Showing posts with label Darwin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darwin. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Merry Darwin Day 2012!
Appropriately enough, I'm working on some scientific illustrations of beetles this Darwin Day. Can't show anyone yet.
Please enjoy these images of our man Charles from years' past, and make sure to read The Beagle Project's Blog post about Darwin's birthday aboard the H.M.S. Beagle.
The images below are from 2009, when I attempted to live blog progress from scratch of a new oil painting of a young Charles Darwin discovering a glyptodont skull in South America during the voyage of the Beagle. At the time (you can find all the blog entries in February 2009) I wasn't happy with how the piece was turning out, and the exercise got weird. Still glad I attempted it - it's good to experiment. If you look at the first sketch, you can see the ghostly sketch of the Beagle masts rising behind our young explorer.  |
| Quick sketch to get the shadows and composition down. |
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| Focused on the face first. Relatively happy with the pencils. |
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| Tinted in Photoshop, I actually like this sketched image better than the final. |
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| My work station. Love those Micron brushes. |
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| More or less (somewhat less) complete. |
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
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Friday, 1 April 2011
Do not adjust your Trilobite
*Do not adjust your Trilobite*
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| *keep enrolled and carry on* |
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Darwin Day is coming!
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| Darwin Took Steps © Glendon Mellow 2008. Oil on canvas paper. |
Darwin Day is coming up on February 12th!
If there's any painting I've done that's iconic of my work, it's this one. Darwin Took Steps has appeared on books, magazines and around the intertubes. It's available as prints, greeting cards, postcards, t-shirts and even stickers in my online shop. Great time to order, and half the profit goes to The Beagle Project.
The image also appears in two of my calendar collections (one version in pencil). Not too late to order those either. You can pick what month the calendar starts.
If there's any painting I've done that's iconic of my work, it's this one. Darwin Took Steps has appeared on books, magazines and around the intertubes. It's available as prints, greeting cards, postcards, t-shirts and even stickers in my online shop. Great time to order, and half the profit goes to The Beagle Project.
The image also appears in two of my calendar collections (one version in pencil). Not too late to order those either. You can pick what month the calendar starts.
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Art & Science at the Centre for Inquiry
Recently, Pam Walls of the Centre for Inquiry Ontario invited me to join in a group art show with the theme of art & science. 
I put three pieces in the show, and attempted to sell three others. Admittedly. turnout was slim, and most of the other artists were not there. This could have been because the gallery show was part of a larger conference with a big attending fee, and it wasn't clear anyone could attend the free gallery show - I couldn't figure it out from the website, and asked someone the day-of. Not to grumble overmuch - the people in attendance were interesting and we had a nice evening.
Michelle joined me, and we had a great time, met some interesting people including artist Karyn Wong and her boyfriend Jacob. Karyn's work is pretty fantastic stuff (digital fairies!) so make sure to check it out.
I was also invited to take part in a panel discussion on art and science. This was a packed room, and the participants asked excellent questions of the presenters. Each of us on the panel had about 20 minutes, and I briefly touched on questions like;
How does art give back to science?
Has art been the stimulus of research?
How can anthropomorphizing areas of research help - as in thinking about organelles or particles?
Mostly a few questions from the ScienceOnline09 and ScienceOnline2010, while using a few of my paintings as a springboard to get the audience involved. I managed to generate a few laughs, so I think it went well.
The other two presenters on our panel were pretty amazing. I wish it could have gone longer. Here's the blurb from the CFI site:
Thanks to Pam Walls and Justin Trottier for a great day!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
I put three pieces in the show, and attempted to sell three others. Admittedly. turnout was slim, and most of the other artists were not there. This could have been because the gallery show was part of a larger conference with a big attending fee, and it wasn't clear anyone could attend the free gallery show - I couldn't figure it out from the website, and asked someone the day-of. Not to grumble overmuch - the people in attendance were interesting and we had a nice evening.
Michelle joined me, and we had a great time, met some interesting people including artist Karyn Wong and her boyfriend Jacob. Karyn's work is pretty fantastic stuff (digital fairies!) so make sure to check it out.I was also invited to take part in a panel discussion on art and science. This was a packed room, and the participants asked excellent questions of the presenters. Each of us on the panel had about 20 minutes, and I briefly touched on questions like;
How does art give back to science?
