Well, Shucks!

Linda of Quotidian Curiosities, a very cool Sketches N’ Commentary blog, has bestowed a very cool honor on this one: the Creative Blogger Award. I’m jazzed and honored to get it- and the beauty of it is that I get to pass it along to five other bloggers who inspire me. Great idea, yes? So here’s my list of five special people who have encouraged, intrigued, or simply delighted me with their fellowship and talent:

1) Julie Zickefoose– She’s a naturalist, champion birder, bird artist and writer; does wonderful NPR commentaries (has a good warm radio voice). Other things she does distressingly well: dog training, child-rearing, photography, rock-and-roll singing, wildlife-rehabilitation and roller-skating. Has a great blog with photos, artwork, and some of the best prose in the blogosphere. Compells her friends to start blogs and then cheers them on when they actually do. Thanks, Julie!

2) Sherrie York at Brush and Baren– another field-sketch-fanatic and my linocut guru. A good hand with pencils and pens and brushes, carving tools and whatever suits the subject. She reminds me that there’s always time to go outside and draw something and there’s never a better time than now. It’s great seeing the grand Colorado scenery through her beautiful artwork and fine photos.

3) Carl Buell at Olduvai George– an old-school paleoartist with new-school digital expertise, who has been beyond generous in sharing his skills and images on his blog and with me, lucky girl. Not only a wondrous artist but a fine soul and an encyclopedia of knowledge on all things fossilized. This is a guy who brings ’em back alive- from millions and millions of years ago. Wish he posted a little more often, but be sure to check his archives for a great tutorial on mammoth-making.

4) Carel Brest Van Kempen at Rigor Vitae-awesome, awesome artist, paints wildlife, especially birds, with delicacy and power. His sense of humor jumps out from behind the fur and feathers and completes the picture with subtle whimsy. And he shares his process, something I just soak up like a sponge when it’s offered. In this post he describes how he created, from thumbnail sketches to finished work to selection of the title (from a Jethro Tull song, no less!), a painting of a Black-billed magpie currently on view at the prestigious Birds in Art show at the Woodson Museum in Wisconsin. As I said, awesome.

5) Cicada at Bioephemera is a favorite of mine. We share a peculiar 19th Century Artist/Naturalist Steampunk sensibility, although hers is more highly evolved into a true Victorian Cabinet of Curiosities mode, while mine might be classified as Neo-Edwardian Tropical Derelict. Her very cool drawings and detailed watercolors revolve around insects, cephalopods and architectural motifs, and give you a sense that you’ve just stumbled into a musty old natural history museum, one that still includes reliquaries and golden armillaries.

There you have it- five must-see blogs for creative inspiration. And thank you, Linda, for including me in your list!