Black Hills Artist
Black Hills Artist
If you find yourself baking on a stage of black shale while the sun burns above you, see if you can spot the iridescence of an ancient fossil. Odds are the animal’s last swim happened about 65 million years ago. But if lucky, you’ll find a form that’s as fragile as it is permanent, aesthetically shaped, and adorned with an incredible amount of detail.
In the following pieces, fossils as subject matter provide viewers with a glimpse of Earth’s ancient animals.
Clay, metal, Sphenodiscus sculpture | 16” X 13” X 6”
The ammonite Sphenodiscus elegantly balances in space by curved and spliced wrought iron. A slash mark on the ammonite shell reveals a shark bite that instantaneously occurred about 60-million years ago. Sculpted clay encircles the ammonite suggesting a frenzied moment of attack. This sculpture captures an ancient encounter and death by an obvious victor.
Acrylic and nacreous shell, on b” | 15” X 28” | $1,400
This vibrant painting depicts an ammonite’s survival in a shallow sea. In this painting, acrylics in free flow capture water movement as the suspended ammonite evolves from painterly stokes. Fragments of iridescent shell flicker within the sediments as a tribute to death.
Acrylic and Scaphites specimen on canvas | 9” x 9” | $250
A textured canvas catches Scaphites diagonally propelling up the water column. As the ammonite moves from the dark seafloor its iridescent shell emerges in sunlit waters depicting movement in an ancient sea.
Acrylic on paper | 13.5” x 9.5” | $825
Hoploscaphites is among the diversified fossils within the Pierre Shale of South Dakota. This ammonite’s final whorl projects forward in a surge of backward momentum. The diagonal movement explodes in dazzling colors dancing on iridescent shells. This festival of colors is reminiscent of a holiday celebration designed by nature.
Acrylic on paper | 22” x 28” | $3,200
Two ammonites spin in an aqueous dance as they dive within a water column. The “siphuncle” organ facilitated this vertical movement by allowing gases and water to enter the animals’ chambers. In this work, the appearance of water emerged by touching color-loaded brushes to a wet paper surface. The result was a spontaneous flow of pigments and an uncontrollable saturation of pigment within salt crystals. Thickly applied acrylic paint details the ribs and nodes of the textured forms, and torn copper paper stabilizes the animals.
Acrylic on paper, fossil specimen of Teredo burrowed petrified wood | .15” x 29” | $1,100
An “Ichnofossil” is a geologic record of biological activity that occurred in ancient times. This painting creatively documents the movement and survival of Teredo clams. As pieces of wood floated on the 60 million-year-old Western Interior Seaway, clams attached, burrowed, dined, and enjoyed the ride. Rhythmic lines and rich colors of ancient movement are visible in the embedded cross-cut specimen of petrified wood. The enlarged clams in this acrylic painting illustrate functional detail for survival.
Acrylic on board | 5” x 7” | $250
Acrylic paint in this artwork moves the ammonite genus Scaphites through water currents and propels the animal through cool shadows of the deep sea to a shaft of sunlight. Detailed color on the ammonite’s coils illuminates its upward journey.
Clay sculpture and Scaphites specimen | 10.5” x 8.5” x 8.5” | $450
The vivid memory of removing an ammonite from Pierre Shale provided inspiration for this three-dimensional sculpture. A feel of organic movement with vertical movement was essential. To achieve this sensation, slab clay was built in a revolving ascent that reflects the spirit of freedom as well as the thrill of discovery buried in the original memory. The Scaphites is cradled in protective curves of this hand-built sculpture cradle.
Acrylic/watercolor on paper | 14” x 22” | $850
An ammonite’s cross section perfectly illustrates the meaning of “functional design.” Radiating septa divide chambers and provide strength from external forces. With ideal anatomy for survival, ammonites thrived for 150 million years. This painting plays against a positive-negative view held in reds, violets, and ambers that enter a neutral border. The background was achieved by alternating layers of acrylic colors and masks resulting in the feeling of movement.
Acrylic on paper/embossing | 21.5” x 16.5” | $2,000
Jeletzkytes propelled in a 60-million-year-old seaway that divided North America into two land masses. In this work, dramatic colors, lines, and textures resurrect the extinct ammonite. Color optics created with layered pearlescent acrylics echo the gleaming iridescence of the aragonite shell as the animal moves through embossed paper waves. The black enamel band — laced with loops of color — anchors the piece in the balance of positive and negative space.
Acrylic on paper on board | 22” x 28” | $2,500
Millions of years have passed since the ammonite thrived as a living form. Yet it’s still fascinating to discover the animal’s fossilized remains. This painting displays a collection of ammonite genera, boldly arrayed in iridescent orange, blue, and purple and spatially stationed with colored sand. Placenticeras takes center stage, exposing septa through fractures of white pearlescent paint.
Acrylic on paper | 18.5” x 16.5” | $1,600
The sea-dwelling ammonite Hoploscaphites encountered death and was then buried in sediment. If the conditions were right, the animal then fossilized and buried with the Pierre Shale. The sediment eventually eroded providing the discoverer the first look at this 60-million-year-old animal. In this painting, transparent layers of acrylic paint work in concert to achieve the color, line, and texture of this ornate fossil in radiating bands of sediment.
Acrylic/watercolor on paper | 4.75” x 8” | $275
Crinoid tentacles open like a flower to filter feed while also stationing themselves with their stem that is attached to ocean-floor substrates. An endoskeleton of hollow discs supported their reach up to 130 feet. These 250-million-year-old crinoid discs were seen scattered on black shale during geologic mapping in the Basin and Range of Nevada. The view created mental images of tentacled animals swaying with ocean currents. Here, the image — created with artistic liberty — became a crinoid burst of hot colors swaying in cool watercolor washes.
Acrylic/embossing on paper | 5” x 7” | SOLD
Color prisms reflect on a ribbed, spiral ammonite cast rainbows that continuously shift. Iridescent light created with acrylic paint travels through blues, greens, oranges, and purples illuminated within the pearlescent shell. The ammonite is tucked under embossed lines, allowing gentle and simplistic support.
Acrylic and lacquer on paper | 22” x 30” | SOLD
The Cretaceous Great Western Sea was home to a fantastic array of marine lifeforms including the gastropod Teredo. This clam sported a functional helmet-like shell of narrow ridges that glommed onto wood floating in water. Here, acrylic paint creates burrowed trails in rusts, golds, and blues that glow within the background of black enameled wood. Fossil tunnels and the texture of Teredo demonstrate how beauty from millions of years ago can provide a springboard for creativity.
Acrylic/colored pencil on paper | 4.5” x 8” | $295
In a room filled with paleontologists and fossils, my glance entered a window framing a backlit “bouquet” of gingko leaves with stems hugged in a cobalt blue jar. The tree, a 270 million-year-old living fossil, showcases undulating leaves in a pinnate of arcing veins. The “gingkos” followed me home and glow with dazzling light and detail in a studio window.