Has art been the stimulus of research?
How can anthropomorphizing areas of research help - as in thinking about organelles or particles?
Mostly a few questions from the ScienceOnline09 and ScienceOnline2010, while using a few of my paintings as a springboard to get the audience involved. I managed to generate a few laughs, so I think it went well.
The other two presenters on our panel were pretty amazing. I wish it could have gone longer. Here's the blurb from the CFI site:
11:00 am - 12:30 pm - Panel 2: Science and Art
Can art be turned into a science? Can science be turned into an art? How do science and art influence each other? Plus, we'll explore the intersection of art and design with science and technology.
* Paula Gardner, The Portage Project: Material meets Digital in Mobile Experience
* Roshelle Filart, Selling Science to the Public
* CFI Conference Art Exhibitors, featuring Glendon Mellow, "Art in Awe of Science"
Thanks to Pam Walls and Justin Trottier for a great day!
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Monday, 7 December 2009
Art Monday: Darwin Display
From -nieh-'s Flickr photostream. A mighty tip of a ten-gallon hat to Michael Barton of Dispersal of Darwin for sending me the link. I believe this must be the Casa de las Ciencias display I mentioned recently.
Sweet. I like the Darwin-Moth painting. Anyone know who painted that one? I'm proud to have Darwin Took Steps in such good company.
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
2010 Calendar Available now!
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Happy Origin Day!
Happy Origin Day!
150 years ago, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was originally published. It's like a science-blogohedron holiday today - wonderful links and commentary everywhere.
Why not read a few links, become inspired about science education, and perhaps make a donation to the Beagle Project?
Darwin Took Steps, above, will be shown to a new audience in 2010. As part of Casa de las Ciencias 2010 Darwin exhibit, a reproduction of my painting will be shown as part of a display about how Darwin is still making waves in visual media. I'm completely thrilled! My first museum exhibit, and in Spain no less! I have never been to Europe, and Michelle thinks next summer would be the perfect time to head to Spain. Good idea. The building itself is beautiful, and they have a great logo for their Darwin year. (Museum photo from Wikipedia.)
This painting is piling up a nice c.v. of its own - debuting on The Eloquent Atheist, shown on the cover of Secular Nation, the book cover of La Mente di Darwin, as part of the book cover for Open Laboratory 2008 - and hopefully, it will continue to intrigue new viewers to learn about Charles Darwin and his wonderful writing.
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If you like this image, it's available as matted prints, greeting cards and t-shirts in my reproduction shop. A portion of the profits goes in support of The Beagle Project.
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
150 years ago, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was originally published. It's like a science-blogohedron holiday today - wonderful links and commentary everywhere.
Why not read a few links, become inspired about science education, and perhaps make a donation to the Beagle Project?
Darwin Took Steps, above, will be shown to a new audience in 2010. As part of Casa de las Ciencias 2010 Darwin exhibit, a reproduction of my painting will be shown as part of a display about how Darwin is still making waves in visual media. I'm completely thrilled! My first museum exhibit, and in Spain no less! I have never been to Europe, and Michelle thinks next summer would be the perfect time to head to Spain. Good idea. The building itself is beautiful, and they have a great logo for their Darwin year. (Museum photo from Wikipedia.)
This painting is piling up a nice c.v. of its own - debuting on The Eloquent Atheist, shown on the cover of Secular Nation, the book cover of La Mente di Darwin, as part of the book cover for Open Laboratory 2008 - and hopefully, it will continue to intrigue new viewers to learn about Charles Darwin and his wonderful writing.
- - - - - - - -
If you like this image, it's available as matted prints, greeting cards and t-shirts in my reproduction shop. A portion of the profits goes in support of The Beagle Project.
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Monday, 19 October 2009
Art Monday: Science Checkmate
A couple of days ago, I used Photoshop to edit my painting, Science Chess Accommodating Religion.
I want to try changing the relationships of the pieces, and making the image more graphic and cartoony so it could appear on a t-shirt. I am thinking about captioning it "Science Checkmate". 
