ABOARD THE M.S. CHALLENGER, LAKE UNION, SEATTLE

Aboard the M.S. Challenger, Lake Union, Seattle, 16 x 12 inch watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

Some years ago my wife and I flew out to Seattle, spent a few days there, and then drove around the Olympic Peninsula.  In Seattle we stayed aboard the M.S. Challenger, an ocean-going tugboat that had been converted into a bed-and-breakfast.  Several of the larger (?) spaces on the boat had been refitted as guest accommodations.   Also available but not recommended were the actual crew quarters on the boat, which were dark and barely large enough for a skinny bunk and enough space to stand up and pull your waterproof clothing on.  The Challenger was docked on Lake Union, which is surrounded by Seattle, near the terminal where the float planes that provide passenger service to Victoria, British Columbia, and the San Juan Islands land.  I sat on the top deck one afternoon and painted this watercolor.  

T-REX FOSSIL SKULL AT THE FIELD MUSEUM

T-Rex Fossil Skull "Sue," Field Museum, Chicago, 6.5 x 10 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark

Last winter I attended an evening function at the Field Museum and sketched "Sue," the most complete tyrannosaurus-rex fossil skeleton yet found, displayed in an action pose in the museum's Stanley Field Hall looming over the coffee service of the evening's buffet.  I posted that drawing from my sketchbook on this blog back in March of 2013.

I was at the museum again a couple of weeks ago and this time I sketched "Sue's" skull displayed in a glass case on the museum's mezzanine overlooking the action pose skeleton.  The action pose skeleton is held in place and supported by an unobtrusive steel framework.  However, a framework strong enough to support this 600 pound skull out on the end of "Sue's" long neck vertebrae would not be unobtrusive, so the real fossil skull is displayed upstairs while the action pose skeleton sports a lightweight replica.  Also displayed in the glass case are teeth found with the scull that couldn't be replaced in the jaws because of distortions caused by being trapped in layers of limestone for 65 million years.