New Insect Book Published

The Bug Book, A Guide to the Benthic Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Families of California.
Published by the Friends of Deer Creek.
Illustrated by Christine Elder
We have finally finished The Bug Book, in which I created over 90 illustrations for this guide to stream insects. This new book contains illustrations and descriptions of 76 aquatic insect families within nine orders, plus 12 non-insect taxa. In addition, information on taxonomy, ecology and pollution tolerance are included. It is an excellent reference for scientists as well as volunteer water quality monitors who are interested in identifying the taxa in their streams as a way to gauge the health of the aquatic ecosystem. Each insect drawing I created is produced by sketching from a preserved specimen, observed under the microscope. Then I scan the image into my computer and redraw it in Adobe Illustrator. Converting these illustrations to vector format allows me to easily modify and update the drawings, and print them out at any size required. We have spent over two years on this new, 2nd edition of The Bug Book, and it promises to be a groundbreaking publication, highly useful and user-friendly to citizens and scientists alike!
To order a copy please contact Joanne at the Friends of Deer Creek.

Recent Illustration - Coyote's Song

Springtime in the Desert - Chuckwallas

Bats and Rats and Jacks, Oh My!

Just finished: Western Pipistrelle, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Kangaroo Rat

Haunted Halloween Sketches

Some recent watercolors exploring the creepy-crawly theme! From left: desert hairy scorpion, darkling beetle and desert tarantula - all Southern California desert natives. Boo!

Illustration Work Recognized by the E.P.A.

Christine's work on a new entomology book was recognized by The Volunteer Monitor, the national newsletter of the Environmental Protection Agency's volunteer water quality monitoring program. Published in the fall 2009 issue, the newsletter article discussed the contributions of Christine and other collaborators at The Friends of Deer Creek for their work on a new guide to California's aquatic invertebrates. Christine created nearly 100 illustrations of nine orders of insects, whose identification is valuable in discerning the health of their aquatic habitat. To see the EPA's newsletters, visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/issues.htm

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Current Illustration Project

This illustration of a Costa's hummingbird and Ocotillo, its nectar source, is part of a large project I'm working on for the National Park Service. I just love the desert southwest and plan to make a visit this spring.

Painting in the Field

I just love the turning of the seasons! We had our first sprinkles of rain yesterday which freshened the air and gave it that lovely crisp autumn scent. It inspired me to venture down to the creek and spend the afternoon sketching leaves in watercolor.

Conversations with a Jackrabbit

Recent Illustration Project

Poster Design for the California Native Plant Society
I've just finished a poster design and illustrations for the upcoming autumn native plant sale for our local chapter of the California Native Plant Society. If you live any where near Nevada County, stop by the sale for an exceptional variety of beautiful and hardy species. Remember that cultivating natives in your garden creates wildlife habitat, food and shelter, and many of the species are adapted to our challenging dry, clay soils. Pictured here is our lovely red and orange columbine (Aquilegia formosa) which grows in shady, seepy areas. The sale is September 19 at Sierra College. For more information contact Roger at 530.265.4173

