Eagle Nest, Des Moines River, 2013.

I took this shot as we floated by the nest.  I swear this eagle is making eye contact with my camera.

We passed several eagle nests on the Des Moines river.  The sheer size of each nest is incredible...they're like a Volkswagen beetles parked on tree tops.  Each nest had a pair of eagles.  One eagle sat on the nest and one played sentry.  The sentry took their job seriously.  As we approached each nest, from a safe distance, the giant bird would fly off his/her branch and fly in circles above our heads until we were no longer "threat worthy".  I swear that the eagle made eye contact with me.  It was very intense.

Arrowhead Hunting in Iowa, April 2013. Points, Scrapers, Knifes, Hematite Piece, and more.

April 26th was a pretty excellent day for arrowhead hunting. The Midwest has been dealing with a lot of flooding...which is bad for basements but excellent for artifact/fossil hunters. The rain raises the water levels in small lakes, creeks, ditches, and rivers, the extra water erodes river bank walls and exposes new sand/rocks/dirt.  Here are some of the pieces we found.  Enjoy!

two perfect arrowheads.

Left of Right to bottom:  A beautiful turtle back scraper, a broken long, thin arrowhead, a Madison triangle with a busted tip, and a crude arrowhead.

Left to Right to bottom: A hematite knife or celt (this one is confusing to me, you don't often see hematite pieces, the base of a spear or knife, a scaper, and two knife.

As you can see, it was a very successful day.  The only piece that has me puzzled is the small hematite piece.  It's napped like a knife or scraper but I think it's a small celt.  Who knows?  I'll upload the videos to a youtube account and post the link here later.

Thanks for looking.

Fossil Hunting in Iowa. April, 2013. Brachiopods and Horned Coral.

I pulled more horned coral out of this creek bed in 30 minutes than I have over the course of the entire 2012 fossil hunting season.  Thank you rain.  If it wasn't for you all of these fossils would have been hidden under stagnant dirt and sand for many years.

As you can see, I found a helluva lot of horned coral.  I'm not sure of their various taxonomies but there appear to be three different variations.  I base this off of size, segments, and the appearance of the outside and inside of each specimen (bumpy, smooth, varied?).  But, damn, I'm not a geologist so I'll leave the tedium to those paid poorly for it (always end with a preposition).

As for the brachiopods, there appear to be several of those as well. I believe I have four or five variations. Not to mention a nice piece of branched coral (hanging out above the penny in the bottom photograph). 

As always, happy huntings.  I hope you find something good today.

Arrowhead Hunting in Iowa. April, 2013.

I had a good weekend.  I found a ton of fossils in a creek bed, went to a benefit auction and bought some cool stuff, and found an awesome arrowhead when Kyle and I went hunting on Sunday.

It took me three years to find a perfect arrowhead.  I've found other perfect artifacts...just never a perfect arrowhead and it felt amazing.  My stomach flipped several times when I spotted the piece.  I may have even let out a squeal of joy. (i also found a perfect mano, a broken drill, and a broken birdpoint in this field)

Watch the video.  It'll take a moment to load but should be worth the wait.

Smashed Pennies from the Glen Oak Zoo.

Juice, Barton, and I went to Glen Oak Zoo on Saturday.  It was an eventful trip, I watched a zookeeper feed a mandrill some lettuce.  Whoa.  It was pretty intense.  I also purchased these beautiful smashed pennies and have a new favorite animal : The Red River Hog (So CUTE).

Took the Day off Work. This is What I'm doing.

Sometimes a person just needs a day off. Today I am that person. My day so far? Slept till nine, made coffee, took a walk with the dog, turned on some cartoons, and started painting. I am currently painting...and on my fourth cup of coffee.

Sorry for the semi-crappy photos. This was all done with an iPad. Hooray for technology....also, I edited the photo size by figuring out some basic HTML. I feel so powerful.

Peoria Pop up Shop.

skyler sporting the beautiful "Bat" shirt design.

I received my BFA in 2005 from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.  A lot of my good friends still live around the area and are doing wonderful things to make the Peoria land area a better place (I could write an entire essay about all the good things my friends are doing, I am very proud).  Many business storefronts remain empty from the recession and entrepreneurial people, like my friends Rishika and Lisa, are trying to make them profitable again.  Hence their plan.

April 5th was first Fridays.  To those unfamiliar, first Fridays happen on (duh) the first Friday of every month.  Galleries have openings and the people of the local community hop from shop to shop, gallery to gallery, drink some free wine, and hopefully enjoy and buy art.  With the help of local store owner, Jessica Bennassi, local writer, Rishika Murthy, and local photographer, Lisa Anderson....we held a flea market of sorts on First Friday.

Our pop up shop had three vendors.  Rishika sold garments and hand bags from India at reasonable prices, Lisa sold her wonderful photographs (I am now the proud owner of two pieces), and I sold t-shirts featuring my designs, drawings, beaded skulls, and paintings.

The show was a tremendous success.  I got to see all sorts of friends (it was a lovely reunion as you can see in the photograph below) and even managed to sell SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS worth of merchandise!  A fellow even bought a beaded deer skull, many bough drawings or prints, and it felt like everyone wanted a t-shirt.  It was amazing and rejuvenating.  I am still glowing from the experience and you know what they say...."if it plays in Peoria."

I'm feeling inspired.  It felt good to see my product sell successfully.

A Commissioned Piece.

A memorial tattoo/drawing for my friend in Milwaukee.

Farm Scene.

I love it when I get to draw at work.  It makes my day.  Today I drew a quick farm scene with help from a sharpie marker and a few pieces of clip art.  Customers love clip art.  What did I discover about farm scenes?  It's really hard to draw a silo and have it not resemble a "member" of the male anatomy.  Next step, this drawing will go to our designer and he will turn it into a t-shirt design for a local farmer.