transparent watercolor on Arches 140 lb. hot press
15"w x 18"h
Evidence that Coelophysis was a social hunter contributed greatly to the development of this illustration. I have always been interested in the camouflage color patterns and social behavior of contemporary animals, but in 1993, while heading the excavation of woolly mammoth remains in Scarborough, Maine, I began to speculate on these factors in regards to prehistoric fauna. From those musings I began a series of illustrations of ancient life targeting the behavior and possible color patterns inferred by fossil evidence and the closest extant species. In the watercolor Triassic Trio I sought to display a predator's social behavior beyond the hunting aspect and to interpret its color pattern in relationship to its environment. I added the deep ultramarine blue shadows to add an aspect of mystery, symbolic to our limited understanding of this point in deep time.
