You Are Beautiful

When a friend of mine contacted me about this collaborative project/art show that has been traveling the world and is coming to San Francisco, I absolutely had to get involved. The theme is "You Are Beautiful", and anyone can submit just about anything that reflects this sentiment in some way, from elaborate artwork to a handwritten sticker. I am already in love with the concept of a show based on such a positive message, but the part I am really excited about is what happens once the artwork comes down. A team of volunteers will take the work from the show and decorate/plaster the streets of San Francisco with YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!
The show itself will be at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street (near 24th,) and is running from January 14th- February 25th. The opening reception is TONIGHT, January 18th, from 6:30-9:30pm, and other events will be going on throughout the month. If you're in town I hope you'll go check out the show, I wish I could!

I didn't have much time to do anything elaborate, and I'm not even in the bay area right now, but I ended up sending in a drawing of a beautiful goat I once knew, based on a sketch from life done about 8 years ago. For me, this is about how I think all living creatures are beautiful, even the weird/unattractive/yucky ones!

You can read more about the You Are Beautiful project on their website. Also, check out their artist's statement all about spreading the "you are beautiful" message throughout the world.

nature cartoons for Bay Nature magazine

Bay Nature is an excellent San Francisco bay area magazine that discusses all aspects of the local enviroment and, you guessed it, nature! I met their editor at a publishing event a few months ago, and we discussed how they used to have cartoons in their magazine but haven't for quite a while. I showed him some samples of my comics and illustrations, and they decided to hire me to do a cartoon/one panel comic for the winter issue, which just came out. My cartoon references the results of a study recently published by the Point Reyes Bird Observatory about how songbirds of Central California have been getting bigger over the last 40 years. You can read more about the study, but first, here's the cartoon - featuring two very fat American robin nestlings!

New illustrated journalism piece for The Bay Citizen

A bay area online magazine called The Bay Citizen has been doing this really cool illustrated journalism feature called "Drawing Crowds", where they send a an illustrator to review a local event by writing and drawing about it. You may remember a previous illustrated piece I did for them in January about Silent Knight the sea lion, which I believe may have helped inspire the Drawing Crowds feature.

Last weekend, I attended the Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace near San Francisco, and had the opportunity to publish my own illustrated write-up in The Bay Citizen's Drawing Crowds section about my experience. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Here's an illustration I did while watching peformers at Mad Sal's:

Take a look at the entire post!

Some Stellanova Jewelry news!

Hey! If you're in the bay area, you've got TWO chances to see Stellanova Jewelry live and in person before I pack it all up and fly to warmer climes for the winter...

Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco: this weekend!

Come check out this awesome (FREE!) holiday craft fair featuring local vendors selling their own handmade goods. This event will showcase the work of a huge number of independent artists, so if you're buying gifts this season you can feel good about these purchases - you'll be contributing directly to these makers of fabulous things.

Saturday Dec 3rd, 12pm-6pm and Sunday December 4th, 11am-6pm
The Concourse Exhibition Center
620 Seventh St. (at Brannan)
San Francisco, CA
find more info at: http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/shows/holidayshow/

Ca Academy of Sciences: Nightlife, Thursday, December 15th 6pm-10pm

Have you heard of this cool event that happens every Thursday evening at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park? For just $10, you can spend your evening at this one-of-a-kind museum, enjoying the exhibits, drinking cocktails, dancing to the music of live DJs, and participating in various special events. (AND: PENGUINS!) On this particular Thursday, Bazaar Bizarre is running another holiday craft fair as part of Nightlife's festivities, and of course I had to get involved. This time, 40 local, independent artists will be set up in the museum to sell their wares (I hope they put us near the coral reef tank!)

Here are those details:
December 15th 2011 6-10PM/ 21+
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
More information and a link to buy tickets: http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/shows/night-life/

Not only will all of my regular merchandise be available, but this year I've teamed up with fellow artist Jeanne Buffa to bring you some special fair only exclusives. Don't miss 'em!

some birds

traditional Polynesian voyaging canoes

An amazing voyage has been taking place for the last few months in the Pacific Ocean, but it's one of those things you're unlikely to hear about unless you live in Hawai'i or the South Pacific. An ocean conservation group called Okeanos sponsored the construction of seven ocean-voyaging canoes, representing different Polynesian islands, and they're currently sailing the Pacific as a celebration of the traditional art of Polynesian voyaging and to raise awareness about ocean environmental issues. The canoes, called vaka moana, are replicas of the original double-hulled sailboats Polynesians used to traverse the open ocean for centuries, with some modern additions (a solar powered engine, for example.) The group of vaka left New Zealand on April 4th and set out on their epic journey, spending two months at sea before making their first stops at two different islands in French Polynesia. From there they headed to the north Pacific towards the Hawaiian island chain.
On June 17th, the seven canoes made their first north Pacific landing, right in Hilo Bay. On June 19th the crew participated in a ceremony on the beach while I sat in the sun and drew the boats.

After visiting a number of locations throughout the main Hawaiian islands, the vakas set out for San Francisco. As I am in the SF Bay Area now, I had fully intended to meet them again and perhaps get another chance to draw them, but sailing can be unpredictable... they arrived a week earlier than expected and I completely missed them! I am thankful that I at least had one opportunity to see these amazing boats up close.

