Just something a little fun today! My family kept a couple good-sized aquariums when I was a kid, and I loved watching the fish swim around there. I could use some nice, calming energy, so here, have a coloring page based on my fond memories. 

Species represented: hornwort (Ceratophylum dermersum), dwarf Anubias (Anubias nana), Java moss (Vesicularia dubyana), dwarf baby tears (Hemianthus callitrichoides), dwarf hair grass (Eleocharis parvula), Java fern (Microsorum pteropus), marimo ball (Aegagropila linnaei), blue water hyssop (Bacopa caroliniana), Micranthemum tweediei “Monte Carlo”, bristlenose plecostemus (Ancistrus sp.), betta (Betta splendens), neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), blue gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus), pepper cory (Corydoras paleatus), mystery snail (Pomacea bridgesii)

So where were you when St. Helens blew?

Here’s what I’ve been building up to the past two months! I had originally planned a longer comic, but I decided to stick to the events of the day. I’d like to do at least a couple of aftermath comics talking about the cleanup and other events in the wake of this natural disaster. So look for those in the weeks to come. A lot of people stop thinking about MSH after the anniversary of the eruption, but there’s so much that happened afterward that I want to share. Some of it is to do with the geological, hydrological and biological effects of such a huge eruption, but there are also specifically human stories I want to look at as well.

Also, I love how this comic series shows how I’ve been evolving as an artist. I had to challenge myself to draw things that I find difficult: the ash cloud, the mountain itself, and other details that aren’t my usual forte. But each time I draw, I get better, and that makes it worth all the time and effort.

If you’ve missed the previous installments in the Mt. St. Helens series, click here! They’ll be in reverse order, but there aren’t that many to click through. Also, as a reminder, if you want to support my work and help me pay for things like art supplies and webhosting, there are a couple of options at http://www.whatyouneedtoknowaboutnature.com/support-my-work/

Oooooh, foreshadowing! Also, I REALLY love how the trees in this piece turned out. I picked up a few new Copics in colors I didn’t have recently, including a couple of new greens I am absolutely loving. 

Species portrayed: Noble fir (Abies procera)

I’d really love feedback on this one. This comic was inspired by a parking lot in Oregon with a couple of sad looking redwood trees corralled in little dusty dividers in a big parking lot by a strip mall. I thought about how these trees would never get to experience being part of a true forest, isolated from others of their kind by many miles of distance, and never drinking in the coastal mist. I decided I wanted to play with (almost) wordless narrative, since dialogue seemed a bit extraneous. I also wanted my drawings to really speak for themselves this time. I know the story is depressing, but it’s meant to make you think about the spaces we live in and that we subject other living beings to in an increasingly fragmented nature.

What, you didn’t think I could get through this series without at least one cutaway diagram, did you? Also, I hope you enjoyed seeing the references to other pieces of Mt. St. Helens geologic history. We sometimes forget that geology is always changing, and even mountains aren’t permanent fixtures. The pre-1980 summit and Goat Rocks were both great reminders that the mountain didn’t always look like that, even a handful of generations ago. Granted, the massive change in its silhouette after the 1980 eruption was much more dramatic, but this should serve as a reminder to never take the land for granted. 

I hope you all have been enjoying this series so far! Things are starting to get really risky in Mt. St. Helens’ history right about now. Stay tuned as I keep highlighting some of the leading up to the big eruption.

Window strikes may not be as big a problem as habitat loss, but what pushes a lot of species to the brink of extinction is assaults from all sides. Birds are dealing with habitat loss, cat predation, competition with invasive species, pesticides, lead poisoning, poaching, and window strikes, among many other pressures. Any one of them would be enough to be a big problem, but all of them together? It’s a receipt for the loss of entire species. 

Thankfully window strikes are one of the (relatively) easier ones to fix. And these small actions can make a huge difference to migrating birds, as well as those that hang around during the day. Every bird that survives is another that can potentially contribute to the next generation of that species; every bird lost prematurely is a permanent loss to the gene pool. Doesn’t it make sense, then, to do whatever we can to help them?

Species portrayed: Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii), northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius), blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata), human (Homo sapiens), Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus)

Uh-oh. As they say, “It’s quiet.” “Yeah, TOO quiet.”

I don’t know what the founders of Earth Day would have thought about what happened to their idea fifty years later. Perhaps horrified by how commercialized it’s become and the greenwashing that pops up every year. Maybe glad that at least some people remember what it was supposed to be. I doubt any of them would have expected what’s happening now, with a pandemic forcing so many people to stay inside, giving the rest of nature more room to breathe. The optimist in me hopes that some good will come of this whole situation, that we’ll see that we don’t have to be constantly using more resources than is necessary. I know of several people personally, for example, who would be perfectly happy if they could telecommute permanently; and wouldn’t it be nice if we decided we wanted to keep the air and water clearer, and so work toward removing our reliance on fossil fuels?

I know it’s a bit of a pipe dream, but it’s a good goal to work toward, even if our results aren’t as complete as we’d like. The perfect is the enemy of the good, after all, and this is no reason to not at least try our best.

Species portrayed: Coyote (Canis latrans), tulip (Tulipa sp.)