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Laughing Mantis Studio

Art inspired by biology, created by a biologist

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    • Woodworking
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    • Graphite Pencil
    • 3D Digital Art
    • 2D Digital Art
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    • Ocean Invasion Series
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You can see my frequently-updated works-in-progress by following @laughingmantisstudio

laughingmantisstudio

Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D. | Breast Cancer Research Scientist
Woodworker/Artist
Husband to @tamarynart.
AKA: @danieldbrownphd
Pittsburgh, PA.
Instagram post 2282861403935933267_556906553 Several years ago, I started making little plaques with names and degree for students in the @leeoesterreichlab after they receive their PhD. Today I can finally say congratulations to Zheqi “Vaciry” Li (@vaciryli), who had to defend his dissertation via Zoom this week. But he nailed it! This plaque is made from walnut, ambrosia maple, and cherry, and the design is roughly inspired by architecture from Huishan Ancient Town near Vaciry’s hometown of Wuxi, China. I have to give special thanks to @chelseachen655 and @kaiding568 for providing and proofing the characters. #scrollsaw
Instagram post 2277421451483881693_556906553 This is just a photo-dump update of a bunch of the little steps I’ve been doing on this bee piece, since many don’t follow IG stories. Poured the “honey”, made a bunch of legs and antennae, struggled and finally succeeded making decent enough wings. Still a ways to go... #scrollsawart #woodintarsia #beeart #honeybee #madeinpittsburgh #pittsburghwoodworking
Instagram post 2273338258354944581_556906553 Midway point post: honeybees! 🐝 If you haven’t been following my stories, I’ve started this little wooden bee artwork. I still have quite a ways to go - I’m still working on getting a wing prototype I like. And have barely considered how I’ll make the legs. The bees are going to be pseudo-3D, but obviously not realistic. I’m walking a line between both stylistic and realistic and 2D/3D, and honestly not sure how it will actually look in the end. The main reason I started this piece was because it was obvious it was going to be an incredibly tedious one. It’s turned out to be even more so 😂. But in times like these, it’s nice to be able to zone out in intense concentration on my hands while escaping into a good audiobook. #woodintarsia #scrollsawart #woodart #beeart #honeybee #pittsburghwoodworking
Instagram post 2270497805825804402_556906553 In the mad rush to get experiments finished before our breast cancer lab shut down, one man was immensely helpful (and has continually been so on one project): Kai Ding @kaiding568. As thanks, I made him this quick little pen/pencil holder out of some walnut firewood and a pen from some mahogany offcuts glued together at least a year ago (with gorgeous chatoyance). One segment of the pen literally exploded on my mini-lathe generously gifted to me by @tlalexan, but I managed to save it with some CA glue and a little blue pigment. So thanks again Kai! Single cell RNA sequencing is outside my wheelhouse, and it would have been difficult to pull off without you! Go teamwork! #penturning #madeinpittsburgh #pencilholder
Instagram post 2259067038667181568_556906553 Last summer I started this little carving from an antique walnut chair arm (2nd pic), given to me by my step-father-in-law @freetimemike. I had no plans when I started - it was just an excuse to whittle outside. Eventually I saw this shape inside it. Once it got cold, I threw it in a corner and got distracted. This past week I decided to finish it up. Most of it was carved by hand with @flexcut_tools knives, then finished with some @saburrtooth dremel burrs. ... #woodcarving #powercarving #woodsculpture #seahorseart #madeinpittsburgh #pittsburghwoodworking
Instagram post 2256240051120739976_556906553 TL;DR I’m just a scientist dude who tries to be creative to de-stress. Im not particularly skilled, but I have patience, which is pretty much all it takes. Over a year ago I made a post telling a bit about myself. I have over a 1000 more followers since then so I thought I’d do it again for those who like my work and happen to be curious. I’m a biologist by trade, in breast cancer research for over 7 years now. I’ve studied a lot of things - I got my PhD studying the genetics of heart development. I love my job and science in general, and I’m happy with my career path. My love of biology is why the majority of my art is based on wildlife and nature, aside from the geeky stuff. My art, which has included graphite, pastels, watercolors, sculpture, digital, and my current woodworking obsession, is my hobby. Making a business of art, for me, tends to be counteractive to the stress release and entertainment purposes of my artwork. The point of this account on IG is really 3-fold: 1) it allows me to easily track my progress, 2) it’s a great platform for sharing my art instead of it just sitting in my basement, and most importantly 3) it’s an incredible source of inspiration, learning, and community, which I try to reciprocate. Much of what I’ve learned has come from many of you talented souls on IG. My main goal in showing my progress and processes is to hopefully provide inspiration to at least a handful of people to embrace their own artistic drives, as I have been inspired. I don’t seek commissions or actively try to sell my work, though I’m open to requests and I occasionally sell to slightly subsidize my hobby. I’d consider selling for reasonable offers, but that’s not my goal and I don’t advertise it. I just feel a drive to constantly make things, and being a part of the IG maker community helps keep up the motivation. I owe a HUGE debt to my brilliant, funny, beautiful wife @tamarynart who is constantly encouraging and enabling me. Nothing about my work would be where it is had it not been for her influence. She is quite the talented artist by night as well, currently focusing on pyrography, though she’s dabbled in several mediums.
