Friday, April 22, 2016
Limited Palette
Here's a little piece I've been working on for the past few months. My color theory has always been a little weak, so I purchased James Gurney's Color and Light and started this as an exercise.
I've limited myself to only four colors and have found that even with that limitation, a painter can still blend a huge range of values and hues.
Not only does the glow of the moth affect the coloring but the different plant species will also be different values as well. This still needs a bit of work to bring it all together, but I've been delighted with the overall outcome.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Commitment
It is what holds me back as an artist. Commitment to style. Commitment to a subject, and commitment to a medium. I love working with watercolor, oils, pastels, pen and ink, and now Gold Leaf. Each subject and each medium creates a different style/feel in my work.
I keep telling myself that at some point, this will all accumulate in an incredible nexus of unique work that I'll be famous for after my untimely death at the hands of a rabid gopher, but...
Still waiting.
In the meantime enjoy my artist ADD. Original work and prints available at Redbubble and Etsy store.
I keep telling myself that at some point, this will all accumulate in an incredible nexus of unique work that I'll be famous for after my untimely death at the hands of a rabid gopher, but...
Still waiting.
In the meantime enjoy my artist ADD. Original work and prints available at Redbubble and Etsy store.
Amanda Zimmerman is a scientific/nature illustrator.
She is currently writing and illustrating a book on mangroves.
Subscribe to updates
from her studio.
Friday, November 13, 2015
MudSkippers and Mangroves
Mudskippers are fascinating fish. They spend more time skipping and flipping around in the dense mud than in the water. Their front fins are elongated for 'walking' on land and they can breath through their skin as long as it remains damp. They can also retain water in their gills to help breath out of water. Once they used up all the oxygen in the water, they need to replace it with fresh supply.
When defending their territories, mudskippers display their dorsal fins and push each other around with their open mouths.
Shown: Blue-spotted mudskipper (Boleophthalmus boddarti) This particular species is very common in mangrove communities in India's west coast and Southeast Asia.
When defending their territories, mudskippers display their dorsal fins and push each other around with their open mouths.
Shown: Blue-spotted mudskipper (Boleophthalmus boddarti) This particular species is very common in mangrove communities in India's west coast and Southeast Asia.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Amanda Zimmerman is a scientific illustrator. She has done work for Project Seagrass in
the United Kingdom and Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. She is currently writing and illustrating a book on mangroves. To receive updates about
Secrets of the Mangroves, subscribe to updates
from my studio.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Mapping the Sundarbans (would drive a cartographer mad)
The ecologically rich Sundarbans are one of the planets largest
mangrove communities. Here in Bangladesh, the Ganges, Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers all
converge into the Bay of Bengal. It is a meeting of freshand saltwater; a
diverse place of forest, beaches, tidal flats, marsh and swamps lands. Once measuring around 16,700
square kilometres (6,400 sq mi), the Sundarbans have now reduced to one third its
previous size.
It is home to Bengal tigers, exotic birds, the chital horin (spotted deer), the critically endangered estuarine crocodile and the Indian
python.
The Sundarbans are also very time consuming to draw.
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AMANDA ZIMMERMAN
Discover more about Mangroves when you sign up for updates from my studio which include progress reports on my forthcoming book: Secrets of the Mangroves. Subscribers are automatically entered in a drawing each month for a free 5x7 print of their choice form my Etsy store.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Monkey Madness
Last night I had a dream that I was Curious George! It was all from the first person point of view, so I was literally seeing the world through monkey eyes. (It was about the same as a human sees the world, since my brain has no concept of how a monkey really sees the world.)
In the dream I was sitting among a pile of stuffed animals, gazing out a picture window, waiting for the man in the yellow hat to come back.
This is not Curious George. This is a very big Silverback Gorilla. I would not recommend hugging or squeezing him.
This watercolor study was done from one of the dioramas at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
In the dream I was sitting among a pile of stuffed animals, gazing out a picture window, waiting for the man in the yellow hat to come back.
This is not Curious George. This is a very big Silverback Gorilla. I would not recommend hugging or squeezing him.
This watercolor study was done from one of the dioramas at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Tolkien was the Original Zentangle artist?
Am I the only one that sees this?
I was recently visiting a friend in Miami who was talking about having been ensnared (happily) in zentangle art. It was a real departure from her botanical art, but I think she was really enjoying the freedom and whimsy of designing with the stylized patterns.
