Happy 2010

So far this year, the first 20 days of 2010, has been crazy. In my world it is calm, but for Haiti, and those with friends and family in Haiti, it seems like hell. Hopefully by now you’ve donated and donated again to reputable relief agencies and organizations. And also hopefully, you’ve realized how good you have it.

I was reminded again of how good I have it, how much I take for granted, how much people have fought, bled and died for me, through non-violent means of challenging oppression and discrimination. This Martin Luther King Jr. day we went to Brooklyn Academy of Music where there are all day events to mark the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and saw Soundtrack for a Revolution. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Then took a long walk in the sun thinking and talking about things.

Anyhow, what’s up? It’s 2010 and I’m still jobless.

I entered 2 art contests, both entries of which are mushroom-related. First, was the New Yorker magazine’s contest where anybody can enter their rendition of Eustace Tilley, the “iconic dandy”, that first appeared on the magazine’s cover in 1925. Guidelines are open, interpretations are broad, anybody can enter online for free. Deadline is today. Do it now if you haven’t already. No prizes, just publication in the magazine if you’re amongst the top 10 selected in the contest.

Here is my entry:

Of which you can comment on here, Morning Dew.

I also submitted photos for Artists Wanted’s call for entries on The Power of Self, self-portraiture defined widely, also due today. There are 2 prizes attached, one of which is the People’s Choice award ($1,000) so if you have the inclination to vote, please do! I wish there was a way to browse all entries so one could vote what one thinks is best, but alas, it is more of a popularity and word-of-mouth contest and I haven’t gotten the word out yet. I admit I’m a little shy on that, so here’s my big push:

VOTE FOR MY ENTRY! PLEASE!

Thank you for voting! And then there’s the judged competition to win $7,007 or 6 months free in one of those shiny glassy new condos in Williamsburg. I’m vying for the $7,007! One of the judges is Steve Buscemi.

Oh and I won this contest by BBC America so I'm feeling lucky. The Young Ones dvd collection arrived in the mail yesterday.

So that’s it for now until laters.

Let's Deliquesce

Painting sometimes is a series of mistakes if I haven't planned something out carefully. Thankfully, I was just doing this for fun. I've been smitten by the word "deliquescence" lately, ever since encountering the Coprinus comatus, or shaggy mane mushroom. I painted a 24-hour deliquescence of the shaggy mane mushroom for one of my Botanical Illustration finals in watercolor. Recently I did a mock-up of the shaggy mane deliquescence sequence (try saying those last 4 words 4 times fast 4 times over) juxtaposed with the actual word "deliquescence". For the best definition of the word, I refer you to the Cornell Mushroom Blog's explanation plus video. So based on the mock up, I wanted to paint this composition:



Part way through, I altered the placement of the different mushrooms and made a design error. Probably nothing apparent to the viewer but it screamed OH SHIT to me.



So starting with the shaggy mane mushrooms, I decided to keep going and experiment with filling the whole paper with mushrooms that deliquesce, namely the inky caps. At the other end of the paper, I painted a cluster of Coprinus micaceus, or the mica inky caps.



And in the middle, the Coprinus radians or orange-mat coprinus.



I thought the middle background was a little empty so I put in some Croprinus plicatilis or Japanese umbrella inky caps in the background. They're rather light and delicate mushrooms so I thought they would go well with the heavy deliquescence going on in the foreground.




The inky caps are really unique in that they deliquesce as a way of dispersing spores, meaning they sorta just liquefy and melt into an inky mess. This I discovered by accident. More than once, I held an inky cap captive in a paper bag and between plucking the inky cap from the earth and storing it in a paper bag for later examination, to running a bunch of errands for a few hours, to opening the bag at the end of the day, it has decomposed and stained the bag an inky mess. At Mushroom Maynia at the Burke Museum in Seattle, there were containers of inky cap ink for people to actually paint with.

I love them inky caps, despite their mess. And I am utterly fascinated by their tendency to deliquesce. So this watercolor composition became "Let's Deliquesce", an ode to the inky cap mushrooms. Oh yeah, it is also the launch of a side project, a blog on rootin' around town, with mushroom photographs (my new obsession) and such, called Let's Deliquesce, at http://letsdeliquesce.com. Please come visit and lemme know what you think!

Merlin My Owl Friend

Happy Autumn!

