Gasp!

I've finally gone back to an acrylic painting I started in November. Yes... November. Thankfully, my Stay-Wet Palette is so awesome that it kept my paints moist that entire time. Science!

Delphinapterus leucas

I was at the aquarium several months ago, taking photos of the belugas, when the very small child in the stroller next to me pointed frantically and blurted out "Aboogas!" It was one of the cutest things I had ever heard in my life, so occasionally "aboogas" slips out when I talk about them. They're among my favourite cetaceans (who am I kidding? They're all my favourites somehow), and it had been a long time since I'd drawn any.

Some new prints were added to etsy today! The manta rays, zebra shark, and bottlenose dolphins are now available. Each purchase of a shark print from my store will have 20% donated to the Shark Trust - only the zebra shark is printed at the moment, but more are coming!

It's been a while

I'd started this a couple of months ago, and put it aside to work on my Kalina tribute when she died. I've worked on it on and off since then, but finally pushed ahead to get it finished today because I'm eager to use acrylics again and didn't want to leave this sitting around unfinished!

In 2008 I spent some time observing Tilikum and little Trua at SeaWorld Orlando and was lucky enough to get photos of them playing, so I'd been meaning to do a picture like this for a while.

I have an etsy shop, by the way! I'll be making this one available ASAP. So far all of my prints are small, but larger ones will be up there very soon. Thanks for taking a look!

Kalina

Please click for the bigger version!

I really wish this wasn't another tribute piece. Kalina, the first orca born and raised in captivity, died very suddenly this month at the age of 25. I've seen her many times over the last few years and she was always fascinating to watch, especially when she was with the younger whales - it's a shame that she wasn't around when her mother Katina gave birth last week. She was very much a "people whale" like Keiko was.

I referenced a photo I took back in 2008; she had this rather endearing habit of turning her head as she bowed like she was looking around at everyone. I've always found her interesting physically because she had a much "rounder" body type than the other orcas. I always loved her freckles!

Well I never!

This started out as a light pencil sketch that I was doing as a way for me to loosen up with the pencil some, since I get so bogged down with solid lines. Unfortunately, my scanner and I are currently fighting, so the scanned image turned out so terribly I inked it digitally... which I never do. Honestly, the biggest challenge with this for me was "simplifying" the dolphins, which is why they kind of suck. All I want to do is give them as much detail as possible and make them as photo-realistic as I can, so I literally had to take the tablet pen away from myself after a short while so I wasn't too tempted. I need to find a midway point. Anyway!

Farewell, Sumar

My favourite orca died a couple of weeks ago. I'd been to SeaWorld San Diego each year for the past three, and due to some Comic Con-related screw ups, this year I couldn't go. One of my major highlights of that trip had been to visit my favourite "pod", in particular Sumar, who was such a playful, charismatic whale and always a joy to watch. His sudden illness and death is a shock that still hasn't really sunken in and I'm still regretting that I couldn't see him just one more time.

I drew this based on one of the last photos I took of him as he was messing about between pools with Nakai and Corky. Hopefully it's a fitting tribute to a beautiful animal.

tursiops truncatus

I'd been working on this on and off for a couple of weeks now but wanted to get it finished before Dragon*Con -- I've been seeing dolphins in my dreams every night for the past few days. That's not a bad thing because dolphins are awesome. I'm actually really excited about finally getting a print store online soon, something I've been wanting to do for ages, and am hoping to donate a portion of the cost of each print to a marine organization (not decided which one yet) provided it all goes well. I'm also ecstatic to finally have a new set of acrylics and a bunch of canvases so I can get some traditional painting done - it's been so long!

Here's a detail shot of the closest dolphin, who was incredibly fun to do:

"The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it." Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Megaptera novaeangliae

I started this about a month ago and kept going back and forth over whether or not to finish it. I'm glad I did - it's my first attempt at a baleen whale - but it's a bit rougher than I would've liked. Definitely plan on doing more in the future.

(Clearer version here)

Happy Earth Day! Have a dolphin.

I started this back in February - not that it took that long, it's because I got so frustrated with my ancient little tablet that I had given up - but I guess it's fitting that I finished it in time for Earth Day. I woke up this morning to Animal Planet showing one of my favourite BBC nature series of all time, The Blue Planet, and tonight Kevin and I are off to see Oceans. Disneynature are distributing it in the US, and if you see it during its first week of release, they'll donate a portion of each ticket price to help establish new marine protected areas in the Bahamas. It's all good stuff. Get to it!


Pacific white-sided dolphins are one of my favourite species. I've never seen them in person though, so I used a photo by the lovely Remedy as reference. Thank you!

I'm terrible.

After all but abandoning my first blogspot and briefly fluttering about on wordpress, I've landed back on blogspot because, as much as the interface can get on my nerves, at least I can customize the look without paying!

Anyway, here's a silly test post to 1) explain myself, and 2) to make sure I haven't completely bastardized the layout.