Michael Barton, of The Dispersal of Darwin suggested placing the pieces around the fallen bishop. Great Idea, Michael! It changes the way they appear utterly.
Finally, I will need to punch up the whites and reds so it can be printed on fabric with more vibrant and clear colour.
I have to say, I'm working with Photoshop Elements these days, a program that came in in the box with my Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. I didn't use it on my old computer, but Elements (so far) appears to be superior to me old Photoshop CS. The selection brush is one of the coolest things ever. I thought it was just for tracing and it took a moment after selecting the outline of the Mendel piece to realize it simply expands the selection field to wherever you've brushed! It was a magic moment.
I'll post the final cartoony image and t-shirt another day, once it's in the repro shop.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
I want to try changing the relationships of the pieces, and making the image more graphic and cartoony so it could appear on a t-shirt. I am thinking about captioning it "Science Checkmate". 
Michael Barton, of The Dispersal of Darwin suggested placing the pieces around the fallen bishop. Great Idea, Michael! It changes the way they appear utterly.
Finally, I will need to punch up the whites and reds so it can be printed on fabric with more vibrant and clear colour. I have to say, I'm working with Photoshop Elements these days, a program that came in in the box with my Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. I didn't use it on my old computer, but Elements (so far) appears to be superior to me old Photoshop CS. The selection brush is one of the coolest things ever. I thought it was just for tracing and it took a moment after selecting the outline of the Mendel piece to realize it simply expands the selection field to wherever you've brushed! It was a magic moment.
I'll post the final cartoony image and t-shirt another day, once it's in the repro shop.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Labels:
atheist,
chess,
Darwin,
digital,
medicine,
oil paint,
Photoshop,
reproductions
Links to this post
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Science Checkmate
Using my oil painting Science Accommodating Religion, I've been noodling around with the image.
This might look good on a t-shirt if I punch up the colours to a less painterly, more graphic cartoony look. Hmm. I saved the image with all the pieces in separate layers so I can move them around and resize them easily. Now that I look at it, perhaps the pieces should not be so evenly spaced.
Looking for opinions: how should I tweak it for a shirt in my repro shop?
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
This might look good on a t-shirt if I punch up the colours to a less painterly, more graphic cartoony look. Hmm. I saved the image with all the pieces in separate layers so I can move them around and resize them easily. Now that I look at it, perhaps the pieces should not be so evenly spaced.
Looking for opinions: how should I tweak it for a shirt in my repro shop?
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Labels:
atheist,
chess,
Darwin,
medicine,
Painting,
religion,
reproductions,
science
Links to this post
Friday, 28 August 2009
Contest winner!
Winner of my first contest:
Coturnix!
Bora, you will receive a signed print of Science-Chess Accomodating Religion some time in the next few weeks.
Holy Monkey that was close.
I had to call in a second judge to weigh in accuracy factors and the timing of entries. I've also already, (appropriately, I think) tweeted the winning announcement.
Here are my original ideas, and a breakdown of how Coturnix won the print:
Pieces in the back, left to right:
-Darwin's tree of life drawing
-Wave-particle duality
-Kekule's dream of an ourobouros representing the benzene ring
-Mendel's peas
-Copernican heliocentrism
-Red bishop as religion, transparent, cracked, alone and with a halo, the halo being a symbol that most religions incorporate into their visual iconography
Toppled in the foreground, left to right:
-Stem cells
-Needle representing vaccines
But dude, this was close.
Basically, by mine and my second judge's tally, Scicurious actually had all of the correct answers - but the last after contest closing at noon today. Sorry Sci! I had to draw a line.
The piece representing wave-particle duality was the toughie - some of the answers had me scurrying to look up science concepts or history I was unaware of! Anonymous-Trish had it almost bang-on, but if I am looking at the difference between Coturnix's "radioactivity" answer and Anon-Trish & James' "Curie's theory of radioactive decay and using it for carbon dating", I chose the earlier answer.
Thanks to everyone who played along - this was fun. And I like Bora's suggestion to see this on a t-shirt. And I think I need to send Greg Laden a Mr. Bill made out of plasticine.
Thanks everyone!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Coturnix!