It's great to be back in New York City after a whirlwind summer spent in Japan, Taiwan and Seattle. Many many thanks to family, friends and people of those places for a fun and fascinating time. In Tokyo, I spent endless hours searching for and photographing mushrooms (more about this in a future post) in city parks while my husband did his research on film. Who woulda thunk such abundant mushrooms would be found in the megatropolis of Tokyo?



In Taiwan, we visited extended family and camped out during what were some of the hottest days for the island on record. And back to Seattle, a place of family and old friends, before taking off to the east coast of the US, where we are now.

We're settling nicely into the infinitely intriguing neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, revisiting friends, getting acquainted with the borough, strolling Prospect Park, hanging out at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and hitting up the weekly Grand Army Greenmarket. This month, I went to the annual Falconry Extravaganza in Central Park, a free public event featuring birds of prey and educational demonstrations from the Hawk Creek Wildlife Center and the Urban Park Rangers of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Having been a former seasonal Urban Park Ranger at Central Park myself, it was great to see friends and colleagues again. In addition, having worked this event in 2007, it was great to see some of the same birds of prey up close.

The Hawk Creek Wildlife Center's goals are to rehabilitate injured wildlife for eventual release and to conduct outreach and education to the public about native wildlife. However, some rehabilitated wildlife cannot be re-released if their injuries or conditioning does not allow them a fighting chance to survive in the wild. Such animals reside permanently at the wildlife center and are presented for educational purposes, such as the birds of prey at the Falconry Extravaganza.

Among these birds of prey from the wildlife center is Merlin the Barred Owl. Merlin was considered the most ornery of the bunch with the most unpredictable disposition. When I last staffed the event in 2007, I had the honor of carrying him on my arm for the educational demonstration. I put on the thick hawk glove and was oriented on how to properly hold him so that we both felt safe and secure. Though I held Merlin as instructed, at arm's length and with steadfastness, I was no doubt intimidated by his power. For not only was Merlin considered one of the more difficult birds from the wildlife center, but the species' reputation in the wild as a bully to the Spotted Owl in Pacific Northwest forests was well documented.

So all I could think of here as I held the beautiful owl was, "Please don't rip my face off."



Seeing a Barred Owl that close, this big gorgeous bird at the end of my arm, and engaging all my arm muscles to hold it as still as a statue so that it would feel comfortable and refrain from attacking me, was an experience I wouldn't forget. Alas, Merlin and I got along just fine for the few minutes we were together and he graciously spared me.

At the falconry event this month, I got to see my old friend, Merlin again. I swear he recognized me with his big globular eyes. Probably not, but I'd like to think so. I spent some time watching him and snapped a bunch of pictures, resolving to paint his portrait. Here he is, below, in watercolor (on Arches hot-press paper, 10" x 14").




More illustrations inspired by the falconry event to come and hopefully more owl friends to make...

Stay tuned and thanks for visiting!

Class of Curiosities Art Exhibit, Opening Reception Thurs., July 9th

The graduates of the Natural Science Illustration Certificate Program from the University of Washington Extension invite you to Class of Curiosities on July 9th, 2009! We will be exhibiting our artwork from the Natural Science Illustration Certificate Program at the Burke Room of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Opening reception is on Thursday July 9th from 6 pm to 9 pm. There will be refreshments and entertainment. Please join us and support the recent graduates of this program by viewing our art! Click on the art exhibit postcard above for a preview and list of artists. Thank you very much to Michael Liang for designing the postcard!

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is a great museum to visit and is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm and there is free admission on the first Thursday of each month from 10 am to 8 pm. Admission will be waived for those only viewing the Natural Science Illustration Exhibit in the Burke Room. Normally, the Burke Room is not a public vieing area and may be occupied with private events. At times other than the opening reception, please call 206-543-7907 to check availability before visiting.

I am currently in Japan and won't be able to go but I'll have two pieces up in this exhibit, one botanical and one mammalian. I wish my fellow graduates the best in luck for this show!

Thank you very much! And whew!

