3/27/13

Amanita phalloides - Death Cap Mushroom






Amanita phalloides. Ink and colored pencil on 11"x14 Bristol board.


This drawing and my research on this mushroom was inspired by an entry on my daughter's journal when she was 10 years old. She used to write facts and info on the corners and sides of her journal pages. One day in the kitchen, she read one of her journals and it compelled me to know more about it.  See how our children inspire us? Do your children inspire you to study and learn more?

This is Amanita phalloides also known as the death cap. It is a deadly poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. It causes major organ failures in hours and death in about 10 days. Read about A. phalloides here.



3/26/13

Stinkhorns


It stinks. I am sick. I have fever and chills. Bedridden. Tired and weak. Nothing else to do but rest and drink tea and have chicken noodle soup. I slept and took naps. I dreamed I was a Lilliputian and the giant trees in The Lord Of The Rings were stomping on the ground. I started drawing the Death Cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) then I read about the Kingdom Fungi and discovered stinkhorns... These are 4"x6" illustrations on 11"x14" Bristol board or Cotton paper.

 A new project on Behance:


Left to right, Top to Bottom: 
Lysurus gardneri, Lysurus periphragmoides, Mutinus caninus
 Lysurus mokusin, Phallus indusiatus, Mutinus elegans

 Left to right, Top to Bottom:
Phallus hadriani, Phallus ravenelli, Phallus rubicundus
 Aseroe rubra, Colus pusillus, Staheliomyces cinctus





Now available through Society 6



 Oh don't they look good framed?


3/25/13

Lysurus periphragmoides





This weekend I was trying to finish several random illustrations. However, I have always wanted to draw the mushroom called the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides). A. phalloides is a California mushroom. They are gregarious under Quercus agrifolia. The oak and mushroom have a symbiotic relationship. While drawing A. phalloides, I started reading about mushrooms. If you have been following me for a while, I have always been fascinated by mushrooms and have drawn several species in the past. I have been trying to find a happy medium: pen and ink is my favorite but it is limited in truly depicting a sample specimen. I put colored highlights on the pen and ink. It's okay. I am not too thrilled. Anyway while studying super fungi and ectomychorroizal properties, I chanced upon "stinkhorns". OH MY GOODNESS!!! Amazing. The metaphorical opportunities are endless. You know while drawing these specimen I thought of a certain politician who attracts flies, just like these specimen. They stink, they have foul smelling secretions you can smell them before you see them. Flies and bugs love them and they are responsible for spreading the seeds of these stinkhorns. Ah, God has a great sense of humor.


Scientific Classification



Kingdom: Fungi

Subkingdom: Dikarya

Division: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Phallales

Family: Phallaceae

Genus: Lysurus

Species: L. periphragmoides

Binomial Name: Lysurus periphragmoides (Klotzsch) Dring





3/22/13

Swim If You Can







 Pigment ink on 11"X14" Bristol Board



Unbelievable, isn't it? I was able to restrain myself from inking the entire illustration. I wonder if this is progress? Perhaps mediocrity or laziness? At any rate, this drawing is more appropriate for swim that the one I was drawing before the IF prompt arrived in email today: A boy hanging upside down from a blooming Catalpa bignonioides tree with his sister standing by the tree and with blooming hydrangeas in the background. If I can finish it soon, I will post it. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great weekend.



3/18/13

Eye Glasses




Eye Glasses. Pigment ink on 11"x14" Bristol Bored (Board). Okay so what's with all the objects here? Not much to them. I was sharpening a vegetable cleaver while drawing and cooking oriental vegetable stir-fry. I thought of the three blind mice, I wanted to draw a banyan tree and when I drew one of the interloping roots, it looked like a snake, so went ahead and drew a snake. Had to draw eye glasses after all and still feeling left-over desire to draw denim. Also drank cola for the first time in weeks from a stem glass with eyes, I mean ice. And I hate rats and mice...and I have to have a pattern on the table and floor and since I am using black ink might as well draw checkered floor. No deep meaning , just brainless squiggling.


This is my entry for Illustration Friday's "Eye Glasses" prompt.

I was a seventeen year old student nurse when I scrubbed for my first and only enucleation case. When I think of that procedure, I don't try to focus on the clinical aspects of the case which I do remember, but rather the human relation connections. You see, the patient was someone I knew since he was in first grade. He was my youngest sister's classmate. His older brother was my classmate from first to sixth grade. We all attended the same elementary school. We were neighbors. His parents were acquainted with my parents. His father was my eldest sister's and elder brother's teacher in high school. His mother was one of my adult Girl Scout leaders. His mother and my eldest sister were co-teachers in the same elementary school faculty. 

About five years ago, I was standing in the entry hall of our corporate office in Texas when a man and woman came in and asked the security guard for directions to the Human resources Department. It was past five o'clock PM and the offices were closed. The man saw me, I nodded in acknowledgement and told him about the office hours. He saw my corporate identification card. Seeing that I had an English surname, he asked if was originally from the Philippines. You know, I don't like strangers asking me personal questions but hearing the man's gentle intonation I sensed the man was from the region where I was born. I still answered a plain "Yes." He asked more questions. I became annoyed so without answering, I asked him the same questions. He only seemed happy to answer. He asked for my maiden name. I thought to myself "what are the chances of him knowing my family" so I told him. Whoaaa! He looked so delighted. He asked about my father, he knew the street where we lived and described our house where he said he had visited. We were neighbors. He told me that he was the classmate of one of my sisters and his father and my father were members of the same church club and his mother was my other sister's teacher. He told me to remind my sister about the smallest member of the class.

How often does that happen? Such a small world.

I called my sister to tell her about her former classmate in elementary and high school. She told me he was the smallest student in the class, she knew about his case with the atomic energy department. That man later became an engineer in one of our hospital facilities. I told him about my sister's illness. He visited often to ask about my sister. He was saddened by my sister's passing. We also talked about other things. He told me that he likes to go ballroom dancing. I giggled because he is so petite. I am much taller than he is. One day he told me that he and his best friend like to go fishing. He told me that I may know his best friend.

His best friend was my patient. 





 



Aaaahhh! I have been uninspired. Too lazy to draw and if I do, I too often soon forget about my drawings. Here are some pieces I drew during the past couple of months which I have not shared here before. These are pen and ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board sheets.



Carolina Chikadee. I am not very good with animals. I struggle when I draw them. I cannot draw animals from memory. My Father-in-law's Backyard (Too bored to finish this piece. I was experimenting with different squiggling tints, perspective and layers.)


 Part of the Grotesque Series. King Troll on the left and King Rat on the right.Used up so many pens. Had to order more. Also ordered two dozen 11"x14" Bristol Board pads which makes me feel guilty if I don't use them - viscious cycle.



More backyard scenes from my Father-in-law's kitchen window.  Elephant Ridge on the right and bedtime drawing steps below:





 The End.





3/9/13

Today Will Be Yesterday Tomorrow







All illustrations done in pigment ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board.


These are some of the members of the National Honor Society of  Pride Rock High. Mrs. Finemann, their adviser, was a teenager in the era of bell bottoms and can't seem to stop loving them. For those who noticed, Pride Rock High is a "no-sagging" zone. By the way, based on statistics, the real NHS in my epsilon's high school has more female than male students; with a majority of students of Asian-descent.






3/3/13

Talent






  
 The problem with winning the rat race is you're still a rat.
Lilly Tomlin




Dear friends: I no longer receive email notices of comments, not sure why. Therefore, I will only be able to read your comments when I visit my blog(s). I appreciate your time and your comments and if I do not respond immediately, it is because I am trying to survive the rat race without becoming a rat. Have a great week!!!