It’s always fun to spend an hour drawing with Danny, JJ, and the DWM gang. This week we drew alligators; I chose graphite and watercolour as my media.
Alligator mississippiensis
Tag: sbsdrawwithme
this week’s draw with me
beatrix potter
This week on Draw With Me, we were inspired by English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist Beatrix Potter. Her books weren’t a big part of my childhood … maybe we had one or two? But now I’m impressed by her scientific illustrations and mycological studies. At her death in 1943, Potter bequeathed nearly all her property to the National Trust, including more than 4,000 acres (16 km²) of land, sixteen farms, numerous cottages, and herds of cattle and Herdwick sheep. At the time, it was the largest donation ever made to the National Trust, playing a crucial role in preserving the landscape that now forms part of the Lake District National Park. Thank you Beatrix!
crabby
I had fun drawing crabs with the Draw With Me gang. I ate a lot of mud crabs in my feral hippie days, living on tidal flats in the Australian tropics. We had very little money, but had a garden full of fruit trees, a canoe, and a bunch of crab pots, so we ate pretty well.
The Postman Joseph Roulin
Fun, fast art supply relay session on Draw with Me, using Van Gogh’s The Postman Joseph Roulin for inspiration. Watercolour pencils, regular coloured pencils, watercolours, paint markers, gouache, Posca pens, drawing inks, calligraphy ink.
speed sketching
Ten classic album covers. Three minutes each. How many do you recognise?
national moth week
It’s National Moth Week again, so we sketched moths (and their larvae) on Draw With Me.
Halysidota tessellaris, the banded tussock moth, is found in North America from southern Canada south through Texas and central Florida. Adult moths are attracted to decaying plants with pyrrolizidine alkaloids. They regurgitate on them, then drink the fluids, and thus acquire defensive chemicals that offer protection from predators.
Megalopyge crispata, the black-waved flannel moth, is found along the east coast of the United States, and as far inland as Oklahoma. The caterpillars produce a venom, delivered through hollow hairs that penetrate the skin, that can cause pain, headache, inflamed lymph glands and dermatitis. They may look cute and furry, but don’t go petting them!
Nephropidae vs Palinuridae
The theme for this week’s Draw with Me was lobsters, both “true” and “spiny”.
Although they superficially resemble each other in terms of overall shape and having a hard carapace and exoskeleton, the two groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae family) can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae and by the lack of claws. True lobsters (Nephropidae family) have much thinner antennae, and claws on the first three pairs of legs, with the first being particularly enlarged.
Spiny lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, but are particularly common in Australasia (where they are usually referred to as crayfish or sea crayfish) and in South Africa.
On the other hand, the American lobster (Homarus americanus)—also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, northern lobster or Maine lobster—thrives in cold, shallow waters. I wonder if the claw growth is an adaptation more useful in colder oceans. If so, why?
half full
As I have aged, I am definitely become more pessimistic about human beings, and everything we touch. But today I thought I’d play with some optimistic lettering, just for fun. Because allegedly it’s Optimist Day. And it’s always fun to play with a dip pen.
diametric opposite
I rarely sketch on toned paper, but thought I’d give it a go this time. It’s fun to use white charcoal.
In India, on January 26, they commemorate the day in 1950 that their constitution went into effect, turning the nation into a republic separate from the British raj.
January 26 is also the anniversary of the raising of the British flag in Sydney Cove in 1788, marking the start of New Holland’s colonisation. Officially known as Australia Day, it has become the biggest annual civic event in Australia, though it is often referred to as Invasion Day or Survival Day by Indigenous Australians and others.
So while one country is celebrating the removal of British shackles, the other is remembering the diametric opposite.
(January 26 is also my youngest’s birthday, and that’s a celebration I care about. Has it really been 35 years? Amazing.)
hashiworks 