Yang and Yang? Here I recrystallized urea, the world's most used fertilizer, with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull. The symmetry of this formation, the size of a bread crumb, reminds me of the Yin-Yang symbol, except both components seem more Yang-like than Ying-like.

Crossing Paths. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the sweetener stevia nitrogen-rich urea onto a microscope slide. Stevia has a complex molecular structure, urea a much simpler one. On my slide, the hub of this criss-cross is the size of a the period at the end of this sentence.

Sweet Nitro Tsunami. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the natural sweetener stevia and urea, the world's largest nitrogenous commodity fertilizer and a end-chemical in your body's own metabolic industry. This wall of crystal plumage could fit inside of a pigeon's pupil.

A Drop of Rainbow. When it recrystallizes on a microscope slide, vitamin C can assume an astonishing range of forms. Here the edge of a curvaceous front, itself composed of linear crystallites, seems to drip with a chromatic drop of a mystical liquid. It would all fit inside of this printed O.

Seeing C. Shown here is a sesame-seed-size patch of a microscope slide on which I recrystallized vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid. Nature's beauty goes deep. Sometimes it takes tools like microscopes to show just how deep it goes.

The C Dragon. A sprinkle of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) dissolved in Mezcal. The solution, gently applied onto a glass slide. Then, heat and time. As the the vitamin recrystallized, a curious crystalline creature crawled onto the slide. I was not alarmed; it could be caged inside this printed O.

Outward Bound. On this patch of a microscope slide the size of this little o, a couple of amino acids, taurine and threonine recrystallized from a solution into this micronova. A polarizer helped bring out the texture and another optical filter helped to generate the colors.

Sweet & sour moon. The Artemis II mission has been gifting us with new vistas of our gorgeous Earth-Moon duet. This combo of mannnitol and vitamin C delivered their version of a microcosmic pair as they recrystallized on my microscope slides. Here, the moon would fits inside this O.

Fire and Ice. A combo of vitamin C and ascorbic acid, recrystallized from a Mezcal solution into formations that here mash crystalline cold w/flaming heat. Polarizing filters and a retarder, a wavelength-affecting optical element, help bring out the details. This formation would fit on this emogi: 🔥

A preseason dawn in Cape May, NJ.. Two pictures, a few minutes apart.

Mezcal in a C-scape. A solution of Vitamin C in Mezcal, gently applied onto a smooth glass slide. Then, heat and time. Such rewards for this preparation, including this formation showing multiple crystal fronts creating boundaries with each other. This formation would fit within this printed U.

Birds of Paradise in homage of Spring. I spied this floral composition on a slide of recrystallized glutamine & alanine, a pair of amino acids, which are the kinds of little molecules that build into the big protein molecules that get stuff done in your cells. The area here is the size of a lentil.

Starved for Fertilizer. The war with Iran has disrupted the world's fertilizer supply chain, which relies on urea. Here I recrystallized urea with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull, onto a microscope slide. The area you see here would fit would fit on a sesame seed.

PORTAL OF TU. Another image from a recrystallization of the amino acid taurine with urea, a fertilizer (and urine component), onto a microscope slide. This sesame-seed-sized spot on the slide delivered a grabbing composition, rife with a "deep" portal and a fine geometric texture on the left

Oil prices are spiking due to Trump's war with Iran, but so are prices of fertilizers, including urea. I recrystallizerd urea with the amino acid taurine, which is in @redbull.com
energy drinks, onto a microscope slide. This phyllo-like formation would fit within a pigeon's pupil.

Two chemicals: urea (in urine and fertilzer) and glycine (one of the 20 amino acids in our proteins). Dissolved in grain alcohol and then recrystallized onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the resulting formations. The area of the slide shown here would fit inside this printed O.

Urea-ka. Urea provides the molecular means by which your body rids itself of nitrogen-bearing waste. It also makes for a great agricultural fertilizer. I recrystallized urea, with a pinch of the amino acid glycine, on a microscope slide and took some pix. This formation is the size of a gnat.

Scenes from Analgesia. Recrystallized onto a microscope slide from a solution in ethanol, aspirin – aka acetylsalicylic acid, aka C9H8O4 – assumed many arresting forms. This one, which reminds me of snow-weighted boughs, would cover an area the size of a teeny pill suitable for a chipmunk.

Flaming Aminos. On a microscope slide, the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallized from a solution into roiling formations like this one. Your proteins, which are molecular actors for everything you do, are rife with these biochemicals. The area shown here would fit on the head of a match.

Spiraling Vitamins. I recrystallized vitamins B12 and C onto a microscope slide. I was thunderstruck by the gorgeous spiral formations that emerged. In this case, a winged being also appears to be escaping from my microscope slide. The area shown here might fit in side one this letter B's windows.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts has released the 2025 Artist Fellowship Catalog, now both online and as a hard copy. I am thrilled and grateful that the council included me and my crystal photomicrography work among such an engaging and diverse group NJ artists.

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An Arc of C. As it recrystallizes from a solution (in this case with the solvent known as Mezcal), ascorbic acid, aka vitamin C, seems to revel in the forms it can accrete into. The Arc of C that you see here, on a microscope slide, would just about overlay the span of this printed s.

The Eye of C. A recrystallization of Vitamin C – a life-affirming arrangement of 20 carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms – from a solution in @Mezcal, delivered wondrous formations on my glass slide. This one stared right back at me. On the slide, it's way smaller than a dragonfly's eye.

A mini-shot of Mezcal. A sprinkle of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). The solution, gently applied onto a smooth glass slide. Then, heat and time. Such rewards for this preparation, including this alluring formation, replete with hints of citrus. On the slide, it would within the arms of this printed U.

The antihistamine cetirizine, aka C21H25ClN2O3, sold as Zyrtec, quells one of your body's world-class agitators: histamine, aka C5H9N3. I recrystallized cetirizine onto a glass slide and got gobsmacked by gorgeous crystal formations like this one. It's the size of a fruit fly's face.

Acid-freedom II. Another image from a recrystallization of Omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor (stomach-acid blocker) sold as Prilosec. Lots of intersecting needle crystals formed on my microscope slide into formations like these. The area shown is about the size of an asterisk.

Acid-freedom. I recrystallized Omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor sold also as Prilosec, onto a microscope slide It can be a help in tamping down stomach acid, which can cause troubles like heartburn and the discomfort of reflux conditions. The area shown is about the size of printed asterisk.

Amino Acid Amore. Gotto bless amino acids, the building blocks of all of our proteins without which our living tissue would be as inanimate as styrofoam. Here's one crystalline formation, which could fit inside this O, of the amino acids alanine and glutamine. You can see waves of crystal growth.

Ascorbic Prayer Flags. On a slide bearing recrystallized Vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid, this cluster of crystal platelets aligned like Tibetan Prayer Flags. Only the crystal flags are the size of poppy seeds.

Thanks for the heads up!