Paleoart is a fascinating field, one of my favorites, where imagination is used in heavy doses along with scientific accuracy to try to reconstruct scenes of past life and landscapes. I enjoy the challenge of researching the fossil record, paleontological studies, and comparing them to living ecosystems and wildlife in order to bring ancient scenes to life, whether a century in the past or a hundred million years ago. I painted this mural in oil on canvas years ago for Badlands National Park, working with park staff who provided me with detailed material to work from. It was a fun project. I favor working in oil paint to achieve a glow and luster of color that is still hard to match in digital media, such as Photoshop-created art. My background as a Paleontology Major at the University of California, Berkeley, helped inform how I researched the project, and my graduate work in scientific illustration at the University of California at Santa Cruz gave me many methods to choose fro...
Laura,
ReplyDeleteGreat paintings and great blog. I am now a follower. I have some ideas about how to promote your painting in nature workshops this spring! Terry
Thanks Terry! That would be great to work with you to get art out into the desert more and more.
DeleteThe first thing you will need to do is purchase a few supplies. You need not spend a ton of money on expensive oil painting supplies. Norman Brodeur & Norman J Brodeur
ReplyDeleteStart with the basics as you are only a beginner right now. The goal at this point is to get used to working with your support, brushes, paints and other materials. So expensive supplies will be wasted during this stage.