As we face the 6th mass extinction in earth's history, scientific illustration is going to be more and vital in recording species.  One species that has survived 100 million years is the Harvester ant.

"Young Harvester Ant" sketch  December 31, 2016 (c) laeom

A change of art - I have been very forlorn since the election.  I am an Independent, but have voted different ways over the years.  I was giving Mr. Trump a listen, but as the election drew closer, I felt he was against the true American Flag and Constitution.  Not just in a small way.  I couldn't speak about the election until recently.  I have made Quilts For Veterans in honor of my father's Service, and over the year or so of doing that, I gained a very deep understanding of the sacrifice so many have made to uphold our laws and respect our flag.  I do not believe Donald Trump understands what the people, men, women and children, at Fort Henry did when they held the flag up by hand, dying for our freedom.  His attitude and way of speaking down to all is unacceptable for the Office of President of The United States.  And I am angry.   Angry that I can't do anything but make a voice heard and remind people that many, many people have died so that we could be free.  My anger cannot get in the way of my life, so I am changing my art.

I am educated in horticulture, after/during/while being a fine artist for 39 years.  The University of Guelph in Canada is one of the finest for horticulture and agriculture.  But something from the past has kicked me in the pants.  An ant farm.  I saw them accidentally over the holidays.  And then I remembered being five or six and playing with the ants - picking them up, moving them a little ways down the road, bringing them back again.  I have drawn many animals, but was headed for flowers again, and so did not just jump up and say "ants!".

I did buy 3 ant farms. :) And I am hoping the ants survive the cold on the way here.  I am going to study three communities of ants.  They have been on earth since the time of the dinosaurs, they work cooperatively as a community for the good of the colony.  They can face problems together, solve them, without having a higher intelligence.  They are simple and effective, and true, and honest, and they save each other.  I can either scream about Donald Trump undermining the years that my father was in the Army, or I can study ants to see if they have a way to teach us to again work together instead of killing each other.  The planet is going to have major global environmental disasters - will only ants, crocodiles, snapping turtles, will only these really tough species survive, or will we as well?  What can I learn from ants that I wouldn't know otherwise?

I have stocked up on graphite for my mechanical pencils and will be drawing the ants, listening to them, saving some of them after they die, putting them under a microscope, and watching.  Watching to see how they not only work together peacefully, but actually thrive doing so.

Below are some tools that will be handy for my new direction:

I have a Nasco Stereoscopic Field Microscope.  It will be wonderful for studying the bodies of ants, shape, size, etc.  I have mechanical pencils for lead sizes 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm, and 0.9mm.  This give me a broad range for line thicknesses. I am not sure yet whether I will do life-size drawings in a sketchbook or individual life-size drawings kept in card protectors.

Below is a photo of two of my ant farms, waiting for the ants.  One is a sand farm, where the ants need to have food and water added, while the other is a gel farm, based on NASA experiments, the gel provides tunneling as well as food and water.  The third ant farm I will be setting up is another sand farm.

A very good video to watch on Leaf Cutter Ants (who don't eat the leaves by the way), is by the BBC at this link  Although this video is not available at BBC four, they do have some other ant information at this link

I may do a video of the ant farms I have going, but my focus will be on drawing the different aspects of their behavior.

More ant links:

NASA - Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert - 06: Ants in Space (CSI-06) - 11.22.16

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution - Collective search by ants in microgravity  (NASA results)

Wikipedia - Red Harvester Ant

Ant Web - Red List Species Imagery

Wired - Ants Moving Nests

The Ant Farm and Myrmecology Forum - Gel Recipe and Comments

AntBlog - How To Make An Ant Farm

Blog - Wild About Ants

To purchase ants online:

Insectkits.com

AntsAlive.com

Uncle Milton

I believe that our companion animals, or also in my case, my Service Dog, represent a reflection of our own Circle of Life.  As such, I think anyone should photograph their animal(s) for rememberences, but also if possible, should draw them.  Drawing their image, even if animals aren't a specialty for an artist, gives a fuller view of your own life.  My Miss Coco Bean is due for another portrait.  The oil pastel below is from 2011 or 2012.

It's best to take several photos to get the full view of the real shape of the animal's head or body, even if you then put your own "take" on that shape or make the image slightly abstract.  Coco is a dachshund / whippet - her mother was a full-bred dachshund, which can easily be seen in her face.  Her sire was a whippet, which is what her body looks like.  She is a one of a kind, and care is taken to make sure she doesn't end up with a portrait that looks like I stuck a dachshund head on a whippet.  I don't know where she gets the "Yoda" ears, but we love them.  Below are some photos of my other pets and their portraits:

Miss Sophie

Bugs Bunny - he always used to look at us sideways, watching everything we did.  He was one of my house rabbits.

Wilbur - my best buddie for a long time

Miss Moochie - once a stray, she wandered into our yard at the age of about 6 weeks, her stitches from being spayed falling out and dragging behind her - but I couldn't catch her.  She went on to claim our yard, chase the coyotes, literally, out of "her" yard, and when I was finally able to bring her in permanently, became the most loving couch potatoe ever.

Bailey - my son's dog

I did also do drawings of two other pets - Ceasar, my cat for 18 years, a pen drawing that I can't find (it would be over 30 years old), and Chico, one of my cockatiels - our best bud for many years, he traveled with us everywhere, including down to Virginia.

Ceasar

Chico, as a young bird

Without these guys, and the 50 or so other animals we have had over the years (fish, hamsters, parakeets, cockatiels, canaries, lovebirds, more rabbits) and of course Bailey, my son's dog, I would not have developed as an artist as I did - whether I was drawing them or not.  These are the animals from my adult life, I have not included those from my childhood, such as Polly, a beagle given to me when I was two by my grandmother, and who lived to be 16, and I was 18. Suzette and Cherie, our two poodles, Pumpkin the black lab, my brother's fish, Tom and Jerry, our two Weimeraners,.....

A fuller view of life indeed.

We cannot afford to go backwards on pollution and climate change.  While researching artistic information on heavy metals and metalpoint, came across what lead and leaded gasolines really did to us.  And our environment.  We cannot pretend ignorance or that we haven't already "been there, done that".  

Heavy Metals at Wikipedia

See paragraph 3 under toxicity

"Key No.3"  pewter (tin, copper, antimony) (c) laeom

I have just posted a new video:

Drawing A Metal Key - Graphite Vs. Metalpoint 

In it, I talk about depicting metal with either graphite or metalpoint.

I have recently posted a couple of new videos on YouTube:

First-   "Transferring A Repetitive Design to Paper or Board "

I use a photograph of my mother to demonstrate how to transfer a design.  Below is a sample of the design, worked in copperpoint and pewter. (This work is a derivative of a photograph taken by W.S.)

and the second video is  "Ink Stippling - Layering and Color 1"

One of the examples I use in that video is a stippled Knitting Doll, as shown below.

Today I made a small sample board of the different colors associated with the metals I use in metalpoint drawing.  From left to right below are: copper, aluminum, .9999% pure silver, pewter, 12k gold, and .925 % Sterling silver.

I dated the card so that as the metals oxidize and age, color differences over a specific period of time can be known.  I mention that because some metals, such as gold, fade over time, and a gold drawing I did 3 years ago has all but faded completely. It is also good to know what hues are reflected, what colors are reflected by each metal, especially if combining the different metals in one drawing.  The support I used is marbledust and rabbitskin glue on heavy illustration board.