I photographed this cheetah on an art workshop/safari to Kenya in 2004. Click to purchase here
This handsome lion was laying in the grass as we drove up in time to see the first light of day hit his golden mane. Click to purchase here
Sketching In New York
I just got back last night from a two-day trip to New York. One day was taken up with the Society of Animal Artists board meeting (of which, more later) and the second day with wandering around Greenwich Village sketching and then hitting some jazz clubs in the evening with fellow artist Guy Combes, who lives across the river in New Jersey as the artist-in-residence at the Hiram Blauvelt Museum of Art.
I hadn’t done any “urban” sketching for quite a long time, but the area of New York that I was in could keep an artist busy for a lifetime. As it was I did the four following sketches in a 5.5×8.5″ Strathmore Series 400 recycled paper sketchbook with a Pentel “Energel” .5 pen.
Nothing fancy here. These are about the process and just having fun.
Notice that I didn’t get into rendering a bunch of leaves on the big shrub. It’s just a shape.
All the little dark marks are what is left of old pier pilings.
I stood on the opposite corner to draw this festive restaurant exterior with the piggy sign.
None of these took more than about twenty minutes.
Three Paintings Available on eBay, 11-2-09; Thompson’s Gazelle, Peruvian Pelicans, Ground Hornbill
I’ve decided to do something new besides offering only small works at auction. In addition to those, I will be offering more substantive works for a set price, also on eBay. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you want more information or have any questions.
This painting was juried into the Bennington Center for the Arts “Art and the Animal Kingdom” exhibition in 2008. Click for listing here
I photographed this impressive ground hornbill when I was in Kenya in 2004 as a participant in Simon Combes’ art workshop safari.Click for listing here
I was also in Berlin in 2004 and was able to spend three days at the zoo sketching and taking pictures. I knew when I saw them that these Peruvian pink-backed pelicans would make great subjects. Click for listing here
Mongolia Monday- My Other Mongol Joke
Buuz is one of the most popular foods in Mongolia. They are a small, round steamed “dumpling” with a mutton or beef filling. Mongols make (and eat) zillions of them for their holidays. Just for fun we had a “buuz party” a couple of weeks ago. One of the guests, and the chief buuz maker, was a young Mongol woman, Ganaa, who I met when I advertised for a Mongolian language tutor before my 2006 trip. Her husband is an American who she met when he was teaching English over there in the Peace Corps a few years ago.
I told everyone at the party the Mongol joke that I posted here last week as we scarfed down many buuz and some delicious salads. Ganaa then told us a story about how a family is all sitting around a table eating buuz. There is only one left on the platter when, suddenly, the lights go out. After a short time, the lights come back on and the solitary buuz is gone. Everyone looks at everyone else. Who took the last buuz?
This has apparently been a running joke in Mongolia for many years.
Here’s a photo of the first buuz I ever saw.
I was in western Mongolia, on my way back from the Khomiin Tal tahki reintroduction site. We stopped in a soum center (county seat equivalent) for lunch at this little buuz stand. The ladies made them to order and they were delicious! They were also somewhat bemused by my desire to take a picture of something so utterly ordinary (to them, of course). This was the first real Mongolian food I had ever had.
A Trip To The California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
It took a little while to get there after it opened, but we finally visited the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park this past Sunday. I, like many people, was sorry to see the old building go, but the new one is fantastic. The living roof is worth the price of admission. The Planetarium now is now state of the art with three digital projectors. The original African Hall was preserved, along with this long-time resident….
Here’s some of my favorite images from the day-
The downstairs is a large and very well-done aquarium.
I’m a mammal person and don’t really know my fish that well. I’ve identified the ones I know. You’ll have to use teh googles for the others.
There’s an old Dean Martin song that someone wrote some new words for. It goes like this: “When the eel in the reef has your heel in its teeth, that’s a moray.”
And finally, we walked through the botanical garden across the street before we went to the Academy and “met” this guy:
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EBay Auction, 10-27-09- Grasmere Path, The Lake District, England SOLD
We walked this path around Grasmere, one of the lovely small lakes in Cumbria, some years ago and I loved the soft dappled sun coming through the trees on a late summer afternoon.
Click to bid here
Mongolia Monday- A Mongol Joke
One of the many things I enjoy about traveling to other countries is learning what is considered humorous and to what extent it overlaps with what Americans find funny. This last July in Mongolia, I finally got a chance to explore this with my guide, who spoke very good English. I asked him about Mongol humor and he told me this joke (paraphrased to read smoothly):
An old man was sitting in his ger on a cold evening. The door opened (Mongols don’t knock. They just go in.) and a young man entered. The elder offered the young man milk tea and aruul. They sat and chatted. It grew late. The old man pointed to a mattress on the floor and asked the young man if he wanted a blanket. No, no, the young man said, he would be fine. “Are you sure?” said the old man, “It’s going to be cold tonight.” “No”, replied the young man, very firmly, “I will be fine.” “I can give you a blanket.” “No, I don’t need a blanket.” “Very well then.”
Morning came, the old man woke up, looked over and saw that the young man was lying under the mattress.
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Further contributions to what I hope will become a collection of Mongol jokes and humor would be greatly appreciated. Please send them to sfox at foxstudio dot biz.
The Big Argali Painting, Part 5
Spent pretty much all of my easel time on the argali painting this week. I think I’ve got it on track now. I need to do some detail drawings of the horns of all three to make sure I understand their structure and perspective before I begin the final stage on them.
I tried painting the big ram light all over, like my reference of him, yesterday, along with defining his neck and shoulder muscles. Came in this morning and realized that I needed to go back to the original color rough because I’d lost the value contrast I needed and the interesting color variation that the younger rams have on their heads and bodies. So I ended up going in dark over light, which worked just fine.
I also added a couple more layers of color to the sky- a light warm and a light cool, knocked back the right side background with a pale glaze and the left shadow side with an ultramarine blue glaze to cool it down.
This morning I started on the young ram on the left and pretty much have him where I want him. Then I went back to the main ram and repainted him from head to tail.
I’m starting to get the light quality I’m after. Next, I believe, will be the left side and foreground rocks to “catch them up” with the rest.
EBay Auction, 10-19-09- Fall Aspens, Wyoming $55
I photographed these beautiful aspen trees on a trip to Wyoming a few years ago.
To purchase, contact me at sfox at foxstudio dot biz
Susan Fox, American Artist 