Out of the Depths
Row after row, jar after jar: 55,000 containers representing 800,000 specimens and 7,600 species from the world’s oceans lay in front of me. Like a kid in a candy store, I had to choose. Giant crabs, exquisite sea stars, ghostly squid, mollusk shells of all sizes and stripes—these creatures without a backbone make up the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. On a recent trip to Southern California, I arranged to spend a few hours sketching there, and what an amazing opportunity it was. After roaming several rows of otherworldly… Read More
Gone West
I’ve just returned from a week in the Pacific Northwest—land of big trees, mountains, skies, water, and wilderness. I had the privilege of teaching a four day watercolor sketching workshop with an enthusiastic and talented group of artists from Anacortes, Washington. I’ll share a few lessons from the workshop here soon…but first, let’s start where so many of my travels begin: with a map. It has been 30 years since my last trip to the Northwest, so this painting helped me to get a good sense of the lay of the land…. Read More
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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Drawn In 