A New Painting for EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day! It is an extraordinary international event where about a billion people will take action in service to our planet. Concerns about air and water pollution, toxic exposure, oil reliance, deforestation, coral reef destruction, and ocean acidification, among others, will be topics of discussion in schools, and will give purpose to the actions of those recognizing this day.

Over the weekend, I went camping near Santa Barbara in the Los Padres National Forest. The abundance of animal life was inspiring -- among several appearances by squirrels, crows, bats, quail, soaring vultures, and the hooting of an owl in the night, I came upon a fox, a 4-5 foot gopher snake, a skink catching a roach, deer, and a flock of wild turkeys. And on a hike beyond a water hole, my friend caught a glimpse of a mountain lion high on a ridge across the canyon. I was looking in the opposite direction at that exact second. Can't believe I missed it.

Some of the turkeys:

The gopher snake:

Next weekend I plan to camp at Joshua Tree National Park. 

Many of my posts in the past have centered around environmental issues. I am glad to have completed this painting just in time to add to that theme. 

Man With Dogs, 44" x 32", oil on acrylic sheeting, 2013.

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

Doodle of the Day - Camping On Catalina Island

Catalina Island, off the coast of southern California, is a beautiful place. A few friends and I went there to camp over the weekend. We each loaded our tents, sleeping bags, food, and supplies in our hikers' backpacks, took the boat ride over to the island, and got on a bus to our campsite.

Just off of those rocks, in the above picture, I caught a decent size calico bass in the middle of a kelp paddy (using a swimbait lure), good enough to filet and cook over the campfire. Overall, the trip was a great success - hot sun, some hiking, some kayaking, and lots of lounging around. In the midst of my lounging, I contemplated island life. But these thoughts reminded me of Lonesome George, and his unfortunate departure from our world about a week ago, after over a hundred years of life.

Lonesome George was an island dweller on Pinta Island, part of the Galapagos Islands archipelago off Ecuador. He was a giant tortoise over 100 years old, the last of his subspecies, and the subspecies is now believed to be extinct after George died last week. Interestingly, the subspecies was already thought to be extinct until a biologist discovered George in 1971. This led to attempts to provide George with a mate. He lived in captivity with two female giant tortoises of a close subspecies, but for reasons unknown, never mated with them. George remained solitary and died alone.

I suppose theories have been thrown around for why Georgey never took a fancy to the ladies. Perhaps he was racist? Probably not. Maybe he was just too old?

As I sat on Catalina, these were thoughts that floated through my mind. And then I think the answer came to me in the Doodle of the Day:

Rest in peace, Senor George.

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

Doodle of the Day - Don't Call Me A Bum

Happy Friday! Hope you enjoy today's daily doodle. It was inspired by my weird family and friends. If you're a fan of the Doodle of the Day, please feel free to suggest ideas for future doodles! Ideas are always appreciated :)

To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE. Thank you for following the Doodle of the Day and the paintings, sculpture, drawings, works in progress, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark :)