Opthomological Illustration

This piece had been completed for a while, but has not made its way to the website yet.  I need to update my website!  :)

The plate shows the main step for the scleral buckle procedure in order to correct a retinal tear.  Instead of going into the interior of the eye, the problem is fixed from the exterior of the eyeball.  

This piece was rendered in traditional transparent watercolor and finished in Photoshop.  

Cicada shells!

Couple of weeks ago, I went exploring in Wyman Park near JHU Homewood campus for some cicada nymph shells.  

I had pretty good luck; about 20 minutes of meandering around near the big trees yielded 4 nymph shells.  Most of them had all their legs.  

They all seem to be the same species -- dog-day cicada or Tibicen canicularis.  

 

Tomorrow I'll go look for some adult specimen.  

Here's a really neat link to pictures of cicadas, their identification and habitat!

I am an Insect

A wonderful puppet production titled "I am an Insect" had showings in UNC campus in Chapel Hill.  The production was performed by a group named Paperhand Puppet Intervention.   The theatre was a very nice amphitheatre near the botanical garden on campus.  I really liked the atmosphere. 

The production included giant puppets created from found objects.  There were actors on giant stilts.  It was really neat!  The final section, which was my favorite, was composed entirely of shadow puppets.  Here are some snippets:

If you are interested in entomology and puppets, I definitely recommend it!  They did a really good job of recreating complex insect anatomy!