The Challenges of Keeping a Pet Widow

As many of you know, I'm fascinated by insects, ever since I was about 8 years old, collecting giant grasshoppers in Mason jars. This is probably the reason I enjoy illustrating them so much, and I take every available opportunity to sketch them from real life, which usually means collecting them in the wild and keeping them for a time in my lab, which doubles as my office and art studio.
Charlotte is my third widow pet, which I found in my garage, stringing her net around my Harley Davidson, which I just couldn't abide by! I've just learned that their 'dragline silk' is the strongest in the spider kingdom and its protein makeup is being researched for possible synthesis as an artificial micro-string.
I'm keeping her in a clear plastic box with a convenient lid. Each morning I go out to our new chicken coop and catch a nice big fly for her breakfast. She seems to have learned that each time I open the lid she'll get a treat and thus hasn't tried to escape yet. It is fascinating to watch her enthusiastically prancing around, pulling webbing out of her spinnerettes in preparation for her meal. She then waits til the fly has tripped itself up in her web, at which time she pounces in for the kill, quickly twirling her meal in a circle with her rear legs as she wraps it tightly in the webbing. She then bites the prey to kill it and injects the liquifying solution which will later enable her to lap up the fly's innards like a milk shake. I figured she may be getting bored with flies, so I've tried other species of spiders (which she usually comes to a truse with, and I let them go), damselflies, craneflies (yum!) but one critter I tried just about turned the tables on Charlotte. I caught a pillbug and she immediately seemed perplexed about how to go about subdueing it, being covered by its hard exoskeleton. When I returned the next day, the pillbug had wrapped itself tightly in a ball (that's why its other name is the rolly-polly bug), and what do you know, Charlotte's rear leg was firmly caught between the pillbug's tough plates of armor! I felt sorry for her, the widow was obviously struggling to free itself. It was odd to see such a poisonous predator caught off guard and clearly vulnerable. What is a good mother to do? So I got two of my long handled artists paint brushes, and opened the lid of her box. I anchored one brush against the pillbug and one against her leg and gently pulled. Finallly after a couple of minutes of cautious experimentation on my part, the spider was free! I quickly closed the lid of her box, and she ran up to her favorite corner, hanging upside down in her web, and proceded to nurse her injury, like a puppy licking it's paw after being stepped on. Now, several days later, she seems no worse for the wear, and we've gone back to a strict (but safe) diet of house flies. Obviously her diet is adequate, for this morning she just laid her second egg sac. I will have to remove it again within a few days, since I'm not keen on having 500 spiderlings, whose bite is 15 times more potent than a rattlesnake, infiltrating my art studio! Oh, Joy!

Recent Illustration Project

I recently created this logo design for a local farm. It is their first year in business and they're growing a wonderful variety of vegies, herbs and flowers, and are deeply committed to sustainable farming practices. I belong to their CSA (community supported agriculture), in fact, I'm on my way this afternoon to pick up my weekly box of goodies from them. Perhaps it will include basil for making homemade pesto, or a floral bouquet for my kitchen table - it's always a pleasant surprise to visit the farm and watch your own food being sowed and tended by such loving and capable hands.

Visit their website at:

http://www.honeyintheheartfarm.com/

Figurative Works Exhibition

I'm pleased to announce the first showing of works from my weekly figure drawing class. Obviously, not scientific illustration, but an excellent exercise in studying light, shape, form
and perfecting one's quick sketching skills. Besides, I feel honored to sketch from a live model, which, in turn inspires me to make my best effort at a successful rendering.

The Figurative Works Exhibition runs through August 22, with an Artist's opening reception on July 31st at the Artists Studio in the Foothills. For more information visit:

http://www.asifstudios.com/

Christine Honored by Local Watershed Group

The Friends of Deer Creek, a local citizen's monitoring watershed association, has highlighted my contributions to their organization in their recent newsletter, the Deer Creek Monitor. I've been working with this worthy group for two years, assisting with illustrations for their upcoming laboratory manual on stream insects, and a few other projects as well. It has been my own honor and pleasure to work with such dedicated folks from my home town, helping to protect our most local watershed, Deer Creek, which had been heavily mined for gold during California's gold rush, which regrettably has left a legacy of mercury pollution in the water. Check out the many projects the Friends of Deer Creek are persuing in an effort to educate citizens and restore the quality of my hometown watershed. http://www.friendsofdeercreek.org/

Hell's Half Acre-A Botanical Gem

Hell's Half Acre, near my home in Grass Valley, is a botanical gem, and a favorite hiking destination for me and my beast, Harriet. The spring wildflower show is absolutely spectacular, with a plethora of meadow species including the pictured blue Lupines and yellow sunflowers.

Sketching & Experimenting

Recently I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they have a lovely new exhibit on the world's seahorses. This sketch is of Australia's Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, easily the most popular critter on display, so I only had about 10 minutes to make this quick pencil sketch before being elbowed out of the way by the many enchanted children! Once home, I decided to experiment with some mineral pigments I collected out in the field near my home in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I ground the yellow ochre-collected mineral by hand, then mixed it with some water and gum arabic, then painted it on the seahorse sketch. This experiment has made me eager to go exploring for more pigment colors amongst the sedimentary deposits near my home.

