Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis in an artful presentation

[digit]

A few months ago we welcomed a new member to the forum from Los Angeles, CA. @samtung like several members here has the kind of unbelievable artistic skills that I'd give my right arm for (I am left handed ). In his introductory post he showed some of his paleoart that he'd been working on:

 

 

I noted with great interest that one of the creatures he displayed in that post was a nice Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for this hard-headed dinosaurian since I was a kid. I doubled down on my interest in this species when my wife and I were fortunate enough to meet-up with @jpc in Wyoming back in the summer of 2017 to collect some dinosaur bones on one of the private ranches with Late Cretaceous exposures. We were lucky enough to find an interesting dino tooth that was identified here on the forum as coming from P. wyomingensis.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/78217-wyoming-fossil-hunting-adventure-september-2017/&do=findComment&comment=825238

 

This specimen among many others from that trip were labeled and packed away. I'd wanted to display this cool tooth in a more interesting way and seeing Sam's art gave me the idea I'd been waiting for. I contacted him and inquired if he'd be amenable to a commission for a nice drawing to go with this tooth. Another roadtrip last year which involved a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto provided another piece of the puzzle. I took some photos of the mounted cast of "Sandy" the pachy and forwarded this to Sam with the idea of showing the skull which (with open mouth) features the fang-like tooth I had found in Wyoming and accompanying this with a representation of the entire critter in life pose.

 

 

I was not disappointed as I had not misplaced my trust that Sam could pull this off with talents beyond my comprehension. I had a custom mat and non-reflective glass made to fit a standard 11x14 frame and then played with ideas for placing the tooth. One idea was to put the tooth in the negative space to the left of the skull drawing but the tooth was thick enough that I'd have to double or triple mat the print to build enough "shadowbox" space to fit the tooth under the glass. I thought of punching a clean 1 inch hole into Sam's print and somehow recessing the tooth into the print. The risk of messing this up and destroying Sam's artwork prevented me from attempting this method. I kind of liked the idea of allowing the tooth to be (carefully) touchable and thought of mounting it over the print where I'd thought of placing it recessed. It sat on my desk for some time while I pondered this. Unfortunately, this placement over the top of the glass caused too much of a 3D shadow onto the print and it just wasn't working. I have no artistic skills but I have a reasonable eye for crafty constructions. In the end (though I may change my mind at some time), the tooth found a home centered at the bottom of the mat. This now hangs at eye level in the area leading between my kitchen and dining room (right above the mounts I made for some of my Mazon Creek fossils that I made some years ago). Having friends over for dinner in a little while so I wanted to get this completed and hung to show off to my friends.

 

I'm happy with the results. Despite not being able to draw a recognizable stick figure, I know enough to spot talent when I see it and enlist those with such talent to make my dreams reality. 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

 

[snolly50]

@digit That is a wonderful display! I'm sure it is all the more prized by you because of your direct involvement in collecting the tooth and the conceptualization of the display. However, it is striking enough that even without the direct link, it will certainly catch the attention of any viewer. Congrats on that one!

[minnbuckeye]

I love the combination of a special fossil and man's interpretation of it through art. This is a wonderful example and samtung should be proud of it!!

[Pagurus]

I do like the framing and the placement of the tooth, and the artwork is wonderful. Congratulations on top-notch collaborative effort.

[Troodon]

Very nice, beautful artwork and indeed very talented.  Like where the tooth was placed, it works for me.  I remember identifying the tooth it was a very nice one and a super find.  Congrat on the artwork

[digit]

Yup. It was a team effort and your ID was a catalyst for this project.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Ludwigia]

Congratulations on the successful conclusion to a worthy project, including the promotion of one talented artist.

[jpc]

very nice... on all counts.  And I let you walk away with this tooth?!  What was I thinking?  

[digit]

21 hours ago, jpc said:

And I let you walk away with this tooth?!  What was I thinking?

You didn't notice that I mastered that hypnotism book I bought from the back of a comic book when I was a kid.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ynot]

Late to the party as usual, but still a nice display.

Very imaginative.

[digit]

Thanks. I can only claim to have spotted the opportunity for its creation. The very artistic (and very busy) @samtung gets the credit for the talent needed to pull this off.

 

I'm thinking that a similar collaboration featuring Cookiecutter Shark teeth might be really nice when Sam's time frees up a bit.

 

Artistic people fascinate me.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken