Close up photo of the end of a broken branch completely covered in yellow, green and white lichen

Small worlds

Photograph of a sculpture against a light grey background. The sculpture is a brown-grey thorn branch twisting away from the camera, with some green leaves at the far end. In the middle the twist turns up a bit, and supports a Strawberry Bird - which is a bright red and yellow bird with green leaves at the back that is a strawberry. Some seeds in the front form a mouth with disturbingly bitey chompers.

A Curious Caution - made with cosclay, a lot of wire, and patience.

Created for Beinart Gallery's "Cabinet of Curiosities"- which is on view now!
💀 🍓 🌿
Beinart.org/collections/cabinet-of-curiosities

#cosclay #sculpting #fantasyart #cabinetofcuriosities

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Photo of a very round lady beetle that is white with many large black spots tented with orange sitting on the edge of a leaf against an out of focus background

These twenty spotted lady beetles (like most of our native lady beetles) are much smaller and more cryptic than the better known imports, but still have lovely patterns

Photo of a golden-orange ant (Brachymyrmex depilis) standing on the center of a blue flower (brunnera). The texture of the flower suggests that the scale is very small and the background is out of focus.

Photo of the same ant and flower, but this time zoomed all the way out with my hand for scale showing the flower is smaller than the tip of my little finger, and the ant is therefore very, very small. Two of the flowers are circled to indicate there are ants on them, but they are practically invisible.

Zoom in / Zoom out

The context is what undid me. If some random person made the same mistake I'd probably chuckle then forget immediately about it. But the job! We had to competently read labels, understand what they meant, AND speak them! The company paid for my French lessons! So many questions unanswered

I'm liking this fanfic, please, keep going lol

I still wonder sometimes what he thinks "say lovey" means???

Hahaha, I wholeheartedly encourage that! Please, spread the lovey around!

This reminds me of a work associate at a past job, where we were both wine specialists, where we had to say/read/write wine names A LOT, which are, you might guess, often in French... and he ended an email with "Say lovey!" and he was serious. He was serious.

Looking forward to the prompt reposts

The ONLY time I have ever found one locally of course I didn't have a camera with me. It's been like 3 years and I'm still a little sore about it. Nice looking spider!

Photo of a golden-orange ant (Brachymyrmex depilis) standing on the center of a blue flower (brunnera). The texture of the flower suggests that the scale is very small and the background is out of focus.

Photo of the same ant and flower, but this time zoomed all the way out with my hand for scale showing the flower is smaller than the tip of my little finger, and the ant is therefore very, very small. Two of the flowers are circled to indicate there are ants on them, but they are practically invisible.

Zoom in / Zoom out

A very chonky pale green caterpillar with aqua blue eye spots and an orange tail that curls downward. It is standing on a leaf on the mossy ground with a waterfall in the background.

When your snake mimic outfit ends up looking like a cartoon instead.

This funky friend is a Sphinx Moth caterpillar found by @scibugs.bsky.social today.
(Xylophanes crotonis) Intag Refugio, Ecuador

various mushrooms, some of them not necessarily real

Some mushroom studies

A watercolor portrait of an anthropomorphic turkey vulture in fine Elizabethan-style clothing (with ruffs and all). He holds a stylus in one hand and a notebook with sketches of apple blossoms in the other. Several bees crawl over him. Two apple boughs frame him and the vignette of a tranquil pond behind him.

A photo of the framed original painting, nestled in a boxwood bush. A tiny bee is painted onto the frame.

A photo of the framed painting (interior light), highlighting the bee painted on the frame.

"Budding Naturalist"
Up on @everydayoriginal.bsky.social Today! everydayoriginal.com/product/budd...

Painted in watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on 140lb Arches hot press paper.

Accented with genuine gold leaf and framed.
The frame is embellished (by me!) with a hand-painted bee.

10/10 no notes on her performance for the whole series

Phone photo of a big bumblebee flying out of a pink-purple azalea

The bees are back

A closeup of a rather featureless black beetle on an evening primrose.

