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NathanLParker — Prognathodon final
#ammonite #mosasaur #oilpainting #paleoart
Published: 2016-02-04 16:49:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 1482; Favourites: 67; Downloads: 4
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Description
Oil on canvas, 36" X 48". This image is based on fossils from the Coon Creek Formation in McNairy County, Tennessee. The foreground mosasaur is a Prognathodon species, hunting the ammonite Bacculites grandis. In the background is a larger mosasaur, Mosasaurus hoffmani.Related content
Comments: 10
Saw you in the forums! This looks really pretty, the colors are lovely. When I was a kid I was crazy over paleontology.. this brings back sweet memories lol
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Well done. Gotta wonder if Prognathodon had orange skin in real life, though...wouldn't it be more likely to be some form of blue or gray, to blend in with surrounding waters more? That way it would have better success in stalking & catching its prey.
Though no overall dimensions were given, I suspect that it would make an oceanic whitetip shark look like a guppy by comparison.
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Thanks! I didn't intend for its skin to read as orange; I was just trying to play up the warm/cool contrast a little. I don't know if you've seen the maquette I made for this piece; it's gray and white.
Prognathodon was a big beast, in the 20-30 foot range; bigger than any modern predatory shark, though the contemporary shark Cretoxyrhina was similar in size. Other mosasaurs, like the Mosasaurus in the background, were considerably larger at 50 feet or more in length (though not as big as the ridiculously inflated mosasaur in Jurassic World).
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Maybe "orange" was the wrong word...looking at it a 2nd time, it's orangish-brown. I saw the maquette but assumed it was a reference for form, light & shadow. Hadn't figured you used it as a basis for color. In any case, the painting's got the chops. I wish had as much skill as this...oil is one medium I never got the hang of.
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Thanks for the compliment! I don't feel great about my oil skills, but it's a medium I enjoy and I hope I will get better with it. I've only done three oil paintings in the last couple of years - most of the ones in my gallery are old. I gotta get back to it!
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I really like how this turned out! The light on prognathodon looks very realistic, so I guess making a plastiline figure first in order to figure out lighting really is worth the work
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Thanks! I hoped to put the maquette in an aquarium to help figure out the caustic refractions, but that didn't work out. It was still helpful, though, and I plan to use this technique more in the future.
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Yeah, I imagine that only works if you used very dim light or a single spot light, since regular aquarium lamps are usually very strong.
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