Ophiocordyceps sinensis or Caterpillar Fungus

Whoa! A blog post. I have been absent from my blog since I became engrossed with gardening. What an awesome activity. I get to plant something and watch it grow. It is a great test of patience but I am learning. I did start a Moleskine journal consisting of mushroom illustrations and have been posting them on Instagram. I like Instagram. It is lazy and impersonal. Oh yes, I have been studying mushrooms, though it has slowed down because of June. June is the last month of our fiscal year and so many of my projects at work are being implemented. Hope you are all well and safe.

Ophiocordyceps sinensis or Caterpillar Fungus, is a fungus that infects and parasitizes a species of ghost moth caterpillars found mainly on the Tibetan plateau. This fungus is highly valued in Traditional Chinese Medicine and its high demand and price have caused ecology issues in the Tibetan plateau and Ophiocordyceps sinensis to be considered a threatened species. 

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What's The Point?

Elephant Herd. Pen and Ink on 11"x14" Paris Paper

Quite frankly, I don't see the point of pointillism. 

Lots of dots.

It's a dull and boring process to draw an image full of dots, periods and points.

It's okay to prove that one has the patience to just keep on making a point after point after point.

At a certain point,

one loses the point of pointillism.

If you point and click your cursor on the images below,

you will have a better point of view.

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This is going to take a while...

I am experimenting with very fine nibs! In the past, I used 0.2 and 0.3 mm technical pens. The I used disposable micron pens. I am getting bored with micron pens. I have hundreds of 005 still unused and hundreds more of half used pens. When using a micron pen, the lines become lighter halfway through the pen's life. I have noticed that the finest pen and ink artists who stipple very fine illustrations are using certain pens, much like the Rapidograph pens I used before. They are using refillable pens with interchangeable nibs. That could get tedious and I constantly had to dip the nibs in ultrasonic cleaners. I thought perhaps I will try going back to them. Last weekend I have been scouting the web for very fine nibs. I am so excited. I found the finest liners - 0.03 and 0.05 mm. Now is that insane? Yes!

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