Bora, you will receive a signed print of Science-Chess Accomodating Religion some time in the next few weeks.
Holy Monkey that was close.
I had to call in a second judge to weigh in accuracy factors and the timing of entries. I've also already, (appropriately, I think) tweeted the winning announcement.
Here are my original ideas, and a breakdown of how Coturnix won the print:
Pieces in the back, left to right:
-Darwin's tree of life drawing
-Wave-particle duality
-Kekule's dream of an ourobouros representing the benzene ring
-Mendel's peas
-Copernican heliocentrism
-Red bishop as religion, transparent, cracked, alone and with a halo, the halo being a symbol that most religions incorporate into their visual iconography
Toppled in the foreground, left to right:
-Stem cells
-Needle representing vaccines
But dude, this was close.
Basically, by mine and my second judge's tally, Scicurious actually had all of the correct answers - but the last after contest closing at noon today. Sorry Sci! I had to draw a line.
The piece representing wave-particle duality was the toughie - some of the answers had me scurrying to look up science concepts or history I was unaware of! Anonymous-Trish had it almost bang-on, but if I am looking at the difference between Coturnix's "radioactivity" answer and Anon-Trish & James' "Curie's theory of radioactive decay and using it for carbon dating", I chose the earlier answer.
Thanks to everyone who played along - this was fun. And I like Bora's suggestion to see this on a t-shirt. And I think I need to send Greg Laden a Mr. Bill made out of plasticine.
Thanks everyone!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Labels:
atheist,
chess,
Darwin,
Glendon Mellow,
medicine,
oil paint,
religion,
reproductions,
Twitter,
win a print
Links to this post
Saturday, 22 August 2009
"Science-Chess Accommodating Religion"...contest!
"I'm thinking scientific accommodation of religion is akin to letting someone take your King's Rook off the board because you're winning."
This painting was originally created due to the above Twitter tweet I made, inspired by the writing of Jerry Coyne, Ophelia Benson, PZ Myers, Mike Haubrich, Stephanie Zvan, Greg Laden, Jason Thibeault, Russell Blackford and Richard Dawkins. This painting is an homage to your writing, and the other atheists out there unafraid to speak up (I am sure I have left many out). Mike liked it enough to add it to his rotating quotes, and that got me thinking about how I would visualize it.
Since I began blogging my art, I have struggled with themes of secularism and atheism without being cartoonish or overly mocking. Science and my surreal riffs are fun and fascinating for me, but atheist painting concepts have been a challenge.
The contest: identify all the pieces. I will give the first person to figure them all out a signed print from my reproduction store. Blog comments here at this Flying Trilobite post only to qualify (not Twitter or Facebook at this time, please, it will be hard to see who was first). A higher quality view of the image can be seen in my Reproduction Shop.
Let's say...in order of left to right, with the two toppled pieces in the foreground following the red piece in sequence? I will be away for my usual Art Monday, so let's leave this contest in its stead.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Labels:
atheist,
chess,
Darwin,
Glendon Mellow,
medicine,
oil paint,
religion,
reproductions,
Twitter,
win a print
Links to this post
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Colouring Book Submission!
Holy Monkey!
I received an extra-lovely surprise the other day - a completed colouring book page from the few I put up back in April! Arrived on my birthday actually - awesome!!!
This is from Montana, by young (3) Patrick Barton, son of blogger Michael Barton, who keeps everyone afloat on all things Darwin at The Dispersal of Darwin. Michael is looking for submissions about the history of science for the next Giant's Shoulder's blog carnival! More info here.
In Patrick's interpretation of Darwin Took Steps, I must say in particular I like the attention paid to the out-of-place staircase, and to Charles' buttons. On the right-hand side, is that a sketch of the tree of life I see? Great artwork, Patrick!
Thanks for sending this, guys!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Except for this lovely coloured book page. I can't claim credit for that. Copyright to the Bartons.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
I received an extra-lovely surprise the other day - a completed colouring book page from the few I put up back in April! Arrived on my birthday actually - awesome!!!
