I’m only a day late on this, but yesterday it was Darwin’s 198th birthday, a fine old age. Celebrations include this month’s issue of I and the Bird, which sails aboard the Beagle with an all-birder crew, and then there are plans for a working replica at The Beagle Project:
…the replica Beagle will set sail to re-stage the 1831-36 Voyage of the Beagle, a circumnavigation of the globe. The Beagle will be crewed by young scientists following and updating Charles Darwin’s intellectual journey, and young sailors following in the wake of Captain Robert FitzRoy.
Do they need an expedition illustrator? Wouldn’t that be sweet…
Drawing The Motmot 
Actually, since the first Beagle expedition *did* have an artist, you could make a case for it. Of course, then I’d have to envy you far too much. You do beautiful work, and I love your blog. I happened upon it looking for reference for an elasmosaur head. In my case it was Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae, and I ended up having to photocopy the Welles U of C publication.It was a lot dryer than your blog….
Beagle’s artist info:
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/ConradMartens/sketchbooks.html
Oh, that would be TOTALLY sweet. You should write them and suggest it. You could do it, too … you really really could!
The Conrad Martens sketchbooks are stunning- the sketches of ships at anchor, the little watercolor landscapes, the drawing of a jaguar in a cage, are all very evocative.
I also used the Welles drawing in my elasmosaur head as the basis for a clay model to draw from. Hope your elasmosaur turned out well, too.
Thanks for the link!