Cora, victorian praying mantis

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Starr
Cora, victorian praying mantis

Cora
Victorian Praying Mantis
Acrylic painting

This is Cora and her pet rhino beetle, haven’t named him yet…. Got any suggestions?

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Ophelia, victorian praying mantis

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Starr
Ophelia, victorian praying mantis

Ophelia
Victorian praying mantis
Acrylic painting

This is Ophelia (I seem to want to name everything even remotely aquatic Ophelia). I suppose if praying mantises were aquatic in 1874 this might be what they’d look like.

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Tattoo specimen alphabet book

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Starr

Some time back I started a tattoo alphabet book project. Over the course of a year, and with the help of some lovely people offering up their skin, I tattooed an image for each letter…. That was the easy part. I had some idea how I wanted the images to look and so had to figure out how to accomplish that by absorbing copious amounts of photoshop tutorials. I think I’m finally on the right track here and so I offer up the first page…. I’m optimistic that the rest will go much quicker now that I know what I’m doing :) .

A is for axolotl

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WIP shots of Geraldine, victorian praying mantis painting

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Starr

This is what I was up to last Sunday while listening to endless episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I usually putter around all day… dab some paint here… stand back and stare….. dab some paint there….. stand back and stare. Didn’t do so much of that this time and was amazed and how quickly she came together ( yeah, I know… Duh).

Funny thing was, once she was done I was stuck in over-paint-drive and just didn’t know what to do with myself. That’s never happened before… was pretty cool though.

Geraldine, victorian praying mantis

Geraldine, victorian praying mantis

Geraldine, victorian praying mantis

Geraldine, victorian praying mantis

The “ladyspider” is the result of a doodle gone wrong. A quick sketch of a spider a few days before had the body looking like a ladybug and….*facepalm* Why hadn’t I thought of that before? :)

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Pretty maids all in a row

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Starr

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What am I doing?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Starr

I’ve been silent… but busy. Lurking in the shadows covered in paint splatters, brushes akimbo, making messes all over the house. I’ve been amusing myself greatly steadily churning out one painting after another and keeping them all to myself (mostly). I’ve been working on a single body of work for over a year now and that is an astronomically long time for me. (I guess I needn’t worry about ADD).

 

I have this lovely idea of unveiling all my work at once…. it looks glorious in my head. There will be many old/antique ornate frames bearing brightly dressed and delicately coiffed mantises. There will be no resemblance to reality. There will be extra limbs here and missing parts there, and an abundance of secondary characters, a miniature elephant, an octopus, the skull of a vampire bat that I’ve lovingly named Yorik…

 

I have not yet found a place to display all this grandiose weirdness, but then I haven’t really looked either :) . Call it eternal optimism or blind faith but I can’t imagine I wouldn’t find one when the time comes. They’re awful pretty after all.

Until the day I’m ready to share all of what I’m doing I’ll be sharing what I love about what I do and what I love that others are doing. (with an occasional sneak peek).

Mantis sneak preview

Mantis sneak preview

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Earbuds up your nose turns an open mouth into a speaker #earbuds #funatwork

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Starr

This is Jesse, our wonderful counter squirrel. She keeps our shop clean, our calendars organized, our tummies full, our supplies ordered and our day full of entertainment!

 

 

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sneak peek 1

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Starr
Sneak peek of upcoming victorian mantis work

Sneak peek of upcoming victorian mantis work

Sneak peek at one of the victorian praying mantis paintings I’ve been working on. I’ve been pushing myself to make every one better than the last, sometimes I succeed…. sometimes I’m not sure :) .

I’ve been invested in this project for over a year now and although I haven’t completed as many as I thought I would this far along I am in general pleased with the work, and I have learned quite a bit. Also, surprisingly (at least to me) I have not tired of the subject yet!

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Lillian painting in Antennae of Inspiration: The Insect Art Project

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Starr
Antennae of Inspiration: The Insect Art Project

So pleased “Lillian” was given a whole page!

“Antennae of Inspiration: The Insect Art Project” by Out Of Step Books is available here. It’s a pretty huge book full of the most awesome art from all over the world. Proceeds go to school art classrooms. They also have a cephalopod book, “Eight Arms of Inspiration: The Octopus Art Project” and bird and skull related books in the works. Well worth checking out!

 

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WIP hair accessory!

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Starr

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