The same rather featureless black beetle on an evening primrose, pulled back to show foliage.

A third shot of the by-now familiar rather featureless black beetle on that same evening primrose.

Hey, do I have any beetle peeps here?* @americanbeetles.bsky.social maybe? This wee little guy was feeding on the stem of an evening primrose.

*I am fully aware of iNaturalist and BugGuide and have posted, thank you. Nor do I require any “That’s Steve!”

A fly with red eyes that are shaped upward like horns. The fly has pale legs and underside with brown on the top of the head and a brown and tan striped scutum. It is standing on an off white mushroom.

Two flies with red eyes that are shaped upward like horns. The flies have pale legs and undersides with brown on the top of the head, a brown and tan striped scutum, and a dark brown and pale striped abdomen. The fly on the left is getting ready to shove the fly on the right with his front leg.

Two flies with red eyes that are shaped upward like horns. The flies have pale legs and undersides with brown on the top of the head, a brown and tan striped scutum, and a dark brown and pale striped abdomen. The fly on the left is shoving the fly on the right with his front leg.

Just a lil guy defending his mushroom.

We found a log covered in mushrooms and spotted some small hammerhead flies on it. Turns out these are feisty fruit flies and the males are serious about defending their patch. One of our coolest finds so far! #invert
(Zygothrica sp.) Intag Refugio, Ecuador

They're on their way!

The trees are silly with kinglets this morning

If the fact that the images in those pic spam accounts are all stolen and, increasingly, fake doesn't turn you off, you should at least care that you're setting them up to target you for scams.

A square format oil painting of a bronze-winged pionus. She is sitting with her back to us, in a sunbeam, reaching under her right wing to preen. She is iridescent and multicolored with rich blues, bronzes, greens, and grey colors. A hunk of petrified wood with a rich array of blue grey, white, and tan streaks is the parrot's perch. A messy halo of caustic light surrounds her. The painting has an artist's watermark that reads Copyright 2026 Jennifer Miller Nambroth, featherdust dot com

A cropped detail close-up of the prior image. The brush strokes are more obvious in this close-up.

"Dreams of Sunbeams" (Bronze-Winged Pionus)
18”x18” oil on stretched canvas

I will miss you, always
A memorial painting of my girl, four years in the making.

Amazing and very tasty weevil birthday cake made by my talented colleague Emily. 🙏🎉

I just came up with the best/worst concept for a warlock subclass.

For anyone who has ever felt personally attacked by Doors in a dungeon, I am pleased to present…

The Doorlock, a magic user who formed a pact with an unknowable locksmith, allowing them to pick locks and create magical passageways.

The cover of REMONSTERED! THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING: Five adventurers—a dragonborn paladin, a forest gnome barbarian, an orc druid, a tiefling bard and a goliath sorcerer—are fighting a rakshasa in the richly appointed office of a royal adviser. On the rear wall is a portrait of a handsome, mustachioed human who wears the exact same robes of honor as the rakshasa. The rakshasa is savagely tearing into the paladin's throat with its claws. The look on the paladin's face is of someone unexpectedly confronting his own mortality. The shellshocked barbarian looks like she's about to drop her absurdly oversize axe; the bard and the sorcerer are clearly terrified, holding their weapons limply. The druid, on the other hand, looks resolute, angry and unafraid.

Times have changed. The old rules no longer apply. Our foes have grown in strength. We must adapt.

Don't worry. I gotchu.

With updated tactics and brand-new tips for every monster, REMONSTERED! THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING comes out this Oct. 6. Preorder at bookshop.org/a/511/9.... #DnD

This sounds amazing

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Gouache and pencil on aqua board!

Macro photograph in side view of a wasp-like black ant with long mandibles crouched on a gray tree trunk with antennae raised, looking wary of us. The eyes are bulging black orbs, the legs light red, and the abdomen is covered in a golden sheen.

The beautiful Myrmecia fulvipes, from Victoria, Australia.

OK but it was totally worth it