sea creatures

I've been watching a lot of documentaries about sea life lately, can you tell? I watched a show recently about deep sea life and bioluminescence, and instantly became fascinated by the beauty of these animals that glow and oscillate in a hypnotizing rainbow of color. This octopus caught my eye because of its brilliant spots, though sadly he's not bioluminescent. Oh well...

I wanted to use oil pastels on a dark background for a change. That allows me to focus more on white pastel, since it's fairly ineffective on white paper. This little guy was the perfect thing to render on a black cold-press board.

monkeying around

Two weekends ago, I went on a road trip to Washington, DC. I took a lot of close-up photography at the Smithsonian National Zoo while I was there. It especially struck me that one of the orangutans was willing to smile and pose for the camera, but with so much sadness behind his eyes. I can't imagine it's enjoyable to have crowds of people point and gawk at you every day. He's humoring people, but deep down he's unsettled and lonely. I want to hug him!!

This was based on one of the photos I took. I started this drawing on Sunday and finished it tonight. It's oil pastel on 10x24 sketch paper.