#oxybeloceras

[transparentfossil]

Oxybeloceras Ammonite Fossil in Matrix Heteromorph Pierre Shale Cretaceous

[namu-the-orca]

“Barry’s Ammonites”

This painting was commissioned by a friend, who wanted to give this as a Christmas present to her husband. He used to dig up ammonite fossils in the United States. This piece recreates some of the species he found most often, in the way they may have been all those millions of years ago.

Species portrayed are: a male and female Didymoceras stevensoni, D. nebrascence, D. cheyennense going after some fish, two Oxybeloceras sp. having a showdown, a shoal of Solenoceras sp., ‘Slash’ the ammonite, Mosasaurus hoffmannii, three Baculites grandis about to become Christmas dinner, Archelon ischyros way in the background, and some unspecified Crinoids. Now this is probably the right time to say that I am not a professional paleo artist. Ammonites are obviously not my area of expertise, and all the markings and soft parts are completely speculative, largely based on modern cephalopods. Still, I am very happy with the end result, and I learned so much while painting. About how to make sand look like sand, how many colours cuttlefish have in their eyes, how water caustics work. Details added to show off some of those little sparkles and dots and things!

Just for the record, this painting ended me. It took more than 45 hours work to do, one ~13-hour portion of which was done almost non-stop until 4 in the morning. I had a deadline. And I vastly underestimated this thing.