In-between Thunderstorms

Phyllomydas parvulus, female

Thunderstorms are one of my favorite things about Florida and I am enjoying this last week's odd weather pattern: afternoon thunderstorms (typical of summer) in April. Glancing out the window at the Dirt Patch I noticed an interesting insect shape and quickly stumbled over myself to grab the camera and dart outside. Success! At a distance I thought, perhaps it is a sawfly (a relative of bees and wasps)...but then its Diptera (fly) characteristics became more apparent: one set of wings (the halteres are clearly visible above) and sucking mouthparts. This is a smaller species of Mydas fly. The female is brightly colored as seen here, and the male is a more uniform black.

Prepops fraternus

While photographing the Mydas fly, this guy flew past me and into the palmetto. It is a species of plant bug in the family Miridae.

Euthyrhynchus floridanus

I am so glad I planted the onion last December - it has attracted all kinds of interesting insects (it was a grocery store onion which began sprouting in my fridge, so I thought, "what the hell?" and planted it). Above is a predatory stinkbug on the flower stalk of the onion...NEAT! The majority of stinkbugs are vegetarians, but this is a stinkbug that will eat other stinkbugs and insects which cause a lot of damage to plants. It paused to clean the excess water from its proboscis - and my camera chose this moment to forget how to focus on its subject.

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Day 16 - A Word for That

"Invent a new word and illustrate or demonstrate its meaning" " PETASUSAURUS " Noun . A lizard, preferably a chameleon, that is placed on the head to control bothersome mosquitoes. From the Latin, petasus , meaning "hat" and the Greek, sauros . meaning "lizard;" or literally, a "lizard hat." Modern usage : " Hey man, nice petasusaurus! " (I haven't drawn in anime style for ages!) (October 17, 2016) Update: I've been corrected, "Hey (wo)man, nice petasusaurus!" Thanks, AS

How I Make Tiny Art Books

Moon Phase & Black Cat Version II Tiny concertina softcover art book, 1-1/8" square I have loved tiny books since I was a kid, and I used to both collect them and make them. I usually made them with staples, because as a kid, that seemed like the most logical binding, but I also experimented with string, tape, and brads. I would draw comics in them, usually cats, after they were bound, which was rather ass-backwards of me. So now I'm a wee bit older and I still love making books (and I still have 4 tiny books from my original collection). I wanted to show how I made this one, which is composed of thick black paper, parchment style paper, hand-carved stamps, and a ribbon closure. All materials are archival safe. How it's Made: It always begins with a pencil drawing. After sketching out the moon phase cats, I transferred the drawings to pink stamping material and carved each one by hand. I love the primitive look of hand stamping and I wanted this book to be reprodu

Day 20 - Foreshortening

Ok, so I've already fallen of the wagon for this challenge...whoops! and only 20 days in, too. I will say this, I have been working on etsy things instead. This challenge, though I only made it 20 days so far, has accomplished my major goal of jump-starting my creative drive. I have some projects I want to work on again. So, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Instead, when I get into a slump again, I'll pick it back up. This challenge should serve me, not the other way around, right? The cat is my attempt at foreshortening, which is not a skill I consistently possess. I was inspired to try that again by the Caravaggio ceiling mural that received recent press for being located inside the most expensive house currently for sale in the world. That ceiling mural, with its use of the foreshortening technique, is incredible...Caravaggio himself was kind of a jerk, but what an amazing artist. ~cat sketch January 20, 2022~ ~Admitting I've fallen off the wagon: January 29,

OniOniOniArt

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