7/19/2025
Summerlyn: Fairy of Mischief
As I've been sorting through my unorganized archives, I came across this drawing I made of my daughter 20 years ago. At the time, she was nine years old and kinda identified as a fairy. She was also admittedly mischievous. So, I combined both characteristics into a portrait. The original was sold at a PTSA fundraising auction, but fortunately I did make a copy. Now, 20 years later, I scanned the picture and then printed it onto a sheet of 140 lb. 100% cotton watercolor paper. Then I spent a couple of hours with acrylic paints giving it a new life:​​​​
So here we are, 20 years later, visiting the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa. My little fairy has transformed into a lovely young woman. I haven't changed too much though, haha.
7/3/2025
The Beautiful Banded Sea Krait
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Now that I have officially retired from teaching, I am faced with the daunting task of sorting through 40 years of accumulated science teacher stuff: Specimens, supplies, binders full of lessons I’ll never use again, thumbdrives full of Power Points I’ll never show again. Some items get donated, some sold on eBay, some I’ll keep forever, and some are simply thrown away. This paper mache sea krait falls into the category of “take a picture, then close your eyes and toss it in the trash.” It was made by a former marine biology student but despite its overall cool appearance, it’s broken in two places and just not worth keeping.
Well, if you’re still reading this, you may be wondering what a sea krait is. The basic answer would be that they are a semiaquatic reptile that lives in tropical parts of the Indian & Pacific ocean, and despite their lovely appearance have a potentially lethal venom. But bites are very rare and reserved for the dummies that actually grab the non-aggressive serpents. They’re analogous to a friendly southerner with a conceal and carry permit and a loaded handgun. He/she will nod and smile, but try something threatening and you may face a sudden demise.
Most people who see them assume they are sea snakes, and this is a reasonable assumption since the animal is obviously a snake, and it spends most of its life in the ocean. There are, however, some differences between sea kraits and true sea snakes. Both of them have laterally flattened bodies which enable them to zip through the water with little resistance. But while the sea snakes body is flattened from stem to stern, the sea krait’s front half is cylindrical like its terrestrial cousins while the tail is flattened into a paddle. The bellies are also different, with the sea krait having the typical wide belly scales that enable it to move on land and the sea snakes having tiny scales. True sea snakes are thus so adapted to a marine existence that they can barely move on land.
I chose to deliver lessons such as these in an interactive way through what I’d call my Critter Spotlight exercises. These would consist of me leading my students through a drawing lesson using the document camera. Some of the kids loved these lessons, others protested with the standard “I can’t draw” complaints. Either way, I would do my best to guide them, step-by-step, to a semi-realistic illustration. The final product would be accompanied by a few Fun Facts. Here’s an example:
