Coral reefs are the largest structures on earth that are built by animals. There are reefs that are more massive than the hover dam, the great wall of china and the great pyramids. And what creatures build them? You guessed it: corals.
To understand how they do it, it’s first important to understand what a…
A group in Michigan is cloning extremely large and long lived trees in an effort to curb global warming, according to this AP article. Trees are very good at sequestering carbon–they absorb carbon from the air and that carbon becomes part of the tree for as long as it is living. When the tree dies,…
I’ve just finished work on Coral Reefs, which is slated for publication in Fall 2011. The book is similar to Redwoods (not a sequel, but more of a companion) and I’m really excited about it. Did you know that coral reefs are the largest structures on earth created by living things? Far bigger than…
I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Los Angeles to accept the 2010 FOCAL Award. The award has been given out annually for the past 32 years to an outstanding book with a California focus by the Friends of Children and Literature (which is associated with the Los Angeles Public Library). Prior to the…
To begin with, I apologize to anyone who read about the first three steps in my painting process and has been waiting to read about the final step for a full year. I’ve been distracted from blogging this year, but I’ve finally found time to write the final post in this series. So without further…
After my paper is on the board there is just one more step before I get to start applying paint: cut a frisket mask. The frisket covers several areas of the painting and repels water, keeping them white while I work on the rest of the scene. For this painting, I’ve masked a rectangular section…
This is a continuation of my painting process series. If you haven’t read the previous post, you may want to start at step one.
After I’m finished with my preliminary drawing my next step is to transfer that drawing to a nice piece of watercolor paper. I use a 300 pound hot-press paper, made by
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