This is from Montana, by young (3) Patrick Barton, son of blogger Michael Barton, who keeps everyone afloat on all things Darwin at The Dispersal of Darwin. Michael is looking for submissions about the history of science for the next Giant's Shoulder's blog carnival! More info here. In Patrick's interpretation of Darwin Took Steps, I must say in particular I like the attention paid to the out-of-place staircase, and to Charles' buttons. On the right-hand side, is that a sketch of the tree of life I see? Great artwork, Patrick!
Thanks for sending this, guys!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Except for this lovely coloured book page. I can't claim credit for that. Copyright to the Bartons.
Flying Trilobite Gallery *** Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ***
Monday, 13 April 2009
Art Monday: search, download, comment
One of the things about blogging that appeals to me is seeing a bit about the people who come across my art. Widgets can help a lot with the ever-welcome lurkers and shed some light on their shadowy existence. Everyone uses them, so I think the Big Brother aspect of them is largely mitigated by their egalitarian use.
The concept of everyone watching everyone else and the failure of privacy as a right is excellently explored in David Brin's Earth and in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. In Earth, there is still tension; in The Diamond Age, new social mores modeled on Victorians and Confucianism make spying uncouth.
Anyway, I'm not opening this up to reveal ISP's or anything. But as an artist, the subject of who is downloading my stuff is fascinating and a bit daunting at the same time.
If you don't expose artwork to viewers, you languish in obscurity. No security is great enough to stop someone from ripping you off though. I've heard a number of stories about how people have been caught doing just that.
Today, I would like to look and speculate.
-Someone who works at an ad company in Belgium looked at a few pages of my blog, searched for the word "coelacanth" and finally downloaded my Darwin Day liveblog result.
-The most popular download in the last little while is my poster for The Centre for Inquiry-sponsored PZ Myers lecture last Hallowe'en. And surprising to me, is half again as many people downloaded my scribbly rough sketch! What for?
-The second-most popular download is a photo of an albino squirrel in Trinity-Bellwoods park I snapped here in Toronto. Albino squirrel populations exist in a bunch of places, and I suppose the sight of one is rare enough people go online scrambling for photos of the skittish mammals. Perhaps I should apologize for my photography.
-To the person in Sweden who searched for "fossil encrinurus photo" and downloaded my pencil drawing - I make no guarantees about scientific accuracy. Although I aim for a high degree of accuracy to reach out to my core scientifically-literate audience, sometimes I just like how the pencil pattern looks.
-For the Arizona resident searching under "flying trilobite hoax", I'm kind of glad you didn't find one. I don't paint inaccurately-winged flying trilobites on pieces of shale for the same reason people make crop circles or launch flares. In other words, it is not to test people's gullibility. That's why they are usually labeled "Mythical Flying Trilobite Fossil". I paint flying trilobites largely for the same reason people paint dragons or faeries. It's fun and interesting, and hopefully sparks the imagination. (Hmm, is there a children's book of flying trilobites hiding inside me somewhere?) Can you imagine if I did try to perpetuate a hoax about finding a genuine flying trilobite fossil? How many people would read their morning papers or bloggy news-source and be shocked? Richard Fortey, Marek Eby, and Sam Gon III?
My stuff is under a Creative Commons Licence, specifically one that means you may share, email and download my art, you simply need to a)always cite it as mine with a link to me, b)not alter it in any way, and c) not make any $$$ from it. That last part's my job. So by all means, share and enjoy my artwork.
And don't be afraid to send an email or make a comment! Feedback for a blogging artist is all that and a bag of chips.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ###
The concept of everyone watching everyone else and the failure of privacy as a right is excellently explored in David Brin's Earth and in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. In Earth, there is still tension; in The Diamond Age, new social mores modeled on Victorians and Confucianism make spying uncouth.
Anyway, I'm not opening this up to reveal ISP's or anything. But as an artist, the subject of who is downloading my stuff is fascinating and a bit daunting at the same time.
If you don't expose artwork to viewers, you languish in obscurity. No security is great enough to stop someone from ripping you off though. I've heard a number of stories about how people have been caught doing just that.Today, I would like to look and speculate.
-Someone who works at an ad company in Belgium looked at a few pages of my blog, searched for the word "coelacanth" and finally downloaded my Darwin Day liveblog result.
