studies

New Painting - Saiga Antelope

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Saiga Antelope for Jaimie

A strange and wonderful animal for my lady.

16” X 11”

Acrylic on Panel

detail

progress

New Painting - Sand Shrimp

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These creeps have been burrowing through mud flats since the supercontinent Pangea began breaking apart, and the first flowers bloomed. I can find living ones and fossilized ones within 20 miles of each other.

Mud, or sand shrimps are widely regarded as a supurb fishing bait for salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon. A nightmare to keep on a hook, use an egg loop, Miracle Thread or a similar elastic thread.

My reference specimens were dug near Seaside, Oregon, taken home and photographed.

9” X 14” Acrylic on Panel

Detail

Above: A Freshly dug, live shrimp, I pumped fresh from a mudflat.

Opposite: Claw parts; carpus, propodus, fixed finger and dactylus of a fossilized shrimp I found along the Columbia River.

Shrimp anatomy and natural history reference - https://depositsmag.com/2017/07/04/the-abundant-yet-understudied-fossil-record-of-ghost-shrimps/

Molding and Casting a Starry Flounder for Reference

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I caught this small Starry Flounder while Surfperch fishing. It was hooked deep and wouldn’t have survived if I had released it, so I decided to keep it and make a half cast for reference.

Cleaned and dried.

Placed in bedding material to midline.

Plaster negative dried and sealed.

Resin positive.