Nature's Camouflage - a new GNSI show!!

Artists and guests at the Exhibit Opening, September 15, 2013.

My local chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, "The Greater New York Chapter - GNSI" has opened yet another beautiful exhibit.  Again, the Highstead Arboretum hosted - and I learned today that this is the fifteenth anniversary of this GNSI - Highstead collaboration.  With a theme like "Nature's Camouflage", the range of subjects was bound to be diverse, and it is.  In watercolor, pencil, pen-and-ink and other media, the twenty or so exhibitors have depicted varied interpretations of the theme.

Most of the artists were on hand to talk - it's my turn.

 There were cryptically colored moths, a mantid and a katydid, frogs, birds, mammals small and large, an octopus and one plant - of the genus Lithops, a type of succulent called Living Stones because they look just like little pebbles on the ground.  Some subjects were depicted in full camouflage against a detailed background such as a host plant, leaf litter, or in snow - while others were simply studies of the subject with a description of the camouflage mechanism.

Common Potoo, Nyctibeus griseus, watercolor.

For this show I painted the Common Potoo, Nyctibeus griseus, in watercolor.  Here's the text I prepared for the exhibition:

In the family Nyctibiidae and order Caprimulgiformes, the potoo is a South and Central American bird, closely related to Whippoorwills.  Many members of this large group camouflage on the ground, in leaf litter, or by aligning the body parallel to a tree limb.  The Common Potoo, however, seems to hide in plain sight, often perching on the exposed end of a broken branch.  A nocturnal flier, the potoo will remain motionless during the day, keeping watch on the observer through specially notched eyelids.  The chick learns to "freeze" at a very young age, but here has been caught peeking.  As they rest together, the silky breast feathers of the parent bird drape over the youngster, blending the two into one.