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Book Review: The Cold Canyon Fire Journals: Green Shoots and Silver Linings in the Ashes, by Robin Lee Carlson

Carlson_01Book Review: The Cold Canyon Fire Journals: Green Shoots and Silver Linings in the Ashes, by Robin Lee Carlson

Reviewed by Linda M. Feltner

Robin Lee Carlson’s book is an up–close–and–very– personal study of fire’s relationship with Stebbins Cold Canyon ecosystems. Her familiarity with this canyon grew through many years of walking, observing, and sketching in the Reserve. She watched with sadness and grief as her familiar trails and forested canyons succumbed to wildfire. Her journey begins armed with her scientific background, creative and curious mind, while she devotedly recorded its recovery.

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Creating a Fine Art Painting: From Research to Exhibit

Hunter_01Creating a Fine Art Painting: From Research to Exhibit
by Erin E. Hunter

Erin E. Hunter’s most ambitious piece yet is “Look Closer,” a large painting of California native bees and wildflowers that anchored a 2022 solo show at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. She tells the story of its creation – inspiration to process – from the sketching, designing and painting, to presenting the piece in multiple formats to various audiences.

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Journal of Natural Science Illustration / Volume 54 Number 3 Abstracts

JNSIcover2022_3Journal of Natural Science Illustration Volume 54, No. 3: Abstracts

Welcome to the third Journal edition of 2022!
To inspire you, we offer you excellent and innovative stories in this issue. The journal begins with a recap of our third online Visual SciComm Conference, an introduction to 19th century author and illustrator William Hamilton Gibson, Erin E. Hunter’s process for creating a large pollinator piece of artwork, a book review about the Cold Canyon Fires, an article about modern Medical Illustrators’ challenges, some photoshop tips for your traditional illustrations, an overview of Kathleen Garness’ grant project identifying orchids, and a Memoriam to the late illustrator Peg Estey. Thank you to all our contributors!

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Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom Decal Project

JNSI_Cayuga Lake_Decal 1

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom Decal Project

- Elizabeth Morales, Marla Coppolino, Carla DeMello, Lucy Gagliardo, and Annie Zygarowicz



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Journal of Natural Science Illustration / Volume 54 No. 2

JNSI Cover 2_2022Journal of Natural Science Illustration Volume 54, No. 2: Abstracts

Welcome to the second Journal edition of 2022!
To inspire you, we offer you excellent and innovative stories in this issue, ranging from affordable 2D and 3D renderers, an overview of the 2022 Visual SciComm Conference, a decal project at Cayuga Lake, selected artworks from the graduating class of CSUMB program, and watercolor paper tests by Kathryn Killackey. Thank you to all of our contributors!

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Journal Of Natural Science Illustration / Volume 54 No.1

JNSIcover-2022_Vol. 54 No. 1Journal Of Natural Science Illustration / Volume 54, No. 1: Abstracts

Welcome to the first Journal edition of 2022! 
To inspire you, we offer you the excellent and innovative stories in this issue, ranging from communication and collaboration, inspiration on a career path, a book review on ink drawing techniques, to information on programs at RISD; along with summarized discussions from our GNSI Listserv. And last but not least, a page of lovely sketchbook art from Carol Schwartz. Thank you to all of our contributors!

Log in to your member account to view the Journal: JNSI 2022, volume 54, number 1
Not yet a subscriber? To view the issue for free, become a GNSI member today!

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Book Review: Natural History of Edward Lear, New Edition, by Robert McCracken Peck

Lear 1Book Review: Natural History of Edward Lear, New Edition, by Robert McCracken Peck foreword by David Attenborough

Review by C.Olivia Carlisle

Edward Lear (1812–1888) is best known for his witty limericks and nonsense verse. But the celebrated author of The Owl and the Pussy-Cat also created some of the most stunning paintings of birds and mammals during an age when many species were just being discovered and brought to private menageries and zoos throughout Europe. In the Natural History of Edward Lear, New Edition, author Robert McCracken Peck, an authority on ornithological illustration in the United States, sheds light on Lear’s creativity, productivity, attention to natural science detail, and success as an artist. Through Peck’s extensive 20-year research in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, this book contains more than 200 of Lear’s beautiful and detailed illustrations of animals, plants, and landscapes.

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Restoration of Extinct Species

Restoration of Extinct Species

- Anthony James Gustafson

Our ancient ancestors told stories of great prehistoric beasts in the form of drawings on the walls of caves. These animals played a significant role in their daily lives, and they clearly felt their stories were worth telling. And whether they realized it or not, the stories themselves would long outlive those who wrote them. So, in effect, they’ve been able to tell those stories to us thousands of years later.

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Drawing for Scientific Illustrations: Technique and Rendering—How To Keep Illustrating When the WiFi Goes Out

Sayner in his OfficeWritten by Donald B. Sayner and Gladys Bennett Menhennet. Edited by Lana Koepke Johnson and Jeanette R. O’Hare, foreword by Paul Mirocha.

— Reviewed by Joel Floyd

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Book Review: The Science Behind Flowers with Dick Rauh

- Reviewed by Camille Werther

Sci of Flowers_D_Rauh_CoverGNSI Past President, Dr. Dick Rauh, has written an invaluable reference book for those who love flowers, those who teach scientific and botanical illustration, and artists who want to deepen their knowledge of how plants work. The author is both an artist and a scientist, having earned a PhD in Plant Sciences at CUNY, and brings his knowledge of both disciplines to the format of the book.

