Jeremy Boot Tattoo

There is a wonderful wildlife artist from my hometown of Adelaide named Jeremy Boot, who is known for his beautiful and accurate paintings of birds. His images can usually be found on quaint little teacups and the like, but recently I've had the opportunity to put some on a young lady's arm and it's a piece I'm having lots of fun with.

It's always nice when you become really entranced with a particular subject and your psychic feelers somehow reach like-minded people and bring them to you. This has happened to me a few times recently, and Jen, the lovely lass I'm putting these birds on, is a sterling example. Both of us feel an inexplicable connection with birds, which we are yet to understand but happy to explore...and what better way to do it than tattoo them on our arms?  I have my own exquisite sleeve of feathered friends from the rather lovely Geordie Cole, which I may post photos of some day, but in the meantime here are some progress photos of Jen's Jeremy Boot tattoo, and the gorgeous images I'm basing it on.

Birds outside the bedroom window.

A meditation on shells.

"Formed of the fires of creation from the materials of the earth, immersed in ocean waters, filled with air, and possessed of a shape conducive to manifest sound through the ethers, the Universal Mother's perfect design epitomises elemental essence. The hands which grasp it, the eyes which admire its shape and surface, the nose and mouth which draw and expel breath through it, and the ears which thrill to its elevation sound, are all testaments to the existence of the senses and their integral part in the experience of life." -Babaji Bob Kindler, The Ten Divine Articles of Sri Durga.

Ernst Haeckel

I recently bought a wonderful book of scientific illustrations by 19th century biologist Ernst Haeckel. His richly coloured and immensely detailed renderings of everything from jellyfish to microbes are some of the most awe-inspiring images I have ever seen. Even though they are, strictly speaking, scientific depictions of lifeforms which most of us are privileged enough to have seen either in real life or in photographs, Haeckel seems to have imbued them with an other-worldly ambience that somehow enhances their inherent beauty and makes them far more appealing to the eye.

I'm quite fascinated by this ability some artists have to extract beauty from their subjects that not everyone can see; it definitely supports the idea that an artist's skill is mostly in their ability to observe the world around them, with the physical creation of the end result being secondary. Here are some of Haeckel's super-natural illustrations for you to enjoy.

Wychwood

Possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

Garden Variety Speckled Monty

Melbourne Aquarium.

Some photos Shaun and I took at the Melbourne Aquarium a few weeks ago. Shaun took all the good ones. I like that the white and orange jellyfish looks like it could be a Godflesh album cover.