Iris. Iridescência, Portuguese for iridescence.
One thing I love about Iris flowers is the way they look iridescent under the right lighting conditions, but I find this very hard to capture in a picture. I tried my best here with the purple irises blooming in my garden right now.
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© Nightjar, all rights reserved.
Vasco being a spaghetti monster.
© C. Ford, all rights reserved.
From Joseph: I’ve begun a series I call Fancy Bats. This one is the first in the series. It’s pen and ink on Bristol board.
I focus on bats because, well, bats are awesome. They’re such fascinating marvels of evolution, and they don’t get enough love in mainstream U.S. culture. Whether it’s the puppy-dog cuteness of large fruit bats or the otherworldly intricacy on the faces of echolocating microbats, I’m always drawn to the magnificent aesthetics of these creatures.
As for the style, it’s largely based on my idle doodling. When I’m bored and not focusing on any particular image or idea, I draw repeating patterns of curves and points, so this is an extension of my instinctual habits. Also, I’ve been intrigued with the stylized depictions of animals in ancient Mesopotamian and Persian sculpture, from bulls and lions to fantastic beasts like lamassus and manticores. It’s been a source of inspiration for years.
This is just the beginning, and I don’t know exactly which direction this series will go. I just know that this ties together several ideas that mean a lot to me, and I hope you all enjoy the results.
I’m with Joseph, I love bats and find them fascinating. Our local bats are Myotis lucifugus, and I love watching them. I also love Joseph’s beautiful drawing, be sure to click for full size!
© Joseph Zowghi, all rights reserved.
Hose. Horta, Portuguese for a vegetable garden or a small farm.
This photo shows onions being watered with the help of a large hose, simulating rain. It was late in the afternoon and I couldn’t resist the way the light illuminating the young and wet onion leaves from behind was giving them a lovely translucent green appearance. This is an old photo, from 2013, back then my grandmother was still alive (this is on her yard) and my mother was still healthy (she was the one holding the hose here). I miss those times.
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© Nightjar, all rights reserved.
An astonishing work, from Kestrel: There is a group that issues a fun challenge to model horse tack makers: push your skill set and see if you can make a nice piece of tack in one month. For the project I chose to make a hackamore in 1:32 scale (normally I work at 1:9) and the goal is to make it look as much like a piece of tack for a living horse while being in scale and as detailed as possible. This was hard… it really was a challenge for me to go this small.
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It all started with a single white horsehair. I braided 8 strands of very fine silk over the hair, to create the base of the noseband (bosal) for the hackamore. I have to check to see if it will look in scale:
Then I tie a series of braided knots in the silk, to create the finished bosal, a very complicated little device:
We need some buckles for the headstall to hold the bosal on the horse’s head:
Next I have to make the headstall of leather, and why not tie a few more braided knots on it to make it decorative. Also I need to braid a long rope with a tassel at one end and a leather popper on the other (mecate) which is the traditional way of rigging reins and a lead rope:
The finished piece, which hopefully looks like it could be full-sized on a live horse:
From Giliell, click for full size!
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
A gorgeous Jay from Giliell, click for full size!
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
Back home from chemo. I’ve done surprisingly well today, good energy, and constantly stuffing my mouth, which makes for a grand change. We had a leisurely time after chemo was done, around 3 pm. We stopped at the bookstore, and I brought home a stack of books, as usual. And then we had an exploratory trip through the new Co-op market, they have some very impressive produce at reasonable prices, so we’ll definitely be back. Then we did our regular market shopping and headed home. I’m hoping tonight won’t have any nasty surprises. Anyroad, I’m going to go cuddle up with a book and my giant glass of Nesquik/Malted Milk/Ovaltine. I am not setting my clock, so when I show up tomorrow, who knows, might be rather late in the morning.
As for the stack of books, none of these authors are known to me, so an adventure. I started Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore on the way home because I am a complete sucker for any book which takes place in a library or bookstore setting. I’m not far in, but I already love many of the characters, and there’s a delicious horror-type mystery unfolding in this wonderfully odd bookstore.
I’ll see you all tomorrow sometime.
Rep. Bill Dunn (AP/Getty/Photo Montage by Salon).
Tennessee rethugs have come up with a new way to shame and oppress women, forcibly reminding all women that their only function in life is to be a silent vessel for babies.
Last week, the Republican-controlled Tennessee state Senate passed a bill to erect the “Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children, In Memory of the Victims of Abortion: Babies, Women, and Men” on the capitol grounds, near memorials to victims of slavery and the Holocaust. A similar bill has passed the state house, and it’s likely that the state’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam, will sign this legislation into law.
[…]
“Both of these monuments that are already here recognize that atrocities occurred because human beings were treated as less than human,” state Rep. Bill Dunn (R) said in March. “In both cases, the vulnerable and defenseless were subjected to the will of the powerful.”
“The taking of the life of a baby in the womb is related to this brand of inhumanity,” Dunn added.
[…]
It’s critical to understand that the intended “memorial” does not memorialize any actual people. Babies are not harmed by abortion, because babies only exist after a pregnancy is completed. Men are not victimized by abortion, because men do not have any rights over women’s bodies that can be violated. And women are not victims of abortion either, since it’s a process they choose for themselves and one that research suggests is generally the right decision for those who make it.
Tennessee Republicans are doing more than insulting women. They’re minimizing the seriousness of slavery and the Holocaust by suggesting that the millions of real victims of these atrocities are no more important than the imaginary victims of abortion.
The timing of this memorial to fake victims is noteworthy. This is all happening during an ongoing war over memorials to the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan, which Tennessee progressives have been trying to take down and Tennessee Republicans are trying to preserve.
There isn’t the least bit of subtlety in this latest move to stomp women back into their “proper place”. It’s disgusting and beyond wrong, and this is what conservatives, especially christian conservatives have come to, a complete caricature of lunatics running the asylum. In the year 2018, women are still viewed and treated as property, public and private, as well as mental simpletons who couldn’t possibly make decisions for themselves. This is the viewpoint of the regressive lunkheads in Tennessee, who will use any means to make sure women know they are property, and that it’s best left to men to decide what’s best for any given woman.
Amanda Marcotte at Salon has the full story.
Iron Maiden – Fear of the Dark. Lyrics at the link.
Gladiolus from Nightjar, click for full size!
© Nightjar, all rights reserved.