-The most popular download in the last little while is my poster for The Centre for Inquiry-sponsored PZ Myers lecture last Hallowe'en. And surprising to me, is half again as many people downloaded my scribbly rough sketch! What for?
-The second-most popular download is a photo of an albino squirrel in Trinity-Bellwoods park I snapped here in Toronto. Albino squirrel populations exist in a bunch of places, and I suppose the sight of one is rare enough people go online scrambling for photos of the skittish mammals. Perhaps I should apologize for my photography.
-To the person in Sweden who searched for "fossil encrinurus photo" and downloaded my pencil drawing - I make no guarantees about scientific accuracy. Although I aim for a high degree of accuracy to reach out to my core scientifically-literate audience, sometimes I just like how the pencil pattern looks.-For the Arizona resident searching under "flying trilobite hoax", I'm kind of glad you didn't find one. I don't paint inaccurately-winged flying trilobites on pieces of shale for the same reason people make crop circles or launch flares. In other words, it is not to test people's gullibility. That's why they are usually labeled "Mythical Flying Trilobite Fossil". I paint flying trilobites largely for the same reason people paint dragons or faeries. It's fun and interesting, and hopefully sparks the imagination. (Hmm, is there a children's book of flying trilobites hiding inside me somewhere?) Can you imagine if I did try to perpetuate a hoax about finding a genuine flying trilobite fossil? How many people would read their morning papers or bloggy news-source and be shocked? Richard Fortey, Marek Eby, and Sam Gon III?
My stuff is under a Creative Commons Licence, specifically one that means you may share, email and download my art, you simply need to a)always cite it as mine with a link to me, b)not alter it in any way, and c) not make any $$$ from it. That last part's my job. So by all means, share and enjoy my artwork.
And don't be afraid to send an email or make a comment! Feedback for a blogging artist is all that and a bag of chips.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ###
Monday, 23 February 2009
Art Monday: inspiration interruption
Inspiration can strike at unlikely times. Usually, once I feel bogged down and frustrated while waiting for the oil layers to become tacky and the details to swim up and wow my eye, I am struck by competing compositions that fight my attention.
This time I'm going with it. Yeah, sure I have a sketchbook-load of ideas waiting to jump out this year, but I need to explore this Darwin and South American mammal fossil thing for a bit. My wife was great, just said go for it. Sure I spent ten hours drawing, painting and liveblogging; but I'm going where the Muse leads me.
So here's is where I left Charles since Darwin Day, discovering our friend the glyptodon.
It's not complete, and I'm still working on it. Remind me to fix the wrist. And the sky remains a mystery for now.
But I'm not about to abandon two of the other ideas that have been rattling around in my brain, waiting for release through my micro-paintbrushes.
Here's the beginning of one. I was hoping to sketch megatherium, but it turns out the Royal Ontario Museum doesn't have one on display. So, after a hasty 20 minutes between work ending and the R.O.M. closing, I sketched the distinguished skull on the left, an eremotherium.
You may notice I was looking up at it. On the right is the glyptodon again, a new drawing.
There will be more to this image, including Charles. To picture him, think of this quote: "He should be quite well-protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is."
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
This time I'm going with it. Yeah, sure I have a sketchbook-load of ideas waiting to jump out this year, but I need to explore this Darwin and South American mammal fossil thing for a bit. My wife was great, just said go for it. Sure I spent ten hours drawing, painting and liveblogging; but I'm going where the Muse leads me.
So here's is where I left Charles since Darwin Day, discovering our friend the glyptodon.
It's not complete, and I'm still working on it. Remind me to fix the wrist. And the sky remains a mystery for now.
But I'm not about to abandon two of the other ideas that have been rattling around in my brain, waiting for release through my micro-paintbrushes.
Here's the beginning of one. I was hoping to sketch megatherium, but it turns out the Royal Ontario Museum doesn't have one on display. So, after a hasty 20 minutes between work ending and the R.O.M. closing, I sketched the distinguished skull on the left, an eremotherium.
You may notice I was looking up at it. On the right is the glyptodon again, a new drawing.There will be more to this image, including Charles. To picture him, think of this quote: "He should be quite well-protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is."
