Unbalanced

This one goes out to my dear friend Nat, a.k.a. Rince1Wind. 

(See her comment on Jumpy if you want to know why.)

Bilateral symmetry is highly overrated if you ask me. I often wear mismatched earrings (okay, I also lose earrings at a frightening rate so this is in part a practical habit) & since I do most of my shopping at the flea market, not much in my house matches either. I know quite a few people who truly can't stand mismatched lamps or candlesticks or end-tables. It's almost like a physical repulsion for them. Where do you fall on the symmetry question?

p.s. It's not that I dislike symmetry--I often find it absolutely beautiful-- I just like asymmetry too!

p.p.s. This song by Jane Siberry has been running through my head the whole time I was writing this. Clearly she is in the pro-symmetry camp, although to my ear her music actually sounds rather asymmetrical much of the time. Curiouser & curiouser!

Jumpy

I admit it-- I'm a nervous type. At the best of times I startle ridiculously easily. And it has been a stressful couple of weeks lately, so yes, I've been more than a little jumpy.

Much like this poor fellow. He's also in the painting, or perhaps it's his less-anxious twin, because he looks a lot happier there.

Photoshop

Gross! (Pilobolus)

It's Oddment 144 today, so of course I had to draw something kinda gross. (Forgive me...) Luckily I have a new friend (we met at our local Hoop Jam) who provided the perfect substrate for today's oddment outgrowth!  Alissa Bernholc is a scientist-poet, a biostatistician who has written a wonderful collection of poems called The Other Kingdoms. Here's the Introduction: 

Pieces of glass have brought to light

A secret world beyond your sight.

And everywhere you dare to look

You’ll see what clever Leeuwenhoek

Has seen before. He magnified

Strange creatures all and so he spied

The protozoa and the yeasts,

All kinds of tiny living beasts,

Bacteria, and algae too,

Even cells in me and you.

And here's the particular poem that inspired this image: 

Pilobolus

Pilobolus lives on horse's dung,

Not dog's or man's or mice.

Sporangial hats up high are flung

To land on something nice.

Pilobolus are particular.

No common dung will do.

The scenery is spectacular

On soft sweet horse's doo!

Thank you so much, Alissa, for permission to use your work! Both poems are copyright Alissa Bernholc. Please contact Alissa if you'd like to reprint or see more. Also, Alissa would like to point out a slight amendment: Pilobolus can live on other herbivore dung as well as horse's. But not dog's or man's or mice. ;-)

Of course, the real Pilobolus doesn't have faces, unless you're talking about the brilliant dance company of that name. It was named after the fungus because one of the founders had been researching it. Here's an appropriately biological sample of their highly inventive work. I've seen them perform several times over the years & they never fail to cast all sorts of delightful new spores into my brain. 

TwoLips

It's Spring & the flowers are smiling!
Photoshop sketch (for the eternal painting).

Heights of Folly

Another painting-dweller. (Photoshop sketch version.)

Tuberfly

Another zoophytic critter for the painting, possibly in the same family as the mothroom.

Really this would be more of a rootfly, botanically, but I couldn't resist the dyslexic pun. Photoshop.

Alien Species

Further fauna-flora for you-know-what!

Hegemony Print Sale

My kitty Ivy is at the vet with what appears to be kidney issues... so in her honor & to help raise funds for her treatment I'm putting this print on sale in my Etsy shop, Curious Art Lab

Buttonblossoms

More flora from the painting-in-progress. I love embroidery but rarely find the time to do it these days. I was remembering fondly the little flowers I made as a child, using buttons & lazy-daisy stitch, & I thought how funny it would be if you actually saw them growing in the garden... well, they'll be growing in the painting instead!

Baby Blue

Another little critter for the painting-in-progress.

Puzzled

A little bitty quizzical quickie for IF-- this fellow was painted in acrylic on the back of a jigsaw puzzle piece. He's about 2" from ear to ear.

Anxiety: A Tax

Yes it's that time again (well, it is if you live in the US & you're a chronic tax procrastinator like me). No time for an oddment so I'm offering this oldie. Some of you may remember it from days of yore... if so I apologize for bringing up painful memories.

Oh, & don't panic-- it's not the 15th yet! Hey, that means I'm actually ahead of the game, right?

Sculpey, acrylic, paper & found objects on canvas, 9"x12"

Z is for Zashiki-warashi

In contrast to all the zombies, my final entry for AlphaBeasts! is a not-very-beastly beast: meet Zashiki-warashi, an auspicious yōkai that takes the form of a young child with a red face & bobbed hair. She protects the household & brings good luck, but occasionally performs benign mischief such as sitting on someone's futon or turning over pillows.

Acrylic on Cream of Wheat advertisement scanned from True Experiences magazine, February 1937, ~6.5"x8"

And with that, AlphaBeasts is put to bed... *sniff* ...here are all mine in one place. Many thanks to Andrew Neal for hosting... & for putting me in his final Zombie illustration!

...next week brings fresh hazards to be faced!

Ephemeral Eggs

No time for an oddment today as I'm madly painting eggs, but here's a little Victorian trade card from my ephemera collection for your enjoyment.

Happy Easter, happy Passover, happy Spring to all!

Blue Man Drupe

Okay, technically that should be blue man drupelets, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Another inhabitant of that painting I'm always on about.

Photoshop

Y is for Yama-oroshi

Apologies for the late post & AlphaBeasts! entry-- lots going on with work & family right now, so I may miss a post here & there in the hubbub.

Yama-oroshi was actually one of my favorite Yokai discoveries-- its whole existence is based on a pun, & there's just something so delightfully random about a radish grater monster!

Acrylic on text scanned from Sears Roebuck Catalog of 1897.