Camp Tadmor Map

Where do I begin? I learned a lot on this job.
I learned the difference between painting a picture for someone, and providing them with a powerful tool, and that those should be priced differently.


......and that I should always have MY DAD spell check. 

The director or Camp Tadmor contacted me about creating a map for them. Years ago I had whipped together a chalk map during a visit, but since then it had become outdated. They wanted something that they could print for guests, post around camp, sell in their coffee shop... etc. This would be my largest watercolor to date! 22x29! It had to be accurate, it had to offer directional help, everything had to be in the right spot!

The first thing I did was experiment drawing groups of trees, since that would be the majority of the map! I came up with a style and color scheme that I liked, got it approved and then started mixing large amounts of the colors so I wouldn't have to waste any time remixing and color matching later.

They gave me their 4 currents maps to work from (including my own.) As you can see, none of them coincide!

13 Cats

When I was little I would grab a stack of Zoo Book magazines and draw animals like a xerox machine. I tried it again, for fun! I made a couple rules: no sketching, no pencil, no erasers! Just the pure adrenaline of drawing with pen.

After years developing a style as a chalk artist, and then in watercolor, it was interesting to revert to my young way of drawing with precise detail. I had to remind my eye and hand how to think spatially, moving from tiny detail to tiny detail.

Symmetry!

While drawing these cats I was awed by their unique nose, eye and ear shapes, as well as their face shapes, textures and markings.

One of the trickiest parts (that you don't really notice) is the whiskers. Drawing the negative space around them on the face, then the thin dashes that decide where they end. Thats where I would hold my breath!

and then..... ta da!

13 Cats

Top from left: Jaguar, Pallas's cat, puma,
Serval, lion, Caracal, Sand cat,
lynx, Margay, Tiger,
Black panther, Cheetah, Flat headed cat.

I submitted this to a Minted challenge, but alas, it didn't place. 
A couple days before I finished this piece our second issue of National Geographic arrived with an article called, 'Shadow Cats.' The text said, 'Shy and rarely seen, the world's small wildcats are experts at avoiding attention. Most remain little studied and get scant support. Eclipsed by their larger cousins, they deserve their day in the sun.'

I sure enjoyed studying their little faces!

If Giraffe was Real

This is a special piece that I did of Navine and all her buddies: Giraffe, Lamby, Whichy and of course Tom J Moose. Navine is instructing Giraffe to pick all the hard to reach mulberries. I painted this for Mimi, so there are special "Mimi" elements, like the doves her and Navine always listen too, and the moon that they always spot together in the day time sky. Navine is already so much bigger! But still loves her same buddies.

Starry Host

This was a commission I did a while back, maybe a year ago? I experimented doing a dark blue night sky rather than my usual purple.