Tree Graphic Inspiration

This weekend I used some inspiration from Mark Montano's craft books to use blue painter's tape to make a tree and then paint (first with the tape on and then with it off). He had used this method on a table, but I thought I'd extrapolate and do it on a canvas and then on a plate that I picked up at the thrift store (set of 5 for $2.50). I've only done one plate so far. For the canvas I first free handed a tree (using acrylic) and then taped over it and painted the gray to create a geometric type tree. For the plate, I taped first, did the purple spray paint, and then pulled off the tape and spray painted the orange (all on the back of the plate of course).

Lotus Mosaic

Airplane Water Witness

These photos were taken from a 6-passenger plane on the way to a small exploration site 1 hour north of Anchorage for wetlands fieldwork. I think it's pretty interesting to see what slow moving water will do... definitely interesting paths.

Wind

(1) Cottongrass (photographed in Barrow, Alaska) and (2) Squirreltail Grass (photographed near Matanuska Glacier, Alaska)

Inverts

I wanted to give provide some shots of the various, colorful invertebrates that are all around us

Slug:

This is a dragonfly (or skimmer) of the family Libellulidae. There are many beautiful and much more color varieties.

This is a cicada killer wasp (Genus Sphecius). You can read about them, but in short, they burrow in the ground and kill one cicada, which they bring into the burrow for all the eggs to feast on after they hatch. I happened to walk into a colony of them, where burrows were spaced out every 2 feet. They are large and fly very slow and apparently have trouble seeing because they have no problem flying right into you.

This is another view of the very common monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus).

I'm not sure which dragonfly category this individual belongs to...

Morning Sun Song

Marsh Wren in Fords, NJ

Herps

It's been a while since I've added pictures. Here are some photos of frogs/ toads and a snake! from my work site in Fords, New Jersey. I've been fortunate that the Fowler's toads were such great subjects. They probably think they are so great at camouflaging that they'd rather not move. Works for me! There is a green frog, three Fowler's toads in different habitats, and a green snake (I think):

Who doesn't like feeling the wind through their hair?

Great Egret in New Jersey

Birds

I've been working on a site in New Jersey, performing avian point count surveys. Here are some shots of what I've found out there.



Swainson's Thrush



Yellow Warbler



Song Sparrow



Palm Warbler

Green Heron

Osprey

Common Yellowthroat

Greater Yellowlegs

Eastern Kingbird (with a dragonfly dinner)

Leaf Macros