Archive for March, 2009

The Post – Another sea creature, Mr Mahi

March 25, 2009

Here’s one I just loved doing. Between the vibrancy of the colors of the mahi mahi, and the fact I just let loose with several different kinds of blue, from Prussian blue to Cerulean, Ultramarine to Phthalo….warms and colds, it was fun to just go with it. And then of course, there’s the sea spray…..perhaps that’s the most fun of all. 🙂

mahi-larger-for-blog-img_4838

The Post – New Painting

March 22, 2009

As mentioned, I’ve been painting and have 3 new ones done and a 4th almost completed. For a start, here’s one of them I don’t believe I’ve posted yet….Sea Nettles.   While I love to do detail work, with my sea creature paintings, I’ve been leaning more toward “impressionistic.”  So here’s the first!

img_4754-sea-nettles-1-3-09

The Post – Sea World’s Bubble-blowing dolphins

March 18, 2009

It’s not as silly as it sounds, by the way. The dolphins apparently execute a considerable amount of precision to create these bubble rings. In fact, instead of plain old bubbles that would just rise to the surface, these cylindrical rings stay under the surface and allow the dolphins to push them around, stretch them, play with them.

The reporter noted that researchers were speculating as to why more female dolphins do this than males…..I can just hear the male/female jokes coming on that one….   🙂 Anyway, enjoy!

Bubble-blowing dolphins at Sea World

The Post: ANTS are coming!

March 17, 2009

Okay people.  A while back I mentioned that for fun, my husband and I decided to do one of those Uncle Milton Ant Farms again, you know, see how “big kids” like it. When the ant farm got here from Amazon a few weeks ago, I sent in the coupon for the ants. Of course, it being Feb/Mar…the ants aren’t always shipped right away. Well, today’s email held this little missive, so……arrival of ants, is imminent, or as the mails notes: “the ants are in transit!”

From the email:

Hello.

Thank you for your order of ants from Uncle Milton Industries.  We are emailing to inform you that the ants have left our facility and are making their way to your location as we speak!  Please try to limit the amount of time the ants spend in transit by checking your mailbox everyday.

Thank you for choosing Uncle Milton Industries.


The Post – New Fiddlers: The Three Muses

March 16, 2009

Okay….the softie in me couldn’t stand it anymore. Admiral Byrd  all alone in the tank for the last couple months. I’d expected he was on his last legs, so to speak, but he actually molted, came out bigger, stronger and has been out in the tank waving his claw….to no one in particular since he was now all alone.

Today I decided that even if he died tomorrow, he deserved company and I was tired of viewing this as a death watch instead of life. So today I went out and bought three female fiddlers and added them to the tank. They’re small…miniature compared to him….hopefully they’ll survive, but they were the biggest ones I could find. PetsMart’s – forget it. Tiny and you just couldn’t find anybody to wait on you to get them. I went to Pet Supermarket and the kid there was most helpful and dug out the three largest females in the tank for me. I had tried to go back to Fish Pros….but their storefront was empty and no one answered the phone. Alas, they may be out of business.

So, since I can’t tell the three ladies apart, at least not yet, I have named them “en masse” and call them, The Three Muses. So…..we shall see how the “introductions” go……

The Post – Mischievous Octopus

March 3, 2009

An octopus has incredible flexibility in its arms and its ability to manipulate objects, even small ones, surpasses anything man has manufactured. It’s one of the reasons the octopus is of major interest in robotics research. Jointed metal arms on underwater vehicles are klunky by comparison and can’t work well in tight spaces. Something that can be thin, smooth, and able to move in all directions with a minimum of space, would be a real plus. If researchers can replicate the infinite flexibility of an octopus arm, the applications for that kind of tool are almost as infinite.

On the flip side, such abilities in this critter, can sometimes backfire and yield unanticipated problems. Just ask the staff at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California.  🙂

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090227/ap_on_fe_st/odd_octopus_flood