Instagram post 2253738358491533969_556906553 “Apprentice & Master” completed! (Ahsoka Tano & Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader) Did you know that Anakin Skywalker had a young Padawan learner before his tragic fall to the Dark Side? If not, you probably haven’t watched “Clone Wars” or “Rebels” (spoiler warning). Thanks to a couple follower’s suggestions, I thought I’d give a little explanation of this piece and why I chose it for the folks who haven’t watched those shows. First off, my favorite character in the Star Wars Universe MAY just be Ahsoka Tano. Definitely top 5. She starts off as a plucky, slightly annoying, and initially unwanted 14 yr old apprentice to Anakin and ends up over the course of both TV series as a wise, badass, saber-wielding champion and rebel. Thanks to the stellar voice acting of @ashleyeckstein and the creative mastermind @dave.filoni , her story arc is incredibly well-developed (and hopefully not quite over). Her complex relationship with Anakin makes his eventual downfall all the more tragic. Anakin’s slow decent from true hero to corrupted villain and its emotional impact is made believable by the outstanding work of @mattlanter in a way that I don’t think the prequel movies ever really pulled off. I, like many, initially resisted watching because I thought it was a “cartoon for kids”. But once I got into it, I found some of the storytelling to be among the best in Star Wars. So, this artwork is based on a few stills from my second favorite scene from Rebels (guess my first?): the battle in which Ahsoka realizes that Darth Vader is none other than her beloved former Master. Noooooooooo! Cut by hand on the scrollsaw, it was constructed from 16 species of wood (no paint or stain) in “intarsia” style over ~3 weeks. Their names in Aurebesh were burned into the frame, along with the Fulcrum, Rebel, Jedi, and Empire insignia. Species: wenge, katalox, ebony, walnut, maple, chakte viga, crab apple, purpleheart, redheart, yellowheart, padauk, aspen, holly, yew, & basswood. ... #starwars #clonewars #starwarsrebels #scrollsaw #scrollsawart #intarsia #intarsiaart #woodart #ahsokatano #anakinskywalker #darthvader #woodworking
Instagram post 2253129343352868131_556906553 #tbt Throwing it back to this octopus I made in 2018. Mainly just because I wanted to repost the second pic of my goofy love @tamarynart (swipe). ... #intarsia #intarsiaart #scrollsaw #scrollsawart #woodworking #octopusart
Instagram post 2252029160493773618_556906553 I’m so stoked right now! Some of you may recall that I built this little piece for Paul Jasper @copper_pig_fine_woodworking and his family a while back. It’s a family portrait of him, his daughter the “Copper Piglet”, his lovely wife Vicky (the chicken lover), and their dog-son Henry. Well Paul finally just built this gorgeous frame for it and has it hung in their kitchen. It’s beyond satisfying to see something I made end up in such a location of honor! Swipe to see his reaction when we delivered it last summer. #priceless Deets from original post: ・・・ This whole project came about because we had a trip to Boston planned for a family reunion. I’d mentioned it to Paul a while back and he essentially said “stop on by!!”. Paul has been a huge inspiration to me and has helped a number of times in my woodworking. Our message history is just rife with advice, tool recommendations, and general encouragement. He once video chatted with me on how to make my “Three Rivers Table” so that it didn’t destroy itself with seasonal wood movement, drawing out floating tenons on a napkin. Everyone in the community knows what a positive force he is, constantly supporting other makers with shout outs, collaborations, encouragement, trades, and purchases. It doesn’t hurt that he’s part of our brotherhood of PhD scientists moonlighting as artists/craftspeople. My idea was to just make a quick little pig or something for when we visited him in Boston. As soon as I started designing it, this “family portrait” idea hit me. Once it did, I really had no choice but to make it. The design snowballed and I ended up spending a couple weeks on it. The idea demanded I finish it as envisioned. That’s just usually how it goes when I get excited about something. Made from 14 species: African stinkwood, walnut, bocote, yew, spalted maple, bubinga, ash, cherry, ebony, bloodwood, sumac, aspen, and two unknown species from an exotic hardwood pallet. Designed in Adobe Illustrator and cut via scrollsaw. #pittsburghwoodworking #scrollsawart #scrollsaw #intarsia #woodworking #woodart #intarsiaart #woodintarsia
Instagram post 2249868131273160013_556906553 Here’s a little thing I made: a silhouette scene in walnut for behind our bathroom sink. Swipe for closeups. My wife Tamaryn (@tamarynart) is named after “Tamarin Bay” on the island of Mauritius (where we got married. It’s in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar). The mountain on the left is “Tourelle Du Tamarin”, which overlooks the bay. She also partially grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where her mom and fam are from (and we visited during our wedding/honeymoon). The right mountain is “Lion’s Head” in Cape Town. It’s just a simple thing I designed like a year ago that I finally got around to actually cutting. It looks nicer in better lighting.
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