Day 1 - Start Small: Mail Serpents

"Make something that fits in the palm of your hand using only the materials in your immediate environment"

Copperhead vs. Cottonmouth

It's Creative Sprint Challenge Time again!

I was going to use insects as my theme again, because I love them so, but when I read a BBC article about a woman in Arkansas who filmed some strange snake behavior, I was inspired to switch gears and try reptiles as my theme.

The snakes in question are the copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), which were engaged in ritualistic combat. It is strange because this combat usually occurs with two individuals from the same species. They fight for dominance, not death, to win territory and females.

My desk is unusually clean, but my immediate surroundings did provide some junk mail, which is what these two are made of. The colors and patterning were already printed on the junk mail, all I did was cut out snakes and add eyeballs.

Oh - and then I made a silly pun because the snakes are Male of course.

(October 1, 2016)

Comments

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 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

Peninsula Cooter lays her eggs

Pseudemys floridana peninsularis , through binoculars Maceo spotted her first through the window, I was too busy making paper flowers. I think this was his first turtle. His posture was hyper-alert, a cross between sitting and crouching on his haunches, with his ears pointed forward and his eyes wide. At first I wondered why the turtle was wandering back and forth around the yard - seemed like odd behavior. Then I saw her attempt a few scrapes...she's going to lay eggs! Lucky for me, she settled on a spot right outside my rear window. I took a few photos of her through my binoculars from the window, and also through the cattle gate at the rear of the Dirt Patch. I know some people have walked right up to turtles laying eggs before and didn't seem to bother them, but how do we know it doesn't stress them out? I decided to stay about 20 feet back while outside. I was a lot closer through the window, but the screen at least formed a bit of a visual barrier since it was

OniOniOniArt

Search This Blog