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Labels:
Artwork Mondays,
Darwin,
Darwin Day,
eremotherium,
fossil,
glyptodon,
liveblog,
megatherium,
oil paint,
R.O.M.,
sketch
Links to this post
Monday, 16 February 2009
Art Monday: Deviants on Darwin
The massive art-sharing site DeviantArt is a place of wild abandon and artistic freedom...and a lot of Shonin and Shoju manga. I've had a gallery there almost as long as I've been blogging.
I wasn't planning on writing too much more about last year's Darwin piece. I may have some more news concerning its use, but that's all. However, while I was busy liveblogging a new Darwin painting and enjoying other people's posts on Darwin Day, I didn't realise that one of the DeviantArt high-muckety-mucks named Stykera had selected it as a Daily Deviation for Darwin Day.
(click on the nice man to go to it's place in the DeviantArt gallery. Once there, click to enlarge)
It was a torrent, at least by my standards. Suddenly, since it was included as a Daily Deviation;
-it has received about 5700 new pageviews,
-been commented on over 400 times (ignore ones authored by "Nobody"; seems to be a glitch)
-I've received another 400 inbox comments,
-456 people have favourited the painting and added it to galleries,
-66 people have downloaded the image and
-some mudslinging by creationists has been ably handled by some real science-lovers on DeviantArt!
All while I obliviously worked on the new piece. I feel like there was a concert in my painting's honour, complete with a love-in of "Happy Darwin Day" and a chair-busting brawl while I was out buying milk.
Lucky for me, science, and our man Charles, there are some very enthusiastic science-loving articulate and patient artists who gave the creationists a dressing-down while I fiddled with my paintbox.
Wading through all the comments is taking me a while, but here's some of the fine folks whose galleries I'd invite people to visit and comment on. These able people - before now, all strangers to me - rushed in to stack barricades of science books against the tide of baffling ignorance. Not all are atheists - but they understand evolution by natural selection.
Stykera, Azkardchic, Not-Bernard (he really was amazing and patient with a particular commenter) Oddspelling, Alyxium, thewizardess, Archimedes-Theory, and Se1ene.
Thanks to all DeviantArtists for their support and wishing a merry Darwin Day!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
I wasn't planning on writing too much more about last year's Darwin piece. I may have some more news concerning its use, but that's all. However, while I was busy liveblogging a new Darwin painting and enjoying other people's posts on Darwin Day, I didn't realise that one of the DeviantArt high-muckety-mucks named Stykera had selected it as a Daily Deviation for Darwin Day.
(click on the nice man to go to it's place in the DeviantArt gallery. Once there, click to enlarge)It was a torrent, at least by my standards. Suddenly, since it was included as a Daily Deviation;
-it has received about 5700 new pageviews,
-been commented on over 400 times (ignore ones authored by "Nobody"; seems to be a glitch)
-I've received another 400 inbox comments,
-456 people have favourited the painting and added it to galleries,
-66 people have downloaded the image and
-some mudslinging by creationists has been ably handled by some real science-lovers on DeviantArt!
All while I obliviously worked on the new piece. I feel like there was a concert in my painting's honour, complete with a love-in of "Happy Darwin Day" and a chair-busting brawl while I was out buying milk.
Lucky for me, science, and our man Charles, there are some very enthusiastic science-loving articulate and patient artists who gave the creationists a dressing-down while I fiddled with my paintbox.
Wading through all the comments is taking me a while, but here's some of the fine folks whose galleries I'd invite people to visit and comment on. These able people - before now, all strangers to me - rushed in to stack barricades of science books against the tide of baffling ignorance. Not all are atheists - but they understand evolution by natural selection.
Stykera, Azkardchic, Not-Bernard (he really was amazing and patient with a particular commenter) Oddspelling, Alyxium, thewizardess, Archimedes-Theory, and Se1ene.
Thanks to all DeviantArtists for their support and wishing a merry Darwin Day!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Friday, 13 February 2009
Merry Darwin Evening!
Liveblogging a new painting has taught me some things:
-It is possible to tire from the taste of amaretto-flavoured coffee (!)