Congratulations to my fellow graduates of the 2009 Natural Science Illustration Certificate Program of the University of Washington!  We did it, we made it through a very challenging and fulfilling 9 months.  Enormous thanks to our amazing instructors: Elizabeth Halfacre, Bart Rulon, Patricia Weyer and Sue Burrus. Thank you also to Lisa Anderson and UW Extension program staff.  Thank you as well to the Burke Museum for hosting our upcoming show (more details to come).  Eternal thanks to my family and friends for their loving support.  In these 9 months, I've had the luck and luxury of moving back to Seattle, throwing myself into the throes of illustrating animals, plants, bones, skulls, fossils, lichen, mushrooms and more, and have had my eyes open wider than ever to my surroundings.  I learned a lot and have a shit load more to learn.  I hope my illustrations will continue to be used for environmental and natural science education and to promote the conservation of wildlife worldwide.  

Thank you very much for visiting my website and for your continued support!  

In a matter of days, I will be traveling from Seattle to the Bay Area of California, then on to Tokyo, Japan with an eventual return to Seattle and then New York City in the fall.  In the meantime, you can continue to contact me at anne@anneyenillustration.com.  Looking forward to seeing what wild things grow in Tokyo.   

Many thanks and much love and peace.

For the Love of Fish

Since I've temporarily moved back to Seattle, my seafood consumption has increased quite a bit.  Before you balk, my diet is about 97% vegetarian.  But being an Asian-American, seafood runs in my blood.  I will say that, take it however you like.  My father was a fisherman for most of his life, and a mushroom forager and a hunter for many years.  We lived in Michigan for a long time, afterall.  In fact, it was his frequent forays into the outdoors that inspired my own love for the environment and for wildlife.  He took me to the state park nearly every week and on occasional hunts when I was growing up, though I dreaded the moment he'd hafta actually shoot at an animal.  On these trips, he warned me that should the opportunity arise, he would shoot his rifle, but luckily, it never happened when I was around.  Not like he never caught game.  We ate duck and deer.  The latter animal hit his parked car and died.  He even caught a ring-necked pheasant one time, a beautiful male that we kept in our garage for a few days.  I wanted to keep it as a pet, but we did finally cook and eat him.  

My dad's love for hunting inspired my love for wildlife and nature.  For some, that relation is no surprise.  For others, they can see some relation between the two but coming from different ideals.  For others, hunting and love for wildlife are considered in direct opposition of each other.   How do we achieve environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods?  Those are the big questions we must ask.

My dad loves fish.  I painted him the sockeye salmons above for his birthday (acrylic, 14.5" x 8.5").  Salmon runs have been facing tremendous decline.  And I love to eat fish!  I'm trying to be conscious of what fish are in the most danger of depletion from the world's oceans due to our consumption, according to the Marine Stewardship Council.  And what about the floating garbage in our oceans large enough to be the size of a continent?  Our plastic bag usage, packaging, and tossed cigarette butts contribute to this.  We need to change our consumption, and it's not just participating in beach cleanups and putting litter in the right place.  We need to nip it in the bud, at the source, what we buy, what we eat, what we discard, recycle, reuse or avoid buying at all.  And government and industry play an even larger role and need to be held accountable, read Garbageland. Plenty of questions and ideas and things to do on a lot of different fronts.  Now go!

In the meantime, I wanted to wish my dad a happy 77th birthday, and a big thank you for him inspiring me to do what I do...  whether he knows it or not.

Change

Happy Change to all!

And happy spring too!  I say this though it snowed less than a week ago.  But then again, I am originally from a place where it can blizzard as late as May.  Regardless, the recent snow, which stuck around for a few hours in this corner of the country, still brought a flurry of bird activity at my local park, Matthews Beach.  There were hummingbirds, robins, green-winged teals and bald eagles all movin' about.  

With the change of season (and of various other grand things!), so it comes to my artwork as well.  I am mid-way through my Certificate program in Natural Science Illustration at the University of Washington in Seattle.  It is a challenging and enriching program that has taught me how to draw and illustrate all over again.  Not like I was very set in my ways in the first place.  It has been the art and natural science illustration education that I have craved for years.  My classmates and instructors are pretty awesome and we motivate each other and dialogue quite a bit about the intersection of natural science and the arts.  

I just wanted to also send out a big "hang in there!!" during these unpredictable times, especially to artists and others who do what inspires them to do what they do.  To all, hang in there!

A Pacific squid (in watercolor, above) and a fiddler crab (in color pencil, below) for your enjoyment...