Recent Work and  Bio

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October 2020

Footprints
watercolor and gouache on vellum plate

18 x 18 in (45.72 x 45.72 cm)

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In 1972, at a distance of about 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) from Earth, the Apollo 17 crew took the photo, Blue Marble, while en route to the Moon. My watercolor of “the marble” adds four ecological footprints* and four species underfoot.  From the top, the species include: Passenger Pigeon, Caribbean Monk Seal, Harpy Eagle, and Magellanic Penguin.

 

Virtually none of us contributed to the top footprint.  Anyone over the age of 68 may have played a part in making the second footprint.  All of us can avoid contributing further to the remaining two.

*Ecological footprints refer to our impact on the environment

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June 2020

Broccoli

Size: 11.5 x 15.5 in (29 x 39 cm)

Medium:  watercolor and gouache on vellum plate

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The magnified broccoli crown shows how each four-part green bud encasing a flower bursts apart as the blossom emerges.  Blossoms encourage honeybee (typically, Apis mellifera in the U.S.) visits. 

 

An Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), four times the size of a honeybee, lurks in the upper left corner. North American honeybees, primarily descendants of European bee stock, have no defense against these novel invaders who enter hives, dismember and decapitate honeybee defenders and devour the developing larvae. In Japan, where there is a long relationship with Japanese honeybees, the hornets are less murderous.

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January 2020

Wired

Size: 8 x 10”in (20 x 25 cm)
Medium:  watercolor and gouache on vellum plate

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If you have a computer, you probably have a power strip with plugs and cords connecting your equipment to the incoming power supply.  The birds in Wired 

[(l-r) Anna’s Hummingbird, Dark-eyed Junco, Western Screech Owl, Hooded Warbler, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Atlantic Puffin] remind us to ask if the cost of electricity covers the cost to them and the maintenance of their habitat. 

 

 

Bio

I was trained in psychology (BS), later worked in Paul Ehrlich's office and lab at Stanford University, and did field research on butterflies and birds there and at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab. In time, I co-authored three books on birds with Prof. Ehrlich and other biologists and one on birds and Science Art with Stanford President emeritus Donald Kennedy, which was introduced by Prof. Ehrlich.

 

Learning from these biologists and managing long-term projects positioned me to produce related artwork used in books, magazines, and on the web.  A small number of pieces have been included in exhibits, and featured in installations.

 

To encourage artist-scientist collaborations, I produced an artist registry for ornithological researchers, which was designed to call attention to the work of more than 100 international bird artists. 

 

Later, Profs. Ehrlich and Kennedy, artist Tony Angell, psychologist and NPO specialist Pamela Meadowcroft and I co-founded Science Art-Nature, (SA-N) a 501(c)(3) non-profit to encourage the production of Science Art. I became  SA-N's CEO.  Through SA-N I produced, or co-produced, virtual Science Art exhibits with Prof. Kennedy and other biologists, including one commemorating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin with fellow SA-N board member, artist Carel Brest van Kempen.

 

Prof. Kennedy and I would eventually produce Science Art installations featuring campus species in 10 Stanford Universty buildings. Other Stanford-based projects we initiated can be seen on this links page.

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Most recently, I've been learning how to self-publish, beginning with a booklet on Camouflage as Science Art, and curating a virtual exhibit on climate change for SA-N.