On the plane home I happened to cracked open The Hobbit for a light refresher since I haven't read the book since before the movies came out. (I suspect Peter Jackson hadn't either -at least, the final chapter- but that's another blog...)
In any event, this particular edition was graced with Tolkien's original drawings and I saw some similarities.
I think there is enough evidence to back up my claim.What do you think?
I was recently visiting a friend in Miami who was talking about having been ensnared (happily) in zentangle art. It was a real departure from her botanical art, but I think she was really enjoying the freedom and whimsy of designing with the stylized patterns.
On the plane home I happened to cracked open The Hobbit for a light refresher since I haven't read the book since before the movies came out. (I suspect Peter Jackson hadn't either -at least, the final chapter- but that's another blog...)
In any event, this particular edition was graced with Tolkien's original drawings and I saw some similarities.
I think there is enough evidence to back up my claim.What do you think?
____________________________
AMANDA ZIMMERMAN
An illustrator of nature is an observer of form and behavior. My job is
to create illustrations that not only engage the general public with
vibrancy and motion, but educate the viewer about the subject and create
a connection of memory. It is these connections to nature that we make,
a sense of personal contact-even if only through an illustration- that
imparts a sense of responsibility to our natural world. http://salamandaz42.wix.com/sciart
If you are interested in receiving updates on nature illustration
workshops and seminars with Amanda, please be sure and sign up for our mailing list or follow on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+
Monday, March 23, 2015
Elizabeth Gould-Woman in Scientific Illustration
from australianmuseum.net.au |
ELIZABETH
GOULD was born Elizabeth Coxen to an educated middle class family in1804. She
earned a living as a governess teaching Latin, French and music, but found the
whole situation not to her liking. After a chance meeting at the Aviary of the
Zoological Society, she married John Gould at age 24; a marriage that suited
them. Through hard work and skill, John worked his way to post of Animal
Preserver to the British Museum, and Ornithology Superintendent to the
Zoological Society. As for Elizabeth, she wasted no time in launching into her illustration
career beginning with drawings for the first volume of a 20 part series: A Century of Birds of the Himalaya Mountains. Within
this time, she and John lost their first child at birth, but in 1830, she gave
birth to their second child, John Henry.
From Birds of Europe, Elizabeth Gould |
At John’s request,
Elizabeth received tutelage under Edward Lear, the famed bird artist at the Zoological Society.
This professional training increased her skills, depth and breath of work. Even
John James Audubon took notice. But as she was working on the next section of, A Century of Birds of the Himalaya Mountains,
she suffered the lose of third child after another difficult pregnancy.
John
Gould is often seen as an artist in his own right, an illusion he encouraged.
In truth, his passion lie more with the production of the work, and it was
Elizabeth’s hand that provided the final product. After A Century of Birds of the Himalaya Mountains
was finished, she began work on Birds of Europe. She and John traveled across
Europe together to study and collect specimens for the latest endeavor. During
this time she gave birth to three more children.
On May
16th 1838, Elizabeth left all but the eldest child with her mother, and
set sail for Australia with John. They spent two years in Australia. During
this time, she worked on drawing hundreds of specimens for Birds of
Australia and A Monograph of the Macropodidæ, or Family of Kangaroos. She
also worked with Charles Darwin on illustrations for the Ornithology volume of Zoology
of the Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle. Their seventh child was born in Tasmania.
They
arrived back in London is 1840, but Elizabeth never had a chance to complete
her work on the animals of Australia. She died after giving birth to their
eighth child, at age 37. The preparation for lithography printing (transferring
to stone) of her last drawings was completed by illustrator H. C. Richter. She did
not receive credit at publication. John Gould went on to produce his bird
books, using H. C. Richter, Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf and William Hart as illustrators.
Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), credited to John Gould |
____________________________
AMANDA ZIMMERMAN
An illustrator of nature is an observer of form and behavior. My job is to create illustrations that not only engage the general public with vibrancy and motion, but educate the viewer about the subject and create a connection of memory. It is these connections to nature that we make, a sense of personal contact-even if only through an illustration- that imparts a sense of responsibility to our natural world. www.salamandaart.com
If you are interested in receiving updates on nature illustration workshops and seminars with Amanda, please be sure and sign up for our mailing list or follow on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+
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