This is a re-post of a drawing that was up on the site a few days ago and then which mysteriously disappeared with a number of other pieces. It’s a ballpoint pen drawing in a Folio Moleskine of a golden eagle (skeleton) hunting a rabbit (skeleton) drawn from an excellent book called Evolution. Unfortunately, ballpoint pen doesn’t scan particularly well, but I’m finding that it’s an amazingly versatile medium to work with, especially on the paper in the A4 Moleskine sketchbook, which is far superior to the paper in the smaller sketchbooks.

A view of the forum in Rome – The Eternal City. An old sketch from my honeymoon in 2001. About all I could get down without pushing my wife’s kindness in letting me sketch too far.

The Ganges river dolphin lives in water that is so thick with mud it cannot see more than a few inches in front of it. River dolphins are blind, in fact their eyes don’t even have lenses in them. The dolphins finds their way around by making a series of clicking noises which, like radar, bounce off hard surfaces and these are perceived by the dolphins. River dolphins feed by pushing their flippers into the mud which stirs it up releasing crabs, bottom-living catfish and shrimps into the water. The dolphins also produce a rapid series of clicks during feeding to aid in locating these prey. Not sure if the dolphins look as contented in real life as they do in this picture.
Gouache in Moleskine sketchbook.

Mandrill and associated skull from my Darwin primate series.
Micron pen and gouache in a Moleskine sketchbook.

So many flies, not enough tongue!
Gouache and pen.

The bonobo is our closest living relative and very different from chimpanzees. Bonobos are known as the sexy ape due to their propensity to make love not war. They have even been found to learn and use grammar and syntax equivalent to a 5 year old child. This is the last of the apes in my Darwin series, but not the last primate.

Another diversion before returning to my Darwin series. This is a gouache and micron pen study of a rhino in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Taking a break from our primate relatives with a pencil, gouache and watercolour study of a couple of toucans in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

A chimpanzee from my Darwin series using micron pen and gouache paint in a Moleskine sketchbook.

The second in my Darwin series, this time a mountain gorilla. Again, the painting was done in a Moleskine sketchbook using micron pens and gouache.