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Corona Cuisine with Scott Rawlins

 

- with Scott Rawlins

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Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture By Eleanor Jones Harvey

Review by Theophilus Britt Griswold

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Product Review: Stonehenge Aqua Black

Product Review: Stonehenge Aqua Black

by Gail Guth and Camille Werther

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In Memoriam: Elaine R. S. Hodges

Elaine_Hodges_Office fig. 1Casting our minds back 51 years, we find two young natural science illustrators at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Carolyn Bartlett Gast and Elaine R. S. Hodges had noticed the lack of connection among staff illustrators and had become the prime movers to bridge the gap. In order to do that, Carolyn planned illustrators’ luncheons with programs related to the media that would be helpful to these previously isolated artists. This served as a means to introduce illustrators to one another and for them to recognize the benefits of coming together. Carolyn found Elaine to be a willing ally and, as Carolyn saw it, Elaine had enthusiasm for the project as well as access to a typewriter—and could type. With that skill they produced elegant invitations and descriptions of the programs. Their success in this endeavor led to the founding of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators on December 2, 1968, and the connection among natural science illustrators that we’ve all enjoyed for 51 years. Thus began a lifelong effort by Elaine to bring together people who specialized in the art of seeing—the art of perceiving an object, not just looking at it. All of this in the service of science. (Above: Elaine in her office, 1987.)


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Member Spotlight: Rick Simonson

I was born in Minneapolis and grew up on a farm near Benson, Minnesota. Growing up on a farm certainly nurtured my interest in the natural world; I’ve always loved drawing and being outside.

Rick Simonson in StudioMy parents were always very supportive of everything I wanted to do, always encouraging my interests in art and science. Mom would often buy drawing paper and pencils for me; Dad built a great drawing table board that I still use. When I was a little kid, I would often make drawings of different types of animals and staple the sheets together to make simple books. I would create a book about spiders and one about snakes and so on. I never guessed that I would be doing the same type of work as a career.

(Left: In my studio working on a new drawing)

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Product Review: Inktense Pencils

Product Review: Inktense® Pencils by Derwent®
By Minnelli Lucy France

M. L. France Inktense Fig. 1Are you looking for art materials that may not trigger allergies as severely as paints with fumes, or solvents from oils and acrylics? This summer, I was desperate for just that. To this end, I re-evaluated my various art media and in doing so I ventured upon new discoveries and artistic possibilities. Inktense by Derwent was one of my favorite new discoveries and is now rapidly becoming one of my main media.

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Non-Photo Blue Pencils

I’ve only been using them to sketch for about four or five years since I discovered the artwork of John Muir Laws1,2—and became more inspired after attending the 2016 GNSI Conference in Santa Cruz where John was a presenter. I really like the freedom to work rough and loose without later worrying about the blue lines competing with the final sketch. This allows me to keep my final sketch and rough sketches together, i.e., in my sketchbook instead of using a separate sheet of paper (and light box/pad) to create the final piece. You can then digitally remove the blue sketch with Photoshop as I learned from Ikumi Kayama’s excellent demo on her YouTube channel. [The video is called Photoshop Tutorial for Scientific Illustrators: Separating Out Non-Photo Blue from Graphite.]


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Member Spotlight: Mesa Schumacher

Drawing archaeological excavation profiles in Chavin de Huantar, PeruMy artist origin story takes a form I think is fairly common for scientific illustrators. I grew up in Seattle with parents who didn’t study science, and knew little about art, but encouraged my interest in both. In our household, you could maintain a concentrated area of chaos in some corner by saying “don’t touch that, I’m in the middle of a project,” and my brothers and I usually each had several projects going at any given time, ranging from painting to rebuilding machines bought from the thrift store.

My family loved nature, and we enjoyed camping, hiking and outdoor sports. Travel was also a priority, and a few times during childhood we were pulled out of school for months at a time for “sabbaticals,” which profoundly impacted my goals for adult life.

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Member Spotlight: Dino Pulera

Dino PuleraI’ve always been inquisitive and fascinated by nature. I would spend many hours drawing as a child but, despite my interest in nature, I never thought to draw it. Instead, I spent my time reading and drawing Marvel Comics superheroes. Being the son of immigrant parents, I was encouraged to pursue a career that was stable and with a steady income; they didn’t want their son to become a struggling artist. So I set my sights on science with the hopes of going to medical school.

In my senior year in high school, my biology teacher noticed that I used drawings to record my observations in labs and mentioned that some people made a living from illustrating scientific concepts. Looking back now I’m shocked that I didn’t even consider a career in scientific illustration. I guess I thought since this vocation involved art, it would be a hard sell to my parents. So I put it out of my mind. 

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In Memoriam: Diane Dorigan

The first time I met Diane, she was interviewing me for a job. I remember thinking that Diane was really nice. I ended up getting that job, and over the years working with and being mentored by Diane, I found out I was wrong — Diane was not nice.

Diane was passionate, talented and thoughtful. She cared deeply for students. Caring about politics, art, animals, justice, and education, she was well-read and curious, proudly a life-long learner. She cared about her friends and family and lived her words with action, whether it meant standing up for someone, raising her own awareness, advocating for those being marginalized, or volunteering time and expertise to make a difference in her community. Diane was quiet about herself, and a cheerleader for others.

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