Mang Viper Exhibit

I am currently working on a mural for the Mang Viper Exhibit at the Herpetarium.  The mang viper is a beautiful snake that lives in the Hunan Province of China, known for its unique mountains and rock formations (it's where James Cameron got his inspiration for the floating islands in Avatar)

I Began with a quick and small color sketch on paper to get an idea of what the composition should be.

In the exhibit, I started by painting the sky and the most distant mountains.

Then I began painting the closer, darker mountains and adding trees, foliage, and mist.

Now I just need to add some final details to the foreground and I think I will be done. 

Spider Monkey Exhibit

I painted this mural for the spider monkey exhibit in the Primate House a while ago and forgot to post pictures, so I am doing that now.  

I included a lot of detail in this mural.  The fungus near the upper right corner of the picture above is supposed to be a cordyceps fungus growing out of a beetle.  If you haven't heard of cordyceps, it is a very strange variety of mushroom that infects insects.  It's pretty cool.  Follow this link if you want to hear David Attenborough talk about it:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8

I have hidden two other things in this mural, but I am not posting pictures of them so if you want to know what they are you will have to waltz over to the primate house and find them for yourself!