For more info about the voyage, check out the Pacific Voyagers website! It includes a cool real-time map of where all the boats have sailed so far, pictures, videos, and blog updates from various crew members. So cool!

Off to 2011 San Diego Comic Con International!

Once again it's been a long time since I last updated this blog, but at least it's because I've been working on so much stuff!
I am leaving for comic con in the morning, where I'll again have a table in the small press section. As I have in the past, I'll be sharing my table with the talented Josh FrankeI, another East Bay comic artist/natural history fanatic. I don't have any brand-new books this year, although I am bringing a book that I completed last fall as well as my (8!) other comics/illustrated books to sell. My most recent publication, The Dreaming Sea (vol 1) is a printed compilation of my webcomics of the same name. Since the printing of this comic for APE last fall, I've had to all but abandon the web version of The Dreaming Sea, but I hope to resume posting regularly when I have more time.
Besides the comics, I will of course be offering plenty of Stellanova Jewelry for sale, but this year I've decided to try something new - t-shirts! I've always wanted to produce my own illustrated shirts, but it seems like time or money has always gotten in the way. I finally managed to work it out this year, and have produced a shirt I'm really happy with, featuring my pen and ink natural history illustrations of five sea urchin species common to Hawai'i and the South Pacific. I know this topic is a bit obscure, but I'm hoping people who love natural history and marine life will be as attracted to the shirt as they are to my jewelry!

This an image of the women's cut tee - regular t-shirts will also be available in a similar color and I'll be offering sizes S-XL in both styles. I plan to put these shirts up on Etsy when I get back for easy online ordering!

Here's one of the original drawings: a zebra urchin

And this is my favorite tropical sea urchin, the pencil or slate-pencil urchin. The spines of these urchins are solid, smooth but hard as bone, and as thick as my pinky finger. The pencil urchins I see in Hawai'i are an incredible shade of brilliant orange-red.

some work in progress

Hey so I'm back in Hawai'i for the next few months, and I've been hugely busy since we got here, juggling working on house renovations and illustrations for an upcoming book project. But I thought I should at least post a small update, so here's a sneak peek at a page I'm working on!

All these waterbirds (and all the living things that will appear in this book) can be found in the Sierra Nevada.

illustrated journalism and a sea lion

This week I was given an incredible opportunity - I was sent by a local news magazine, The Bay Citizen, to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito to sketch a newsworthy sea lion from life. Silent Knight, an adult male, was discovered sick and injured on December 8th at nearby Swede's Beach and taken to the Marine Mammal Center for treatment. It turned out that he'd been shot in the face, and although he's been recuperating well, he has permanently lost vision in both his eyes. He will not be able to be re-released to the wild because of his disability, and his future is uncertain.

This project couldn't have been more perfect for me - sketching animals from life is one of my favorite pastimes, and I have a long history of sketching pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) in particular, as they were my main area of focus when I was at UCSC studying biology. Also, I love the idea of illustrated journalism - an artist sent to draw newsworthy events live and onsite. By now, more than a month after Silent Knight's rescue, this story has been told numerous times in the local and national news, on tv and in newspapers and magazines, and many photos and videos have been published. But I feel that illustration used in a journalistic way can give a fresh and different perspective on a subject, perhaps conveying more emotion and sensitivity than a photo or written article.

I got permission from the Marine Mammal Center to visit Silent Knight on Monday, and was absolutely delighted to be given access to sit near his enclosure, watch, and draw him. It was about 40 degrees and the wind was blowing, so I had to take frequent breaks inside to warm up (especially my hands!) but I bundled up and ended up spending hours in his presence. Although he couldn't see me, I think he knew I was there, but he seemed unconcerned and spent a lot of the time resting in the sun. One highlight was watching him get fed - Silent Knight sat in the pool, his head up in anticipation, as the volunteer waited for the appropriate moment to throw a fish near him so it would make a loud smacking noise on the water that Silent Knight could hear. After the feeding was done, Silent Knight seemed agitated, pacing around the pool and barking - it seemed to me that he was still hungry, a very good sign for his continuing recovery.

Here is a portrait I did of Silent Knight as he rested after lunch:

And here's a link to the full article!

This was such an amazing experience and I'm so grateful to Bay Citizen and The Marine Mammal Center for providing me with the opportunity to experience Silent Knight and his environs in person, and to express my impressions and feelings through drawing. I really hope that this first foray into illustrated journalism helps bring more similar jobs my way!

Stellanova Jewelry holiday specials and new designs

If you're on my jewelry mailing list you already know that I'm offering some specials for the holidays this year. First off, some free shipping: Stellanova Jewelry orders will be shipped free to anywhere in the US until December 31st if you order through my site. Yay!
I'm also offering a $10 discount for a few select designs: the brown sea nettle (jellyfish), Pacific Giant Octopus, and Green Basilisk necklaces will all be available for $68 until the end of the month as well.
I am also super excited about my new designs - it's been a while. Some of you may have already seen the brown pelican, spinner dolphin, and black widow necklaces I made this summer - I'm finally now getting them up on the Stellanova Jewelry site. Then I have three more brand-new designs I'm just finishing up - the leafy sea dragon, red-ruffed lemur, and blue-footed booby. Check 'em out!

I should be done getting these new pieces uploaded and ready for sale by the end of the day tomorrow, December 8th. Dec 8th UPDATE new designs are now live! Wahoo!
Happy holidays to you, whatever you celebrate at this time of year :)