Butterfly Encounters

This week, the butterflies are out in full force. During a spring hike along the North Fork of the Yuba River, we encountered literally thousands of this species, the California Tortoiseshell, which is known for its mass migrations. Surely, they are thriving from our recent rains, and the success of their host plant, the California Lilac (actually a group of related species of Ceanothus), all of which are blossoming profusely at the moment and filling the mountain air with their scent. During our hike, we were also greeted by many other species of butterflies, who were enjoying the puddles and moist mud from recent rains, and included swallowtails and California Sisters.

For more information about butterflies, visit the excellent site listed below created by a University of California professor, Art Shapiro:

http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/Nymphalis/californica

Art Donated to the South Yuba River Citizen's League Annual Auction

Come celebrate the Wild & Scenic Yuba River at an annual auction benefiting conservation and education efforts. You can bid on two giclee prints I have donated to the cause. Please visit their website for more information on the auction and their organization.

http://www.yubaauction.org/

(At right, a photo of Sierra Newts that inhabit the river's clean and clear tributaries)

Teaching at Bridgeport

Bridgeport State Park on the Yuba River is a lovely location in the spring to teach field classes. Here I am leading a guided illustration and painting class, with a focus on the anatomy and ecology of the Chinook Salmon. Our program takes classrooms of local school children out for a day in the field in which we combine the arts and sciences for an enriching experience. We will continue through early June, and start up again in the autumn.

Botanical Illustration Workshop

Join me June 13th in Sacramento for a day long workshop on botanical illustration. This class is geared to both artists who'd like to learn more about plants, as well as botanists who'd like to learn more about drawing them. All skill levels are welcome and all participants will gain some knowledge of the art and field of botanical illustration. I will review some basic plant anatomy and will bring interesting examples of a variety of plants and flowers for us to draw from. We will practice quick sketching techniques, working mostly in pencil and water-soluble pens and participants will go home with a small finished piece. The day promises to be fun and rewarding! Hope to see you there.

Click the link below to learn more and download an application.
http://www.sacfinearts.org/workshops.shtml

Illustrations included in the new Encylopedia of Life

I am thrilled to announce that several of my biological illustrations have been accepted by the Encyclopedia of Life. The EOL was the brainchild of E.O.Wilson~Harvard University's preeminent entomologist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, and winner of the 2007 TED Award, in which he put a wish out to the world to create such a program. The Encyclopedia of Life, as described on their own webpage is "an ambitious project to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life on earth", presently some 1.8 million known species. The EOL has already begun to "synthesize biodiversity knowledge, including each species' taxonomy, geographic distribution, collections, genetics, evolutionary history, morphology, behavior, ecological relationships and importance for human beings". A truely noble and awe-inspiring project in which I am honored to be just a tiny, microscopic part of.

See one of my illustrations on their site at:

http://www.eol.org/pages/3014072

Illustrations for Iowa State University

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Some of my insect illustrations can now be seen on The Bug Guide, an online identification manual to North American insects and their relatives which is sponsored by Iowa State University's Entomology Department. Visit links below for examples.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/253815#382874
http://bugguide.net/node/view/253810
http://bugguide.net/node/view/253808/bgimage

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Illustration in Progress : Nassau Groupers

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While SCUBA diving off the Turks & Caicos Islands, I was lucky enough to observe these most lovely and endangered Nassau Groupers (Epinephelus striatus) patiently waiting at a cleaning station to have their parasitic isopods removed by the hungry and obliging cleaner shrimps and gobies (which I have yet to add in this painting). Groupers are fascinating fish, being born female then after several spawning seasons, turning into males. Unfortunately these large and tasty fish are being hunted to extinction on their spawning grounds in the Caribbean sea. To see incredible video of groupers having their gills cleaned by cleaner shrimp visit the ARKIVE site below:

http://www.arkive.org/nassau-grouper/epinephelus-striatus/video-11.html

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Upcoming Kid's Illustration Workshop

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Join me for an all day class I'm teaching for kids at the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum on Saturday, May 30th.

