Tadpole Tale!

 I realized there's so much to tell in our day to day lives and so much I wish I would personally share more often! So here I am, probably giving you a little bit more context about me then needed!

I've been working on a very exciting gallery show for this upcoming spring, 2017 at Studio Articolore. One of the pieces I am working on involves muddy footprints and a tangle of natural brush. What better place to go to snap some reference photos, I asked myself, than Walla Walla's Bennington Lake? Thus, my partner Jared and I set out on a small hike around the lake to stage some reference.

I make it habit to create my own reference shots, it's the best way to get exactly what you want in terms of composition and lighting. Above is just one of the many shots I took - having a variety of photos to choose from leads to the best results. For this set, I simply set out into the drying mud ridging the draining lake and pressed shoes into the mud to get the desired results.

​Jared and I ran into an unsetteling sight on our way back up , however. From a distance, what we found didn't be appear to be much else than piles of small rocks. But as we were about to pass over the pebbles, we realized they were much more!

Tadpoles! Thousands of these little guys littered the muddied banks. With the lake being drained, these little guys got stuck in the shallowing water and eventually were left in heaps to dry in the mud. We feared that we discovered them too late and only a few could possibly still be alive. I nudged one out of curiosity and it squirmed, knocking into the surrounding bodies and causing a domino effect of squirming, lively, tadpoles!

​We went to work right away and gingerly scooped the piles into a water-filled bucket to transfer them to the larger pool of the lake. After hours of hauling them back to the water, we also decided to bring a few of them home with us. With winter coming, we understood that there was chance that our efforts wouldbe in vain, but if we brought a few home at least we could be sure those few survived!

Above is a quick study I did of one of the tadpoles we brought home. Largest of the litter, "Feetsies," enjoys kicking his little legs around and eating the shredded boiled lettuce we portion out to him. I'm looking forward to documenting his growth progress!

​It's great how one project can lead to another. What was first just an average photoshoot, later turned into a mini adventure all on its own! Below are some progress shots of the original project based off the reference photos taken that day.

Some quick shots of the traditional pen and ink followed by some digital colourization.​