Tag: nature

Nicholas Blowers

The Artwork of Nicholas Blowers

Nicholas Blowers was born in Chelmsford, England in 1972. He studied locally, and then studied Fine Art at Southampton, graduating in 1994. In Europe Blowers remains largely undiscovered, but he has already made an impact both in Sydney and Tasmania, where he relocated in 2007. Blowers works on the depiction and experience of landscape elements, chiefly the detritus of forests.

Most recently, in Tasmania, Blowers’s art has focused upon the serially damaged forests and their landscapes. In fact, as an Englishman in Australia, he could be said to have followed a long tradition, running more recently via the painter John Wolseley (b.1938), who settled in Australia in 1976, and historically, the famous emigrant from London to Hobart, Tasmania, the painter John Glover (1767-1849), in 1831.

“An impenetrable dark wall of trees may offer a glimpse of light some distance inward – often a huge gum has fallen, clearing a pathway. A fallen gum will have left a splintered trunk surrounded by splinters of shattered bark. I was recently standing on the trunk of a huge fallen tree and looking back at the trunk, it appeared a totally implausible form, unique and singular like a castle turret whose walls have splintered and fallen outwards’”              – Nicholas Blowers

Thanks to http://darksilenceinsuburbia.tumblr.com

 

Andrea Rich

Andrea Rich, “Thistle”, 2001, Woodcut on Hosho Paper, 50.8 x 60.1 cm, Edition: 4/30; Collection of Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin

Since 1980, internationally recognized woodcut printmaker and artist Andrea Rich has traveled the world observing wildlife in their natural habitat. Madagascar, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Africa and Europe are some of the places outside North America that she has visited in search of interesting subjects. She then designs her drawing based upon personal observations in the field, carves and hand-pulls prints in her studio in Santa Cruz California.

A typical print requires ten to twenty blocks. Working in the studio full time, a print could take two or three weeks to design and carve the blocks, and another two weeks to press as many as 20 colors on each print. Editions of her work generally number 30 or less.

Albino Black Rat Snake

Patternless Albino Black Rat Snake

The Patternless Albino Black Rat Snake is the result of an attempt to produce an Everglades Albino Snake by crossbreeding Everglades Rat Snakes with Albino Black Rat Snakes.

Rat snakes are members – along with kingsnakes, milk snakes, vine snakes and indigo snakes – of the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. They are medium to large constrictors and are found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere. They feed primarily on rodents and birds. With some species exceeding 3 m (10 ft) in total length, they can occupy the top levels of some food chains.

Many species make attractive and docile pets and one, the corn snake, is one of the most popular reptile pets in the world. Other species can be very skittish and sometimes aggressive, but bites are rarely serious. Like nearly all colubrids, rat snakes pose no threat to humans. Rat snakes were long thought to be completely nonvenomous, but recent studies have shown that some Old World species do possess small amounts of venom, enough to be considered negligible to humans.

Thanks to http://kajuraho.tumblr.com for the great image.

The Ayam Cemani Chicken

The Ayam Cemani Chicken

Ayam Cemani is an uncommon and relatively modern breed of chicken originating in Indonesia. They have a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation (also termed as Fibromelanosis) leading to the skin, feathers and even the internal organs appearing dark black.

The breed originated from the island of Java, Indonesia and was probably in use for centuries and used for religious and mystic rites. They were first described by Dutch colonial settlers. It was first imported into Europe in 1998 by Dutch breeder Jan Steverink. Currently stocks are kept in the Netherlands, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It is thought that Ayam Cemani may also earlier have been brought to Europe by Dutch seamen who had numerous contacts in both Africa and Asia.

The birds are completely black: black plumage with a greenish shine, black legs and toe nails, black beak and tongue, black comb and wattles; even their meat, bones and organs appear black. The blood of the Ayam Cemani is normal (though it is remarkably dark). The birds’ black colour occurs as a result of excess pigmentation of the tissues, caused by a genetic condition known as fibromelanosis. This gene is also found in some other black fowl breeds. The roosters weigh 2–2.5 kg and the hens from 1.5–2 kg. The hens lay cream-colored eggs with a slight pink tint, although they are poor setters and rarely hatch their own brood.