This is the week of the San Diego Birding Festival at the Marina Conference Center right on Mission Bay.  The keynote speaker will be David Allen Sibley, the artist and author of the Sibley field guides to the birds of North America, which are considered some of the top field guides available.  Many of the field trips are full, but there are spaces left and last-mintue cancellations, plus there’s lots to do at the Festival besides field trips: lectures, workshops, local self-guided birding, and shopping — come by Three Star Owl and say Hi!

I’ve got the usual assortment of owls, non-owl birds (!), and reptiles, plus I’ve included some coastal and California species for the occasion, like the Eared Grebe hanging tile pictured here.  Also, this show marks the West Coast debut of “rat-dogs” — generic mammal-form pieces that look like they might bite, or communicate a disease.  Take one home if you dare.

For more details, see here and here.

The Stacked Toad Teapot Effigy is alive and well, so far.

After languishing at the back of a shelf in the studio for many weeks wrapped in damp paper towels and layers and layers of plastic film, the Stacked Toad Teapot Effigy has finally been fully sculpted and is drying, awaiting further surface treatment (terra sigillata and slips) and firings.  Between the last episode and now, I’ve added a new under-toad hanging upside down off of the main toad’s belly, and refined the detail of the piece, textured all the toads, and cleaned up the crannies.

If you’re having a tough time seeing why it’s a teapot effigy (and it is Toadlier than Teapotly), here’s a visual aid:

Remember the issue of pentadactyly in the studio and the fact that unlike the majority of tetrapods toads have only 4 digits on their front pair of limbs?  Here are the final numbers:  Potential (actual biological) toe count: 7 (# of toads) x 18 (# of toes each toad has) = 126!!  One hundred and twenty six toes on a piece that’s less than 12″ tall!  Yikes!  Does it have 126 toad toes?  No: Actual toe count = 108:   This is known as artistic license which can also be expressed as Biological digit defecit: 14.3%.  A close call! — it’s generally considered that greater than 15% and it becomes Grossly Inaccurate (over 25% and it’s just Wrong). There are, however, the requisite number of paratoid glands — 14 — in case you were wondering.  And, the flying insect “finial” has no toes at all — too tiny.

…just because this photo of Jack’s King vulture waiting to be taken home makes me laugh.