-Don't start until you have a kick-ass drawing already complete, scans & paintable prints ready
-Stop reading other Darwin Day posts when trying to paint
-Twitter is all aboot being an amazing tool
-There is no such thing as a small enough brush for an 8.5x11" painting
-As prodigious and exemplary as his work was, even Mr. Darwin must have slept sometimes.
Perhaps I should have simply tinted the drawing in Photoshop and called it a night?
I will soldier on over the weekend, and post a follow-up for Art Monday at the latest. Thanks to everyone for support today and all the entertaining and informative things I never knew about our Charlie.
This ain't done.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop #
## 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
-It is possible to tire from the taste of amaretto-flavoured coffee (!)
-Don't start until you have a kick-ass drawing already complete, scans & paintable prints ready
-Stop reading other Darwin Day posts when trying to paint
-Twitter is all aboot being an amazing tool
-There is no such thing as a small enough brush for an 8.5x11" painting
-As prodigious and exemplary as his work was, even Mr. Darwin must have slept sometimes.
Perhaps I should have simply tinted the drawing in Photoshop and called it a night?
I will soldier on over the weekend, and post a follow-up for Art Monday at the latest. Thanks to everyone for support today and all the entertaining and informative things I never knew about our Charlie.
This ain't done.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop #
## 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Labels:
Darwin,
Darwin Day,
fossil,
glyptodon,
liveblog,
Photoshop,
portrait,
sketch
Links to this post
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Darwin Day Liveblog 5: deep in the ugly
At this phase, I feel like I can't stand the painting. If I wasn't clocking myself, I'd probably move on to a different piece. Charles is feeling it too: he's aged 20 years since the pencil sketch somehow. 
Starting to work on the fossil skull. Maybe flipping on my iPod will help me pull it outta this nosedive by Liveblog 6.
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- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop #
## 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Starting to work on the fossil skull. Maybe flipping on my iPod will help me pull it outta this nosedive by Liveblog 6.
- - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop #
## 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Labels:
Darwin,
Darwin Day,
fossil,
glyptodon,
liveblog,
oil paint,
portrait,
process,
Ugly Phase
Links to this post
Darwin Day Liveblog 4: holy yellow batman
The Ugly Phase indeed.
- - -
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Darwin Day Liveblog 3: set-up
The painting is underway. I think I'm loving the Gold Ochre Transparent Hue on this one. And plenty of Naples Yellow, naturally.
This is the super-heroic Art S. Buck model in the pose, to try and get the lighting down from an indirect, overhead source in my studio, below.
Here's my set-up, this time on the dining room table.
Should be moving along faster now.
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
This is the super-heroic Art S. Buck model in the pose, to try and get the lighting down from an indirect, overhead source in my studio, below.
Here's my set-up, this time on the dining room table.
Should be moving along faster now.- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Labels:
Darwin,
Darwin Day,
fossil,
glyptodon,
liveblog,
oil paint,
portrait,
process
Links to this post
Darwin Day Liveblog 2
The more refined sketch.
Mr. Darwin's hand extended off the page, so I taped another sheet and kept drawing; it's been cut-off by my scanner.
This should be enough detail to print onto canvas-paper and the painting will begin. The glyptodon doesn't have the scute-y plate on it's head, but I think it works.
I'm aiming for a limited palette, deep shadow, high lighting and a sense of movement. In many ways, a counterpoint to last year's painting of busy contemplation. There should be some more surprises in the final composition that I don't need to to add to the drawing.
I hope everyone is enjoying a nice Darwin Day feast of rhea and armadillo!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
Mr. Darwin's hand extended off the page, so I taped another sheet and kept drawing; it's been cut-off by my scanner.
This should be enough detail to print onto canvas-paper and the painting will begin. The glyptodon doesn't have the scute-y plate on it's head, but I think it works.
I'm aiming for a limited palette, deep shadow, high lighting and a sense of movement. In many ways, a counterpoint to last year's painting of busy contemplation. There should be some more surprises in the final composition that I don't need to to add to the drawing.
I hope everyone is enjoying a nice Darwin Day feast of rhea and armadillo!
- - - - - - - -
Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
Flying Trilobite Gallery ### Flying Trilobite Reproduction Shop ##
# 2009 Calendar available for a limited time
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