re-sketched on heavy paper and perhaps pimped out with a little ink and gouache or pastel...





This sketch will become a small oil painting. It's about the relationship between hermit crabs and anenomes... crabs have been known to strap anenomes to their shells to fend off predators, and in return the anenomes enjoy the scraps of the crab's meals.



Random sketches... maybe they will become something maybe not.





This is a little 'side project' of mine, "Babes of the Studio." Eventually all the awesome ladies I have the honor of sharing a studio with will be included but right now I've just drawn Dalva, Buerli, and Reimold. Soon to come, "Studs of the Studio." Scandalous!



This is the final sketch for "Malodorous." I've just transfered it and now I just need to paint the damn thing!



"The Customer is Always Right" detail: (in progress)

...it's about the coevolution of plants and pollinators.






"Truffle" sketch and drawing:

As I explained below, female pigs are used to find Truffles because the fungi secrete the same steroid that male pigs do when "available."






"Surinam Toad" sketches and drawing:

Surinam toads hatch their young by embedding the eggs in the skin on their backs. After implantation the eggs sink into the skin and form pockets over a period of several days, eventually taking on the appearance of an irregular honeycomb. They develop through the tadpole stage inside these pockets, eventually emerging from the mother's back as fully developed toads. If you have never "google image" searched this, do it now. It gives me the heebie-geebies.











"Malodorous" sketch and drawing:

On the left are
some species of plants that mimic rotting flesh to attract flies and
carrion beetles, for pollination. The red swoop weaving through the
whole scene represents both the path of the flying insects and the
wind wafting the smell of death from the plants. In the middle is a
girl in a gas mask reaching toward the piles of dead animals. (Both
are supported by floating islands) ... Oh yeah, and the
stuff coming out of the big boar and horse's mouths are waterfalls of
blood. Grodie.




Misc insect drawings:



Here are the sketches for what I've been working on this weekend...
they are a series of five small sketches (on 5"x5" paper) that will
either be greyscale marker or pencil shaded for the image, with some
flat color of gouache in a blob around them to make them pop more from
the paper. I really wanted to do a bunch of small, quick work for a
little while so that I don't feel so stressed about having stuff for
the show...

A. is about the bizarre-looking Saddleback Caterpillar which uses
poisonous bristles on it's back to deter predators... I put a
cowgirl/bandit on it's back because of it's name.

B. is about how there is some mysterious force decimating the honey
bee populations around the world; they are just sort of disappearing.
It's already having a big impact on crop production and if it
continues we are screwed.

C. is about how they have recently discovered that Lotus plants are
actually able to produce their own heat and regulate their temperature
at night to attract cold-blooded pollinators such as beetles. The boy
and the beetle are roasting marshmallows...

D. is about how ants keep aphids as pets... protecting them from
predators, cleaning and feeding them, to "milk" them for the honeydew
they produce.

E. is about snail sex. Garden snails are hermaphroditic and when they
mate, the one that chooses to be the "male" in the situation actually
shoots a calcified "love dart" out of their skin and into the head of
the "female." They don't need to do this to copulate, but when they
do, the chances of impregnation are far higher.

*Painting in progress titled "The Customer is Always Right." It's about the coevolution of plants and pollinators, and how these relationships have altered their respective morphologies.

*I'm oil painting on paper. I gessoed the paper to museum board for integrity, and primed the surface with spray fix and varnish... it's a little bit of an experiment but so far it works beautifully. Clearly I have quite a bit more work to do...





Here are two of my submissions for the Kitchen Sync show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Hollywood. It's also a preview of what I've been working on for my senior show and show at La Luz: (Both in May.)


*sketches and process





These are some of the sketches I've been working on for the two shows in May:

*"The Customer is Always Right" will eventually be a large oil painting. It is about the way that coevolution between pollinators and plants has informed the form and even 'behavior' of their flowers. There is tons of interesting information on this topic that I'll go into later... I'll probably do some additional smaller paintings to further illustrate this.



*Truffles just so happen to release the same steroid that male pigs produce in their saliva when they are... available for naughty time. This is why female pigs are used by humans to find these rare treats. Cool... There are many animals that form 'foraging parties' with other species. An example of this is how small forest deer will follow troops of monkeys and birds to get the fruit that they drop. The monkeys benefit from the deer by having a line of defense on the ground to warn them if predators are around. Another (unconfirmed) example of this is between Honey Guides (birds) and Honey Badgers. Honey Guides are very adept at finding bee hives but are unable to open them so they have been known to guide humans, and supposedly Honey Badgers, to the location of the hive and then share in the feast once it is exposed.





*I made this for my friend Thomas. I've been thinking of doing a series on the seven deadly sins as manifested in the natural world. This is obviously sloth... For Lust I really want to do a piece on Cnemidophorus uniparens which is a species of lizard entirely comprised of females. To reproduce, one 'lizbian' (lesbian lizard) has to act like a male and go through the motions of mounting another lizbian to stimulate it to clone itself. Then they switch roles. Super kinky.