This is the third year I've been asked back to teach this perennially favorite class. It is being presented in conjunction with an exhibit of student work from the University of California's Science Illustration Program (from which I also graduated).

Kids will get a chance to sketch and paint a variety of natural objects - from seashells to orchids - learning simple techniques for learning to create realistic drawings.
Click on the Museum link below to learn more about this popular class.

http://www.santacruzmuseums.org/NaturalScienceIllustrationforKids.htm
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Recent Project - Logo for watershed group

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Traverse Creek Stewardship is a volunteer watershed monitoring organization in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada. They asked me to create a logo that played on their acronym, 'TraCKS' and featured a prominent, showy species that lives in their local creeks - the dragonfly.

I developed the animal tracks design showing common riparian species including ducks, heron, raccoon and opossum, then chose to feature the blue-eyed darner dragonfly, Aeshna multicolor. All art was created in Adobe Illustrator.

Check out the website of this worthy organization and see more examples of my illustrations on their pages: http://www.traversecreek.org/

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Recent Illustration Project

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Common Blue Dragonfly, Aeshna multicolor.

I painted this above/below water illustration of an adult and nymph from my personal collection of specimens. As the name implies, they are quite common throughout California in a variety of habitats. I enjoy observing them patroling the shores of the South Yuba River, where I often hike and swim. Like many aquatic invertebrates, the majority of their lives are spent underwater - growing and feeding. This dragonfly spends up to three years in water, and is a voracious predator of other insects and even small fish! I once had the pleasure of observing a nymph emerge from the water and metamorphize into an adult right before my eyes!

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Autumn Has Arrived!

Boy, do I enjoy these first fall days, graced with just enough rain to dampen the dust and sweeten the air. Speaking of sweet, I love to bake squash pies, pumkin soups and the like, and just thought I'd share with you two of my 'go to' sites for great recipes: Epicurious, and The Splendid Table (which also has a wonderful radio program that will whet your palette). See links below.


Epicurious: http://epicurious.com/
Splendid Table: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/
ps. I drew the squash pictured above using colored pencils on toned Canson paper.



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Article Published on My Illustration Work

A two page article featuring my entomological illustration work was just published in the summer 2008 issue of the Bulletin of the North American Benthological Society.
NABS is an international scientific organization whose purpose is to promote better understanding of the biotic communities of lake and stream bottoms and their role in aquatic ecosystems. Learn more about this group at: http://www.benthos.org/AboutNABS/index.htm. Access to the article is limited to paid members, but if you'd like to view a copy, I'd be glad to send you a pdf. Simply email me a request at: christine_elder@yahoo.com

Latest Project: Foothills Oak Tree

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This painting depicts the most common oak tree to our foothills area of the Sierra Nevada, the California Black Oak, Quercus kelloggii. This project evolved over a two year period actually. I had painted the trompe l'oiel part first - the palette, brush and paint tubes...and couldn't quite decide what to do with the central area. Until one day last week, when walking my dog, I noticed the oaks had set quite a nice crop of acorns, so... collecting the fruits and some leaves I went back to my studio, and voila, by the end of the day I'd finally finished the painting, which measures 11" x 16 ".

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Recent Illustration Project: Stonefly

This is an illustration of a giant stonefly, also known to fly fisherman as a salmonfly, Pteronarcys californica. It is a common species in small, cool streams of the Sierra Nevada. Its presence in a particular habitat indicates to biologists a healthy level of water quality.

I created this illustration in a classic, traditional technique called Carbon Dust. It is a slow, labor intensive method, but yields beautiful results with time and patience. It was developed and popularized in the early 1900's by the highly esteemed medical illustrator, Max Brodel at Johns Hopkins University. In this technique one basically 'paints' with carbon dust, using pulverized pencil dust, and a small sable-haired brush, to slowly build up layers of tone, until one achieves rich, velvety blacks. One adds highlights by either scratching then out with a knife, or lifting them out with an eraser. The carbon dust technique is definitely one of my favorites, am I'm looking forward to the opportunity to create more illustrations in this classic technique.