Exploring With Roy

 

I've spent the last week or so in the company of a Beloit boy who made good, the explorer, naturalist, intelligence agent, author, and probable inspiration for Indiana Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews. An art friend sent me a link for a design contest called Explore With Roy, and on a whim I decided I'd give it a go.  I started by heading to the library and finding what it had on Andrews, and came home with a good stack of books with photos.  That led to all sorts of reading, sketching (who knew how hard camels are to draw?) and planning.  I lost a good two days when I made the mistake of starting Andrews 1951 collection of stories about his exploration of the Gobi desert entitled Heart of Asia.  This man was quite a character. Anyway, the original plan was to do a watercolor, but then I decided that I wanted to try acrylic on paper instead.  I find acrylic to be a more forgiving medium.

It's not done.  I want the figure to pop more, and I have other ideas for the background.  Every step has been a personal exploration, since I have never done anything like this before.  Do I want to add dinosaur bones?  A quote? Modify the distance with hills?  What colors?  I find myself dreaming about what to do next. 

To be continued.