drawing: tiny house with curved roof

Can you live in a Big Tiny House?

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Illustration: fall leaves

Here, in the Northeast, the leaves are starting to change. Hear the subtle crunching as you walk outside. Gracefully, they float down from the heavens like orange and yellow snowflakes. Although the air is crisp, the colors will soon illuminate the vista with brilliant warmth.

Do you look at the different shapes and try to identify what tree they are from? What tree is common in your area?

I made four watercolors, and then turned them into postcards. Feel free to check them out at my store.

illustration: rainbow trout

Rainbow trout were originally abundant only in North American rivers, then they were introduced to other waters around the world due to its delicious taste and challenge as a fighting game fish. Rainbow trout are generally a smaller cousin to the Salmon fish. They thrive in cold clear water. When you see the presence of trout in a river by you, it is a good indicator that the river is healthy, clean and pristine.

My rainbow trout illustration is done in watercolor.

illustration: white oak

White Oak hardwood trees grow throughout the central and east part of North America, ranging from Texas up to Maine, also reaching up to Canada. They are described as white oak due to their bark being white-ish, in comparison to their oak cousins. Its acorn nuts provide an important food source for deer, squirrels, blue jays and turkey. A distinct identifier of the white oak is its leaf shape which has seven to nine rounded lobes.

watercolor: dungeness crab (v2)

Along the west coast of America, up to the Pacific Northwest, lives the Dungeness Crab. It is one of the larger family of crabs. Their name is derived from Dungeness, a fish port town in Puget Sound, Washington state. Their lifespan is about 10 years. Commercially caught Dungeness Crabs are usually around 5 years old when their shells reach 6 to 7 inches wide. Crabs grow through a process called molting where it sheds its shell for a new, larger one. Each time this happens, the crab grows 15 to 25%. They can be found in muddy/sandy portions of estuaries with eelgrass, along rocky shores, or as deep as 2000 feet in the ocean where they forage for small fish and invertebrates, such as clams and mussels.

Here is some good news. In a world full of so many threatened species of sea life, Dungeness crabs are actually a very good choice as a sustainable food source.  Regulations is saving the species. For example, in Canada, Dungeness Crab fisheries have catch size limitations. This protects male crabs until they are sexually mature, giving them the chance to spawn before being harvested. Female crabs are also protected by having fishing season restrictions.

What is your favorite prepared way to eat crab?  Mine is Hong Kong-style which is stir-fried in a wok and tossed with soy sauce, green onions, and lots of scrambled egg. Yummy.

I have painted a Dungeness Crab before, however, my approach toward doing watercolor has changed over time, so this is version 2 of the beloved tasty subject.

illustration: dinosaur footprints

I did this illustration in watercolour medium. It was fun to do because of all the sandy texture that had to go into it. I wanted to capture the footprints as if they were made recently, hence the sharp nail marks and defined foot pads.

These track imprints in the sand belong to an Allosaurus, or a bipedal theropod, from the Late Jurassic age. The Allosaurus is a carnivorous dinosaur much like its cousin the Tyrannosaurus Rex. All theropods had bird-like clawed feet although their legs were very strong and muscular to chase prey down.

illustration: trilobite race

Trilobites were early arthropods that existed over 500 million years ago during the paleozoic era, even before the dinosaur age. They ranged in size from under an inch to as big as two feet long. Their body composed of hard-shelled body segments which we can find today in fossil form. Unfortunately, their legs and antennae were much too brittle to be preserved during fossilization.

In my watercolor painting, the trilobites are full of life, scurrying and anxious to find food among the ocean floor.

painting: sycamore

While biking through a park, I come across a pile of giant leaves. I believe it is called a Sycamore. It is big enough to cover my head from the sun. My watercolour of the Sycamore leaf shows it in all of its Autumn spikiness.

illustration: sassafras

To continue my series of fall leaves from last year, I made a watercolour of a Sassafras leaf I found while hiking. I love the way they are shaped like dinosaur tracks in the mud.

chestnut oak

The Chestnut Oak tree is native in eastern North America. from Mississippi to Maine. Wildlife, such as blue jays, woodpeckers, squirrels and deer rely on acorns of the oak tree as a source of their diet. The average life span of an oak tree is 60 years.