lending a hand

I can't help but be mesmerized by the fluid, graceful, nearly mime-like movements of this raccoon's paw as he searches around for food pieces.

The word "raccoon" comes from Native American words meaning "he who scratches with his hands".  Their nimble fingers are so incredibly sensitive that they use them as a second pair of eyes to "see" whatever they feel when they probe around in the dark, or under water.  Even nearly-freezing creek water does not dull the sensitivity, and they can "see" crayfish and other food by feeling around in the coldest water.

shards

Andy Paiko is a U.S. artist who blends form and function in his glass pieces.



Check out both his "Sculpture", as well as "Sculptural Vesselware" on his website, for striking designs, some holding organic shapes. I really like how layered and ornate the work is - a jar that only needs to be five inches tall has a gigantic layered finial on top, just to show off. Glass is a beautiful and difficult medium to work in, and I really appreciate this artist's work.




Special thanks to DF reader CuriousArt who turned me on to Andy's work!

pigment-free Friday

mm.northwoods has an amazing Flickr set of albino Whitetail Deer that roam around their land. It's amazing how, with no pigment to let us immediately know what kind of deer they are, they appear to be some exotic, alien species....some rare and icy breed of snowy northern ungulate. Check out the other sets too, for lovely and interesting snaps of nature.

on the inside

Dream Anatomy is an online exhibit from the U.S. Library of Medicine. It features some interesting history and information about the development of Anatomy and Anatomical drawing throughout the ages. It is really amazing that most of what we know about the workings of the human body have become known only in the last few hundred years, when humans have been on the earth far longer than that.


If you follow the link to the Gallery section, you will see many images from the other sections of the website; click on them and some will open into extremely large files, which are great for study, and to really understand the difference in rendering and printing techniques used.

smash glass houses

With my blogging partner off for a week, relaxing in sunny paradise, I'm stuck here in thigh-deep snow, holding down the proverbial fort.

I had a lot of hermit crabs as a kid, most souveniers from beach vacations, and I was good to them, and they provided "entertainment" and "companionship" for years. I named them all after Greek deities, and fed them out of little clamshells. Whenever hermit crabs die, their muscles, obviously, relax, freeing them from their shells and letting you pick them up and observe the little wiggly legs along their soft sides, and the rest of their extremely odd and alien anatomy.

What they look like while inside the shell, however, I never really knew, until I found this wonderful photograph of a hermit crab pulled up inside a shell made of glass.

flying firecracker flirtation

Fast, flashy, flighty little birds, and a woman whose job I envy.

(How could the females resist, with those moves, those crackly sounds, and those hot yellow pants?)

bugger

Igor Siwanowicz has amassed a staggeringly large portfolio of otherworldly creatures that live right under our feet. Capturing images of insects (among other critters) through a macro lens, Igor manages to show the real beauty of nature in all of it's chromatic and detailed glory.

What strikes me most about this collection is just how many variations of mantids there are in the world, all of which look like they should be carrying a laser-gun. Pew pew

pigment-free Friday

For your enjoyment, some albino and leucistic birds. An albino crow, a leucistic red-tailed hawk (who resides at a local raptor rehabilitation center), and a very sweet little leucistic ruby-throated hummingbird.

SCIENCE!!!

It's not often that I'm insanely jealous of someone's collection of frightening nightmarish antiques, but with RADIO GUY, I will make an exception. He's amassed a number of finely aged items that range from dental mannequins to hat sizers. Some of the items are also for sale as it seems.