A Plague of Lubbers

Newly hatched lubber grasshoppers (Romalea guttatus) in the Dirt Patch. Despite attaining a rather large size for a grasshopper (roughly 2.5 inches just in body length), they do little damage to garden foliage and so this invasion of hungry babies isn't quite so alarming to me. Also, they will disperse. The black and yellow/orange coloration of youth and later bright adult coloration serves as a warning of their toxicity; however if you're a loggerhead shrike you ignore this, impale your tasty grasshopper on a spike, and simply wait for the toxicity to degrade in a day or so.

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The Heian Book Report

I've started re-reading my Heian-era Japanese Literature books (all English translations) and thought I'd write a few thoughts about each while it's fresh in my mind. I started with Hojoki and Tsurezuregusa . So, this is just my announcement, you can read a bit more about my Heian Obsession here and I will post all of the book reports to this page .

Day 6 - Lizard

The drawing of this lizard was interrupted by errands today but luckily I remembered to come back to it. The hubs walked in while I was working on it and said " ugh " (and actually flicked out his tongue much like a lizard)...which I suppose means that it looks real enough ;) ~January 6, 2022~ The Gallery for this Draw Something ( anything! ) Daily Challenge can be seen HERE

Day 8 - Master Works

Day 8 Recreate or interpret a work of art you admire. This is based on a famous panel of the Choju Giga scroll (Animal Caricatures or Scrolls of Frolicking Animals) which was created sometime in the late 12th century in Japan. Similar to the original's ink on paper, mine was rendered in India ink and red acrylic ink on Bristol paper. I've replaced the rabbit with a click beetle trying to right itself, and the frogs were replaced with mantids (feeling ill today and my hand started cramping after I drew the beetle. The mantids aren't as well done as I would like. I may redo this sometime because I think it came out cute otherwise). The top "seal" in red says sumimasen , which is Japanese for excuse me! and the lower one is my name in Japanese. This was fun to make, but sketching with a brush is a lot harder than it looks, and no erasing! The Choju Giga artist was truly a master, I very much admire the brush work in the original. Here is the o...

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