"Yield" + Field-tripping: Dead Hairy Animals

This could be construed as much a commentary on local construction as the everyday habits of resident drivers… Last week while running late I ran smack into a flagger line on Miller Hill, then detoured on account of the closure of the Sheep Creek crossover to the Parks, then another detour to reach the Post Office, then another detour to get to Safeway to grab some supplies, then the usual, ongoing construction fiasco on campus. That’s five points within five miles/half an hour of travel. College Road is sure nice though, as the thing is, like complaining about the weather, folks will gripe about how bad the roads are, and rage about construction. Bullish nature, all too human.

Speaking of moose, here's a handful of images scanned from the sketchbook: all demos done while out on field trips with the Beginning Drawing class to gather reference material for our semesterly assignment on rendering textures during the introduction to basic pen + ink (see previous posts here: 2009, 2010 and last year).

"Pink-eyed Greenhorn"

I worked up the moose one, just as an experimentation, especially since I've been playing with a new toy in the toolbox: ordered a Kurosawa synthetic brush to compare against the Pentel Pocket Brush that's been in frequent use as of late. Must say I'm impressed with it, excepting the fact that it's water-soluble, which belatedly was discovered after the fact, much to my dismay. Still, nothing beats the traditional Winsor + Newton Series 7 Kolinski Sable.

The goose I kept as a pencil sketch, after working up some of the lines and value just a touch. Much as I start getting turned off at the commercialized context of these mounted animal displays (especially in conjunction with all the weapons), there are some pretty nice specimens in the store of a flock of Canadian Geese in flight. Requisite studies before attempting the real deal out in the field. On the other hand the otter I left alone, which is normally a good idea anyways. Total time estimates are: 15 minutes for the goose, an hour for the moose, and a couple hours for the otter.

Even though I reflexively try to take reference pictures, I never use them anymore. Either as a result of getting good enough on-the-spot at taking "visual notes," or (more likely) I've simply stopped caring about faithful depictions of reality. Then again, this is the state where we actually have libraries where one can check out taxidermy models.