another reason ticks are creepy

i am not creeped out by many things, but ticks gives me the heebee jeebees and now i have another good reason to not snuggle up with them.  not that i eat much meat, but they are icky and can cause many more problems beyond a meat allergy.

i would still draw one.  as long as it was well preserved   

animals make the best muses

engineering inspired by animals only makes sense.   those animals got it right thanks to evolution.  

Image: Justin Jaworski

wish i lived in minnesota

if you live in minnesota, you have an great opportunity to join a free course where you can learn to sketch the birds.  fun!

creation of a workshop - excited about science illustration

thank goodness for the internet.  i recently received an email from michael weierusz who found me on c.o.s.e.e.'s community website.  micheal is the instructor of sed labs.  the goal of the course is to develop sustainable solutions by understanding the earth system and the human footprint.  this year, water is their main focus.  being a sucker for all things water (tide pools, wet lands, ocean, puddles...) i thought this would be an awesome opportunity to teach something i love. 

my brain is storming with ideas.  excited to bring my dissecting microscope and books that inspire me.  

ready to help some kids get excited about science illustration.  

Fucus gardneri - rock weed

check out this article. has a funny title, a slew of illustrations and it's about dinosaurs

it is always a challenge to create an illustration form something that does not exist.  this article has many drawings and models that show a bit on how that process works.  

Untrunked and hypothetical trunked brachiosaurus, produced by Bill Munns. 

convergent evolution is always interesting

neat article about what humans and insects have in common.  

also, some helpful science illustrations.  

if you can access journal articles, here is the original article that inspired scientific american. 

who needs sleep when there are meteor showers to see?

i probably will not be able to see them, but if you don't live in the land of perpetual cloudy skies (seattle, wa), then maybe you can enjoy these leonids between 12 am and 3 am on august 17th.  

Photograph by Tony Hallas, Science Faction/Corbis