Meat House

[meat]

Practicing watercolor on luminescent butterfly wings. Learning experience....

I think I understand now why scientific illustration is rarely done in oil. 1.) Long drying time means both you and your client have to be extremely patient for the required amount of accuracy and detail. 2.) Before oil painting on paper was common, oil paint on board or canvas probably did not make easy storage and publishing for the working scientific community and environment.

Historically there have been numerous examples of scientific accurate oil illustrations, and the tradition lives up to now (the Dahlia by Ingrid Finnan) . But if I have to grind on a beetle or a plant painting for 6 months, I might claw a tunnel out instead.