A Quick Survey of my Backyard

Between the twin trunks of this large oak is the most perfect spot to sit, enjoy nature, and clear my mind

Really, it's my LL's backyard and I am lucky to have access to such a place. The property is bordered by a river, so it is pretty much all wetland - you can see the high water line on the trees in the above photo (let your eyes wander out of focus a bit). The water is very high right now after a soggy cold front stalled right over central Florida earlier this week. The area in the photo above (which was taken last weekend) is now under about two feet of water. The water is flowing - it is part of the river. The following photos are all from the "yard" taken within the last week or so including some of its inhabitants.

Short boardwalk/bridge (after a storm)

Cypress knees and duckweed

Greenfly orchid (Epidendrum magnoliae) is a native epiphytic orchid and the only one to also occur north of Florida. Everything I've read (including FL based information) says their peak bloom time is usually summer, but here, this particular population of orchids say to hell with that - they bloom between November and January. Pictured here is one of the early bloomers, the others I saw were still developing their buds.

At least this much jibes with the literature - it is perched here on a live oak.

Resurrection fern behind it.

Megalodacne fasciata, the Pleasing Fungus Beetle

(yes, that is its real common name)

Unsurprisingly, pleasing fungus beetles eat fungus.

This one is sadly deceased, perhaps a victim of the last cold snap. (Locally, it was in the 30s, even in Florida I think I can rightfully call that a cold snap ;)

Cast-off cicada shell

(the Genji geek in me must tell you its true name: utsusemi)

A tiny Mario mushroom

Really, I don't know what species it is, but doesn't it look like it belongs in a Nintendo game?

Mantid on cabbage palm

Look closely you are being watched...

Its friend took a wild nose dive into the water as I approached

They were between two and three feet long

The Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) overwinters in Florida. Smart bird, this is hands down the most glorious time of year.

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Day 82 (Day 5 CS) - Collection

"What do you collect? Work with a collection of your own or borrow one." Pure Admiration It's funny, I only recently acknowledged to myself that yes, I do collect something: literature and art books from Heian-era Japan (794-1185), and here is a prompt for that. I just acquired the Choju Giga art book seen in the background (hooray!) which inspired me to recycle two projects from October 2015's CreativeSprint and use them in a different context. The mantispid was made on CS 2015 Day 1 and the painting is a miniature print-out of a mock Choju Giga drawing I did on CS 2015 Day 8 . The easel and paintbrush are made of kraft cardstock. [April 6, 2016]

Day 15 - Historical Precedent

Day 15 Learn about something that happened today in history and make something inspired by it. Rhinoceros Beetle Gong I now realize I may have misread the prompt. I thought I had to merely learn about some piece of history and use that as inspiration, but I'm sure on this day 1,000 years ago, 500 years ago, or even last year, a gong was sounded. Oh well! On the 15th I went to the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix and based my project on the many gongs in their collection. They had a display illustrating how gongs are traditionally made (i.e. - labor intensive), and I learned that there are generally three types of gongs ( suspended gongs or tam-tams which are flat; bossed which have a raised center, are tuned, and sometimes suspended; and bowl gongs which are more like large bells). They originated in China, their first uses are thought to be as a signal for the workers to return from the fields since some gongs are loud enough to be h...

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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