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Art inspired by biology, created by a biologist

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“The Watcher” (Common Grackle), Daniel D. Brown, 2014, Pastel Pencil

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“The Watcher” (Common Grackle), Daniel D. Brown, 2014, Pastel Pencil

This is a common grackle male I spotted in Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh, PA).

Pastel Pencil, 8×10″ on Pastelmat. You can buy prints of this piece HERE.

"The Watcher" — “The Watcher”

Detail

Detail

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June 4, 2014January 15, 2018 LaughingMantisPastelanimal, art, bird, creature, Daniel Brown, Daniel D. Brown, drawing, Eugene Scheiffelin, European starling, painting, panpastel, pastel, pastelmat, Shakespeare, sketch, wildlife

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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.

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And here are a couple stills.
... I haven’t posted on this LOTR piece entitled “I can’t carry it for you...” in a while (but tons of stories). I’m still working on it. When I designed this, I thought I was making it simpler and easier than my Star Wars project. It’s turned out only modestly so. I still have quite a bit to do, but the pieces are all cut, adjusted to depth, and finished with poly. I put resin in Mt Doom, got Sauron’s eye more or less how I envisioned (multiple resin layers with sanding and watercolor, then an acetate backing and a watercolored paper backing to hide the LED heat sink). It’s all wired up - the lights weren’t bright enough for my taste on 2xAAs, so I threw in some resistors to bump it to 3xAA (which is slightly above the voltage rating of these LEDs. Hopefully the resistors will protect them.). I still have to actually assemble everything with glue, attach Sam/Frodo, Shelob, and Sméagol. And figure out how I’m gonna frame/mount this beast.
...
#lotr #buticancarryyou #samwisegamgee #frodobaggins #smeagol #mountdoom #scrollsawart #woodart

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I haven’t posted on this LOTR piece entitled “I can’t carry it for you...” in a while (but tons of stories). I’m still working on it. When I designed this, I thought I was making it simpler and easier than my Star Wars project. It’s turned out only modestly so. I still have quite a bit to do, but the pieces are all cut, adjusted to depth, and finished with poly. I put resin in Mt Doom, got Sauron’s eye more or less how I envisioned (multiple resin layers with sanding and watercolor, then an acetate backing and a watercolored paper backing to hide the LED heat sink). It’s all wired up - the lights weren’t bright enough for my taste on 2xAAs, so I threw in some resistors to bump it to 3xAA (which is slightly above the voltage rating of these LEDs. Hopefully the resistors will protect them.). I still have to actually assemble everything with glue, attach Sam/Frodo, Shelob, and Sméagol. And figure out how I’m gonna frame/mount this beast.
...
#lotr #buticancarryyou #samwisegamgee #frodobaggins #smeagol #mountdoom #scrollsawart #woodart

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A few days ago, @mandyrubes asked me to make a quick box for a chef’s knife she got from @jestergregg. So I whipped this thing up from gorgeous claro walnut and some scrap cherry I milled from firewood. @tamarynart burned the letter. If you want a laugh, swipe to the last photo to see what I put in the box. They hosted last night’s New Years party, and I cut the box contents in the 5 minutes before we left for it. Which means my official final project of 2019 was a.... 😂😂

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I’d say 2019 was a pretty good year for making things. The 7 weeks I spent on the Star Wars piece with sound and Arduino-controlled lights alone was worth it for me - it shines over me nightly. I made several other art and furniture pieces for my wife and I (some not shown). Quite a few gifts were churned out - most happy occasions. I made a wedding gift for my niece and her hubby that included my first oil painting in years. A random gift for the Copper Pig himself, Paul Jasper, elicited probably my favorite response I’ve ever seen (you’ll have to dig back for the video). But making the box that some of my step-father’s ashes would be buried in was definitely the most emotionally challenging project I’ve undertaken.
Here’s hoping 2020 turns out equally productive. And based on what has given me the most enjoyment, I predict it will be an even geekier year (which will hopefully start with me finishing my Lord of the Rings project...if it turns out okay).
...
cc: @copper_pig_fine_woodworking
#scrollsawart #geekart #starwarsart #woodworking #madeinpittsburgh #pittsburghwoodworking

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If you’ve seen my stories, you know I’ve started a new project called “I can’t carry it for you...”
Hopefully you can guess the subject from that and the pic.
I’ve always thought Samwise Gamgee was the real hero of the story, hence the title.
I’ve now got a lot of the pieces rough cut (except for the characters!), so I thought I’d share in a post. It looks a bit complex, and it will certainly have a lot of layers/depth. But I actually designed this one to be quite a bit simpler than my last one. Even the edges of the layers were only roughly templated - the mountain details were made up on the fly as I sawed, letting me be a bit more artistic than precise. I chose the wood species without a lot of thought or deliberation. I could have put more into prepping just the right colors or grains, but I just wanted to see what happened when I started just grabbing interesting wood, throwing it into my bandsaw to resaw panels, and then went to town scrolling.
The pieces are haphazardly placed right now - and I haven’t decided on how I want to do the eye yet. But I have a few different ideas.
#scrollsaw #scrollsawart #woodworking #madeinpittsburgh #lordoftherings #lotr #samwisegamgee
#buticancarryyou

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Hyperspace star trails pen.
Extra resin + thin walnut slices from scrollsawing hyperspace + new mini-lathe from @tlalexan = new writing utensil.
#penturning

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“Punch it!”
This post is to 1) show the sound clips included in the piece, 2) highlight the kind folks who provided help and 3) list the tools and materials used (I get many questions). See previous posts for info on the build.

Special thanks to @cyclocrosscutter for convincing me to upgrade the sound, encouraging me with witty insults, and being an inspiration with his mediocre geek builds. Also to @worksbyahurst for generously sending me his sound files from his mind-blowing Millennium Falcon build. And to @hardwoodmikes for incredibly helpful coding advice.

The wood: most reclaimed by me from various sources. Padauk, purpleheart, bloodwood, elm, spalted maple, sycamore, ebony, wenge, cherry, white oak, sapele, mahogany, pine, luaun ply, bamboo, unknown pallet & scrap wood. Chewie is made from a 1970s S. African stinkwood chair from @sledv_life_rocks . Han’s sleeve was curly maple given by the master woodworker/artist @copper_pig_fine_woodworking. Some walnut from woodworker @mpi_woodworking. Some exotics were a gift from guitar builder @rapfohl. The rest came from @ocoochhardwoods and @rockler_woodworking.

My trusty scrollsaw: she’s not the best $ can buy but I’ve made some cool things with my @portercable w/ Flying Dutchman blades. Big cuts done on my sweet @rikon_powertools bandsaw, and @dewalttough table saw and planer. Drill press was a generous gift from my buddy @slapstufftogether (he carved a badass Yoda lamp that was an inspiration). Shaping is with @saburrtooth and @kutzall burrs on my @dremel. I’d be lost without my @ridgid and @boschtoolsna sanders (with @mirka_usa discs). I go through so much @starbondadhesives CA glue, @titebondproducts II, and @3m Super 77 spray and packing tape.
@odiesoil and @generalfinishes for finishing.

I used an @adafruit soundboard and their DotStar LEDs, as well as an @arduino.cc Uno to control them.

Of course this thing would not exist without the IP created by George Lucas (@lucasfilm and now @disney). #starwars #starwarsfan #starwarsart #starwarsgeeks #igwoodworker #woodworking #woodart #scrollsawart #maker #scrollsaw #intarsia #woodintarsia
#millenniumfalcon #empirestrikesback #anewhope #returnofthejedi

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