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Tales from the Island of Serendip
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Started by Flex Mentallo,

8,956 posts in this topic

Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

Posted
Posted

OK, the Serendip thread has convinced me that the time is right to post some of my more recent (2015) B&W fantasy work.

 

These are both sketches and finished pieces, focusing mostly on dragons and dragon-esque creatures.

 

Several are mixed media as I've had less time to focus on full scale acrylic paintings given my other artistic pursuits...

 

Dragon20sketch20102015_zpsn1cj3fhm.jpg

 

eeaad5d9-a1d5-4a2f-8047-022aa88dd097_zps48sp4sgd.jpg

 

1ba8e96b-fc95-4623-bb5a-aaffa8b9fdf5_zps9njkvwrw.jpg

 

1822a48e-3f1e-4c01-a157-586bf3db1e34_zps31in8jee.jpg

 

1263c857-e554-46a1-aa7d-1913dd74063b_zps7ke3wdov.jpg

 

105510e4-58cc-460a-aea4-7377efa1bbc6_zpsg2byoijd.jpg

 

Enjoy! (...critiquing welcome) hide_under_rock_by_mirz123-d37upz0.gif

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

Edited by Flex Mentallo
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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

My favorite extinction theory proposed by Larson...

209795_f520.jpg

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

My favorite extinction theory proposed by Larson...

209795_f520.jpg

 

Hee hee. Thanks Richard.

 

'We may as well try to smoke ourselves to death because that darned asteroid will be here any day now anyway.'

 

That seems so, well, human.

 

On the whole I think I'd rather be a dinosaur. (Dont say it.)

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

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On the whole I think I'd rather be a dinosaur. (Dont say it.)

hm (I'm only thinking it.)

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sacentaur

sacentaur

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Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Nothing new - it's been a while since I've read up on the subject. The Burgess Shale is just fascinating.

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

 

Gould is an interesting guy - the competing theories (gradual evolution vs. stable interrupted evolution) are quite remarkable (I tend to agree with Gould, btw).

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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I agree. Took his writings as gospel for many years. Quite surprised that he seems to have become so controversial in recent years.

 

His argument is that in the early periods, life had not yet becomes survival of the fittest, more survival of the mutants.

 

In other words, entirely new phyla would come into existence unrelated to other phyla except in the most rarefied of ways.

 

As I understand it, more recent theories - which I have yet to read - argue that what appeared to be new phyla were in fact progenitors of existing species.

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sacentaur

sacentaur

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As I understand it, more recent theories - which I have yet to read - argue that what appeared to be new phyla were in fact progenitors of existing species.

 

Apparently so, but I thought the Burgess Shale went against that theory (if there's a new modern interpretation, then I'm not up-to-speed on it).

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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As I understand it, more recent theories - which I have yet to read - argue that what appeared to be new phyla were in fact progenitors of existing species.

 

Apparently so, but I thought the Burgess Shale went against that theory (if there's a new modern interpretation, then I'm not up-to-speed on it).

 

Me too, on both counts.

 

reception

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BOOT

BOOT

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

Was going to recommend that. Wonderful Life is a fascinating book. Gould raised a lot of interesting questions about whether we really understand the evolutionary process. Surprised to hear it was controversial, but then adherence to dogma sometimes gets in the way of open-minded exploration.

 

Thanks again for this fascinating thread! Although the latest monster pics you posted gave me a start!

159917.jpg.204588222361c9053492acdbe763165b.jpg

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jhutton2

jhutton2

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And then, on December 23, 1938, the first living specimen was found off the east coast of South Africa. Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered the fish among the catch of a local angler. A Rhodes University ichthyologist, J.L.B. Smith, confirmed the fish's importance with a famous cable: "MOST IMPORTANT PRESERVE SKELETON AND GILLS = FISH DESCRIBED"

 

I remember reading about this in childhood, in the same kind of natural history book that Richard (Yellow Kid) mentioned earlier. Like him, I read those books until they fell apart.

 

There is a fascinating recent documentary about the discovery.

 

The fish rotted before Smith could properly examine it. Smith was to certain it would prove the theory that the fish walked on its fins on the ocean bottom.

 

Unfortunately for Smith, when live specimens were later observed in the wild, this was shown not to be the case.

 

368360_zpsq2ypb8zc.jpg

 

 

The Vancouver Aquarium has a preserved specimen of this species of fish. I remember my Dad taking me there when I was 4 or 5 and telling me about the fish and looking at the display. I did not take this pic, but found in by doing a search on google images. The discussion on this thread made me remember the fishing and seeing it when I was a child.

 

I thought the group might enjoy seeing the link.

 

Cheers

 

Jason

 

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/baggis/2394754102/

 

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mysterio

mysterio

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

My favorite extinction theory proposed by Larson...

209795_f520.jpg

 

I've always liked this one too, but am reluctant to show it in one of my classes because some of my students would probably take it seriously...

 

Dinosaurs-Noahs-Ark.jpg

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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Thinking back, the other book that made a big impression on me was Stephen Bakker's Dinosaur Heresies. I believe he was the first to propound the theory that dinosaurs were nimble.

 

Dinosaur Heresies

 

 

I ws also fascinated by a long lost National Geographic article about the largest dinosaur that ever lived

 

Argentinosaurus

 

 

blue_whale_size_comparison_2_by_sameerprehistorica-d5zk3fx_zpshirnd9hl.jpg

Edited by Flex Mentallo
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Norrin_Radd

Norrin_Radd

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Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

 

Do you have any other book recommendations on palaeontolgy Steve?

 

Here's one for you. :foryou:

 

wonderful life

My favorite extinction theory proposed by Larson...

209795_f520.jpg

 

I've always liked this one too, but am reluctant to show it in one of my classes because some of my students would probably take it seriously...

 

Dinosaurs-Noahs-Ark.jpg

PBF055-Dinosaur_Meteors.jpg

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