Extinct
There is not much to share about these. They were endemic to Guadalupe. The last time they were recorded was when they were collected in 1914. I do not know how many were collected at that time. I saw pictures of two preserved specimens. I only found them after searching for the scientific name that was used for these in the past, not their current scientific name. Unfortunately, one of the specimens was what I think of as "I've been dead a long time brown". Not the name of any paint swatch you'll probably run into at a home improvement store. I do not know why that happens to so many animals, I assume it has to do with blood. The other specimen was almost black but with a tint of what looked like it could have been a pretty turquoise. I've found many specimens that don't turn brown seem to turn a darker colour than they were while alive. I decided to go with that, and am doing my best guess for what they might have looked like. I honestly prefer to have a written description than only working from pictures of dead ones. I do love bringing them to life, but I feel more confident when I have a written description from someone who saw the animal while it was alive. There was a hurriane in the area in 1928 and it is thought to have been what finished bringing about their extinction.
I was thinking the other day about how when I paint primarily from written descriptions it is similar to what it might be like if I was a criminal sketch artist. I had no idea what is involved in that so I looked it up and apparently it is almost always a law enforcement officer. I won't be doing that. I don't think it is a good time to be starting a new career with all the training and everything that would be required, especially since all I want to do is help people and make art. While looking up things though I discovered that there is an art school in New York that does the forensic sculptural work for those who have died trying to get into the US and don't have identification. No matter what your position is on the state of immigration in the US, I am sure we can all agree that it would be wonderful having closure for family who do not know what has happened to someone they loved. It isn't an exact science, much like with my paintings that I do based only on descriptions, but in 3D and with clay. It would be amazing to help people find their family by using art. I I love working with clay, and because I've been focusing on this project I have not done any work with clay in entirely too long. I hope this video does not take too long to load, it is only 14 seconds long. It is one of the pieces of ceramic sculpture I did a long time ago. It obviously is not meant as a scientific rendition of a cat, just as an example of what I enjoy doing when I have more time, and you can hear the fun sounds that my sculptural pieces make.
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