#SciArtSeptember -prompt today is Fellowship- I’m so grateful to the researchers out there who value the power of art to communicate to the public & collaborate with artists like me to realize these projects! My #paleoart Cyonosaurus yawned all the way to the Field Museum to join Arjan Mann’s team!

3rd thread in my Cyonosaurus behind-the-scenes process: First cast out of the mold here turned out great! Sometimes the first time I fill a new mold, I’m learning how to work with it & it isn't always a useable cast, but no major defects this time. My son gave a hand demolding🙏

Beautiful little green-legged spider (could fit on my fingertip) spun a giant gleaming web across garden stairs. Go get ’em little guy!

I’m so grateful for this commission: sculpted a life-reconstruction of the gorgonopsid Cyonosaurus for researchers Arjan Mann & Naiomi Cookson this summer. Previous thread on the sculpture, here I’m starting the silicone mold. First few layers are thin so bubbles aren’t trapped at the surface detail

This summer I had the pleasure of collaborating w/ researchers Naiomi Cookson & Arjan Mann (Field Museum) to reconstruct a flesh-model bust of Cyonosaurus. After getting to meet the holotype, I started roughing out the skull armature. More of the process to follow! #paleoart

Anyone attending RiotFest in Chicago this weekend? Keep an eye out for my newest #paleoart sculpture debuting at the Field Museum’s outreach table! I made a really good beast- if you see it there please send photos!🙏

Any paleo folks in the Chicago-area tomorrow, come see what we’re working on at the Fossil Lab! Our monthly Open House: Sept.18, 3:30-5:00pm. Just West of the UChicago main campus: 5437 S. Wabash Ave. Preview new discoveries under prep, meet staff & students, here about Paul’s newest expedition !

Boxing up Tiktaalik for shipment- leaving air voids around the thin fins. Foam board is lightweight but very strong, in layers essentially crush-proof. I clad this box in cardboard sheets & taped up the whole thing tight, then in this instance the box was placed on a pallet to ship air-cargo ✈️🐟

Before recently shipping this model out to its new home at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in Singapore, I brought it over to @neilshubin.bsky.social lab to see the latest updates to the sculptures anatomy. Tiktaalik’s discovery site on the wall map makes the scene!

In support of Science, Art, Kindness to counter my sense of malaise over the state of the world these past years, Bluesky seemed a good change: here’s a timelapse of me basecoat painting my Tiktaalik sculpture recently for a new display in Singapore!