Vintage Paleoart: Rien Poortvliet's Journey to the Ice Age

Many of us probably know Rien Poortvliet for Gnomes, which is an undisputed fantasy/fantasy illustration/speculative biology(?)/well, spec-bio-adjacent masterpiece.  But he had many other beautiful books to his credit and among them, surprisingly, is a work of Paleoart:  

Journey to the Ice Age, published in English in 1994 by Harry N. Abrams is every bit as beautifully crafted as Gnomes and once again, Poortvliet's love and careful observation of the natural world shines through.  The paintings are based on his thoughts wandering while sitting in his hunting hide.  

A highlight of the book is it's focus on prehistoric people.  I'm especially fond of the series of paintings speculating that the first human to ride a wild horse was either very brave, very stupid, or some combination thereof and also somebody triple-dog-dared them.

And now, the mammoths.  Poortvliet had a few mammoth specimens on hand, like hair and a vertebrae; tactile reminders of the beasts, so they are never far from his mind.  This is a very beautiful book and I'm happy to have stumbled upon it.

Sketches from "Nature: Dogs in the Wild"

 This was a really good multipart episode because it focused on rarer, lesser-known canines.

Disney's Animal Kingdom 2023 Sketches and Trip Report!

Earlier this year, my family and I went to Walt Disney World.  Here are some thoughts.

The Flower and Garden Festival was lovely as usual.  We got to ride on everything we'd wanted to experience.  The weather was perfect; we even got to float in the pool more often that I'd expected.  And the new-to-me Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was a blast!  

A few not-so-great things: EPCOT is really suffering with all the construction in Future World (and the day I call Future World "World Celebration/Nature/Stuff" is the day I call Twitter "X").  Space 220 had very good food and I enjoyed some of the little touches, but for the price and popularity, I was expecting more than feasting in the warming glow of a screensaver.  The idea is similar to Coral Reef but I think I'd rather eat in the company of real actual fish.  On the subject of food and drink, I did not care for the Villain's Lair retheme of the Bay Lake Tower DVC Lounge.  Not everything needs to have Disney characters or a Theme and we all agreed that the drinks are ghastly!

And Genie+ is a disaster, but I think I went over that last time.  I still can't get over how confusing this must be for Newbies.  Dear Joe Disney, your park has too many attractions named “Space”, “Star”, and “Galaxy”.  Please change the names of three.  (I’m not a crackpot.)

Anyway.  Animal Kingdom sketches!

Sketching from Nature - "The Elephant and the Termite"

I promised you charismatic megafauna didn't I?  You can't get more charismatic than elephants; I honestly don't know what we humans did to deserve living alongside them.

And this episode helped me get right into my next Sketchbook!  I just happened to pop into a Five Below for the first time ever and it turns out they have a good selection of art supplies.  I got a really nice, really thick watercolor Sketchbook that's seen me through most of this year; an HQ Fine Stroke. I got two because they were, in fact, below five dollars each.  And that was a good move because they're every bit as good as the old reliable Strathmore Visual Journals.  Anyway, back to elephants!

Sketching from "Nature" - "The Alps" and "Scotland's Wild Heart"

I have a pair of very beautiful episodes this week.  First up is "The Alps, Winter's Fortress".  You'll notice in the pages with the Chamois, I wasn't kidding when I said this Sketchbook was handmade and likely one of a kind.  A beautiful home for my silly drawings.

"Scotland's Wild Heart" is another particularly beautiful episode - and I went ahead and drew some friends from the opening and closing credits.

Sketching from "Nature" - "Woodpeckers" and "The Egg"

I of course like the episodes of "Nature" that cover the big famous Charismatic Megafauna (and I happen have an episode like that coming up for you later).  But I LOVE the episodes that focus on the little guys; especially animals I think I know by heart.  The delightfully entitled "Woodpeckers, the Hole Story" is just such an episode.  Turns out our little treekeeper dinosaur friends are at least as important architects of the ecosystem as beavers and termites.

 

I'm pairing this episode with "Sir Attenborough and the Egg, Nature's Greatest Invention".  This was an incredibly good episode.

Sketching from "Nature" - "Santa's Wild Home"

 Happy Christmas in July!  As you know, I enjoy sketching from nature documentaries and I have a big backlog of sketches from "Nature" episodes to share here.  Today, we're going to Lapland in these sketches from... last Christmas.  Yikes.

These and the next few batches of sketches are from a nice little handmade Sketchbook I got at a New Agey store ages ago.  I'd love to recommend it but I think it's one of a kind.  I liked it, though, and it was a lot of fun to draw in.