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 Fabriano.  It’s a very thick paper with a flat surface.  The flat surface is much easier to draw on than the rougher cold-press papers and the thickness allows it to absorb a lot of water and paint without buckling.

I use a lightbox to help me trace the drawing onto the watercolor paper with a hard (H or 2H) pencil.  I like the harder pencil in this case because leaves a light line which I can easily erase.  When I’m tracing, I try to do it quickly and accurately, but I try not to get to hung up in details, because with the light shining from behind the image I can’t really see the paper very well.  After I’m done tracing, and I take the paper off the lightbox, then I very carefully add details, and adjust the drawing.  This is the final step before I start applying paint, and I want to be sure everything is just the way I want it.

When the drawing is done, I soak it in water for 5 minutes and then staple it(while  it’s still wet) to my painting board.  The board is 1/2″ plywood.  After the paper dries, it will be ready for painting.  Because it’s been presoaked, the paper the surface will remain flat as I paint on it.

This preliminary drawing is the last thing I do before I start painting and I try my best to work out as many details as possible in this drawing.  Since I work in watercolors, it’s very hard to go back and change things after I start to paint.  When the drawing is finished, I use a lightbox to transfer it to a nice piece of watercolor paper…but that’s step two, and I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

By now, everyone knows that increased carbon in our atmosphere is causing global temperatures to rise, but many people don’t know about another major impact that it is having on our planet: acidification of our oceans.  When carbon in the air makes contact with sea water, a certain percentage of it is absorbed, and as the amount of carbon in the sea increases, so does the acidity of the water, putting ocean life in grave danger.  At greatest risk are shell forming creatures, such as coral, clams, shrimp, snails and various forms of plankton.  High acidity makes it very difficult for these animals to form their shells–and acidity that is too high will cause their shells to literally disintegrate.  Fortunately we haven’t reached that level yet, but unfortunately we are well on our way.

What will the mass extinction of crustaceans mean for life on earth?  Disaster.  These animals are an integral part of the ocean food web.  Animals like corals and pteropods are at the base of the food chain, and removing them will cause a ripple affect up the chain affecting untold numbers of species, from tuna to humpbacks, dolphins to octopi. But who is at the top of the food chain?  You guessed it–we are.  Millions of people world wide depend on the oceans for their daily bread.  Coral reefs are some of the most endangered ocean environments,  but they are also some of the most valuable, accounting for $29 Billion of net benefit yearly according to a joint report from NOAA and other organizations.

This is a urgent problem.  The science is irrefutable (it’s basic chemistry, really) and the consequences are already being measured.  The good news is that we know what we have to do–we must decrease the amount of fossil fuels we burn– and we know how to do it: increased efficiency (CFL bulbs, hybrid cars, Energy Star appliances), reduced personal use (shutting off the lights, choosing to walk instead of drive), and changing from polluting power sources (coal, oil) to non-polluting sources (wind, geo-thermal and solar).  The first two are within the control of each and every one of us, but to tackle the third we need smart, courageous leaders to implement laws that will force us into a green energy future.

Read more about ocean acidification:

Hawksbill Turtle - Preliminary art for Coral Reefs

I am currently hard at work on my next book, scheduled for publication in the Spring of 2011. The new book will take the reader on a journey through a coral reef, and (surprise) its working title is Coral Reefs.  It has been one of the most exciting projects I have ever worked on.  This year, I learned to scuba dive, traveled to Belize, and have learned more about coral reefs than I had ever imagined possible.

As I travel to schools and meet readers of Redwoods, the most common questions that I get are about how I make my books.  So in the coming weeks, I plan to chronicle the development of Coral Reefs.  I can’t promise to write every day, but I hope to be able to give my fans a good description of my book making process.  Stay tuned for posts about: researching a place, writing and revising, making a book dummy, painting a picture and much more!