Wildlife artist Jen Richards

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It's May (my birthday month!) and I just launched a huge art sale: 20% off your entire order with the code MAKOSHARK! Get it? Because May... mako... may-ko... I'll see myself out.

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Commission complete! J1 Ruffles and J2 Granny of the Southern Resident killer whale community. I really loved working on this - both were such remarkable individuals.

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A little watercolour tribute to the orca J34 (Doublestuf), a member of the endangered Southern Resident population on the U.S. West Coast who was recently found deceased at only 18 years old. His loss brings the number of Southern Residents down to only 79 orcas. Please visit the Center for Whale Research for more info on how to help protect these whales and their habitat.

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I was honoured to be commissioned for a drawing of Cal Ripfin as a gift for shark photographer George Probst (sharkpix.com / @iphotographsharks on instagram). Cal Ripfin (aka Shredder) was a distinctive white shark who was seen around Guadalupe up until 2011. My client provided a specific photo of George's to reference, one that showed off that unmistakable dorsal fin. What a beautiful shark! Go see George's photos for endless gorgeous images of these guys.

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Here's the finished version of the J27 (Blackberry) commission I've been working on. Its final-final form will actually be a tattoo, and I can't wait to see how it looks!

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“Breach” - Acrylic on 18 x 24 inch canvas

I didn’t realise the symbolism of this piece until I was writing about it. Time for change! (There’s a detail shot in that post too.)

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Been working on this piece all day and documenting the progress. I was really unhappy with it this morning, but I'm glad I pushed forward with it - I'm pleased with it right now even if it's not finished! There's a lot more refining to do, but I've had enough of it for today.

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I’ve been working on this commission for a tattoo design of J27 (Blackberry). Above you can see the different stages of development from the initial sketches to the more final design. It’s not quite finished yet, but it’s nearly there!

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Work in progress. It has definitely been A Week. I left my job last Friday and then that whole thing on the 8th happened and I'm slowly moving towards a new career path that will be expensive in the short term but amazing in the long term but classes are expensive and I'm unemployed and also worried about the election's impact on environmental policy and and and. So last night I just shut up, grabbed a beer and started painting an orca. Thank you Tasli Shaw for the inspiration from a lovely photo of L87 Onyx! I'll be sharing more progress as I go. This piece will be for sale once complete.

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Did I utterly fail at keeping up with #inktober again this year? Yes. Yes, I did. It's been a bit of a crazy month, so I'm glad I was able to finish something yesterday. This guy was done on a 5.5 x 8.5 inch piece of toned paper and is FOR SALE! Message me if you're interested!

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It’s the most wunderful time of the year: Cephalopod Awareness Days! October 8th-12th is the time to celebrate the world’s most intelligent invertebrates. Established in 2007 by The Octopus News Magazine Online (TONMO), Cephalopod Awareness Days are a way to bring awareness to the diversity, conservation and biology of octopuses (October 8th), nautilids (October 9th), cuttlefishes and squid (October 10th), cephalopods in legends and popular culture (October 11th) and their ancient relatives (October 12th).

If you’ve been following me for a while you already know I have a weakness for cephalopods (especially cuttlefish!), so I drew a colouring page featuring the four extant types to celebrate. Please feel free to download it, print it, share it, enjoy it, and use it to spread the love of some of the coolest creatures on the planet – all I ask is that you do not remove my website link from the image. Head to the blog post to get your free PDF, and colour away to your three hearts’* content! *Did you know cephalopods have three hearts? All the more to love.

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In Johannesburg right now, the 17th CITES Conference of the Parties (#CoP17) is taking place. From September 23rd to October 5th, over 2000 government representatives from all over the world will decide which species will see new international protection. You might remember the 16th CoP, which was a huge success for sharks and rays - the number of elasmobranch species listed under Appendix II increased from three to eight. There's still a long way to go.

This year there are proposals for several more sharks and rays to be listed: all thresher sharks, all mobula rays, the silky shark and the ocellate river stingray. I couldn't resist drawing a little show of support. Best wishes to all who are currently in South Africa fighting to conserve sharks, rays, and so many other animals and plants!

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Good news: there's a third colour option for my sharks and rays design! Even better news: everything in my shop is 20% off today with code GAMEON20! Get scarves, leggings, tanks, dresses, pouches, stickers and more right here.

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It doesn’t matter which picture of a thresher shark you look at: they always look deeply concerned.

Three species of thresher shark are up for CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) protections during this year’s CoP17 meeting in Johannesburg in September – fingers crossed thresher sharks can relax a bit soon!

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1. Slapping on the paint 2. Adding some definition 3. Brief pause to confer with my assistant 4. Nearly done

And finally 5 - done! I wanted to do something messy and loose in one sitting and ended up with a 12 x 16 inch white shark portrait. Read about this painting and what inspired me on the blog!

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Whale sharks are frequently on my mind but I was inspired to draw one last night. Tried a couple of new things with ballpoint pen, white pencil and white gel pen for a more organic feel.

It's official: whale sharks have been downgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to a population decline of more than half in the last 75 years. Though they see more protection than most other shark species, they're still fished in some parts of the world and are seeing an increasing risk of vessel strikes.

While the new conservation status is sad to hear about, hopefully this will prompt more action to protect these huge fish and where they swim.

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Oarfish, 6 x 12 inch acrylic on canvas. This was such an interesting commission to work on! Oarfish are so infrequently encountered (live, at least) that finding consistent references was diffcult, and combined with the small canvas it pushed me to be a bit more creative. Painting that skin was my favourite part. Happy that this guy safely made it to his forever home in California!