Since last summer, I’ve been working on a series of 21 black and white line and stipple illustrations for a book about scientific names as tributes to people. This month, I finally wrapped up my work on the series, and I’m including a few of the illustrations in this post. I’ll add them all to my website when the book is published (likely in the first half of 2020). Gazella cuvieri illustration © Emily S.…

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Since 2009, The United States Mint has annually minted a new one dollar coin honouring a Native American or group of Native Americans. The reverse of the 2019 Native American coin bears my design honoring the contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Space Program. Specifically, it highlights engineer Mary Golda Ross and Native American astronauts including John Herrington. 2019 Native American dollar coin with proof finish, engraved by Joseph Menna My design includes a…

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In the last month or so, the Royal Canadian Mint has released four different nature-themed coins that I designed. This Great White shark swimming through a school of Atlantic mackerel features a high contrast between the silver and the dark blue rhodium plating. Purposefully, the focus is not on a gaping mouthful of teeth, as this top predator is often shown. Including the mackerel gave me an opportunity to share a bit of the shark’s…

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Recently, the United States Mint announced the designs for the 2019 America the Beautiful quarters, and I’m happy to say that one of them is a design I created. It is this view of a driftboat navigating a rocky river in the mountainous landscape of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho: © United States Mint; used with permission Not long after the announcement, reporter James Dawson from the Boise State NPR…

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  This fall, Kloepfer Gallery right here in my city of residence—Guelph, Ontario—hosts an exhibit of my work from October 2 through 30. The show will include about 15 of my natural science illustrations in traditional media, including the painting of the Tiger swallowtail and the coloured pencil drawing of the Round whitefish seen on the exhibit postcard below. Also in the gallery will be the life-size painting of goldenrod I completed a couple years ago.…

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Each year, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators puts on a juried exhibit of members’ work in a location near the annual conference. Most of the time, the conference and exhibit take place in the United States. It’s expensive and a hassle to ship artwork across the border, so I haven’t entered anything in recent years. However, with 2018 being the GNSI’s 50th anniversary year and in consideration of the distinguished venue and extended duration…

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During the week of July 15 to 22, I was in Washington DC for the 2018 Conference of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. It happened to be the 50th anniversary of the founding of the GNSI, and a record number of attendees made it extra special. This was my fourth time attending a GNSI conference, and as always it was an educational, inspirational, adventure-filled week, with new connections and reconnections made. I have two…

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Now that it’s summer and the trees are in leaf, it’s fitting that the Royal Canadian Mint has recently released this new 2 oz. silver Canadian Canopy coin that I had the opportunity to design: 2 oz. Pure Silver Coin – Canadian Canopy: The Maple Leaf Of all of the maple canopy coins I’ve worked on, this one—at 50 mm—is the largest. The small openings between the leaves really let the silver “sky” sparkle through.…

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On March 21, 2018 at the United States Capitol Visitors Center, a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honored the men and women who served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II. The OSS was America’s first spy agency—the forerunner to the CIA. A brief synopsis of the OSS and details about the medal are here. My miniscule connection to this esteemed group of people is that I designed the gold medal being…

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This May, botanical artists from 25 different countries are showcasing their country’s native plant species through simultaneous exhibitions of botanical art in a unique event called Botanical Art Worldwide. The “groundbreaking collaboration between botanical artists, organizations, and institutions worldwide” will “call attention to the importance of conserving our botanical diversity,” according the website. In each country, the exhibition of botanical art will include a slide show of images from other participating country’s exhibits. Canada’s exhibit, titled Art…

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