Watercolor and digital illustrations associated with the Lookout Slough Mitigation Bank in Solano County, CA. An aerial view of Lookout Slough; Chinook salmon fry (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha); a light morph Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni).
Despite the pandemic relaxing its grip a bit (in the States, at least), I’m still a full-time dad. I’ve taken very few paying gigs in the last 14 months. I look forward to the fall, when I expect to return to my work in earnest. Still, the studio isn’t totally fallow now.
I recently created 17 hybrid illustrations (traditional water-based media meets digital) for Hover Pictures, a production company based in Oakland and NYC. The illustrations are used in a film highlighting the work of Ecosystem Investment Partners, a private equity firm that acquires, restores, and manages properties that generate wetland, stream, and endangered species mitigation credits. Mitigation credits are similar to carbon credits; they’re used to offset ecological losses associated with development projects by providing for the preservation and restoration of a different area. These credit programs have their critics, but they’re also a critical tool for regional land trusts as well as global conservation nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy or Audubon Society.
Watercolor and digital illustrations associated with the Lake Superior Mitigation Bank in St. Louis County, MN. A great grey owl (Strix nebulosa); a light morph rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus); a grey wolf (Canis lupus); white pine trees and cone (Pinus strobus).
Watercolor and digital illustrations associated with the Riverpark Mitigation Bank in Riverside County, CA. An aerial view of Riverpark Mitigation Bank; spreading navarretia (Navarretia fossalis); Tidy tips (Layia platyglossa).