Painting A Peregrine

May 26, 2017

I documented my painting process for Instagram and Twitter, but never put it up on here. I paint in watercolor, but sometimes with unorthodox tools. For instance, to keep my paint from freezing in the Antarctic, I used vodka instead of water.

For this painting, I used, in addition to brushes, a folding jackknife, a Mr. Clean Magic Sponge, a spoon, and painter's tape. I accidentally answered the door holding the knife during my paint scraping part of the process, and nearly scared the pants off the FedEx guy. If I'd been holding the sponge or the spoon, it wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic.

I am unable to paint without getting it all over myself.

Fund raising for Trans Lifeline →

March 4, 2017

For the week of Feb. 26 through March 3, all proceeds from sales of this print will be donated to the Trans Lifeline. Type TRANS in when you order to get a $12.00 discount in shipping and handling, too, because you're a nice person.

Why a cicada? Well, this isn't any old cicada. The Periodic Cicada has a mysterious life cycle in which ALL of them spend either 17 or 13 years underground in their juvenile form, and then at an unknown signal, they emerge all at once and take on their adult forms. This seemed like a pretty apt metaphor for the lives of all the trans people I've known.

When the Republicans decided to discriminate against trans kids recently, I decided to do what I can to help the Trans Lifeline. So, for this week, I will be donating every bit of the proceeds for sales of this print to the Trans Lifeline.

(If you're wondering, it's called "Magiccicada" because that really is part of the latin name for this species.)

I've Been Hard At Work →

March 2, 2017

I've been hard at work since I got back from the Antarctic. Click on the title for a short video!

GNSI NW Group Show: Clymer Museum, Ellensburg, Washington

May 12, 2016

I have two pieces of artwork in this show, both of Northwest birds! Go see!

Where have I been? In the ANTARCTIC!

May 5, 2016

I have just gotten back from living in the Antarctic for the summer season of 2015-2016! Summer, remember, is reversed in the southern hemisphere, so it started there roughly in November and it has definitely ended by now (May, 2016).

I had an amazing time. I talked about it extensively on my other site, polarsouth.com

I would like to thank everyone at Palmer Station, particularly Jeff Otten, Bob Farrell, Rob Bergeron, and Carolyn Lipke, who were all amazingly helpful to my co-writer, Susan McCarthy, and I when we first got there.

We have a book proposal in the works as I write this, and I have a few art shows coming up. If you're in the Portland area, you can look at some of the original watercolor studies I did while I was living there - they are up at Cafe Destino, 1339 NE Fremont Street, Portland, Oregon, for the month of May.

I am in the process of getting my Etsy store up and rolling again, if you're interested in getting a print of any of my Antarctic studies. You can either email me at terridrawsstuff@gmail.com or you can take a look at my store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TerriPrints

Panoramic Photo of a killer whale

September 28, 2015

I was at the Burke after the Bug Blast thing last week and took a bunch of photos and made a few drawings of the Killer Whale and the Antarctic Fur Seal, in preparation for my big trip to Palmer Station coming up.

If you want to see the whole skeleton, click the link below and then use your mouse to scroll around. You can see some of the Mammalogy Department at the museum, too.

CLICK THIS FOR A PANORAMA!

Killer Whale at the Burke Museum by Terri Nelson

Burke Bug Blast!

September 28, 2015

Burke Museum Bug Blast!

I just got back from Seattle, where I took part in the annual Bug Blast at the Burke, drawing insects and talking to children and adults about what it's like to be a scientific illustrator.