Misha Donohoe

#MaximumWalrus

thanks for making my day, @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social

Amazing work!

Truly breathtaking. Thank you for sorting through the footage and sharing these videos.

Do you know what your brother plans to use the sound recordings for?

Human Cell Atlas - free webinar
Thursday, Jan 9, 2025

Botanical watercolour illustration of Salix bebbiana willow showing summer branch as it arcs gracefully from top right to lower left. Leaves are supported by petioles that are flat on the upper (adaxial) surface and the narrowly elliptic leaf blades gleam in the sunlight. The frontmost leaves look like they are projecting out of the page towards the viewer. Original painting by Misha Donohoe. 2024. Yukon.

This female Bebb’s willow lives in Teegatha'OH Zheh Park. To me, she is the most beautiful tree in Whitehorse.

Small glossy leaves reflect sunlight like silver daggers and the transmitted light is a wash-glow of uplifting jade.

#sciart #mishfish #botany #botanicalart

Botanical illustration of female Salix bebbiana willow in watercolour. The paining shows a red-brown branch cascading from upper right to lower left young green leaves emerging. Groups of fertilized female catkins are growing out from the stem and curving up towards the sky. Original art by Misha Donohoe. 2024. Yukon.

This Bebbs willow lives in Teegatha'OH Zheh Park at the end of Main St. To me, this female willow tree is the most beautiful tree in Whitehorse.

By mid-summer, long, flexible branchlets cascade like a waterfall from several central grooved trunks.

Salix bebbiana
#mishfish #sciart #botany

Botanical watercolour illustration of Salix bebbiana willow showing enlargements of male and female flowers. The male (staminate) flower has no petals; just a small green nectary accompanied by two translucent filaments and yellow anthers. The female (pistillate) flower also has a small, green nectary at the base of a long, green hairy stalk, called a stipe. At the top of the stipe, the flower swells into a pear-shaped ovary before narrowing to a yellow stigma, where male pollen will enter the pollen tube. Original painting by Misha Donohoe. 2024. Yukon.

These are the flowers of Bebb’s willow.

Visible here are 8mm male and 7mm female apetalous flowers with tawny floral bracts. Female flowers of this species are characterized by very long stipes and the nectaries of both sexes are about 1/10 that height.

Salix bebbiana
#mishfish #sciart #botany

This is so cool! What an amazing experience.

Fascinating to see how ancient DNA analyses are shifting the focus from inference to direct observation. This study involves genomic analysis of data from 59 samples of ancient individuals (45-2.2 kya) and 275 present-day samples to estimate the timing and duration of Neandertal ancestry in humans.

😂
Did he who make the lamb
make thee?

Botanical watercolour illustration of female Salix bebbiana willow. The artwork shows a small branchlet with emerging leaves, which surround the maturing female catkins. These clusters of apetalous female flowers are tightly packed and appear mostly green, with bright yellow stigmas at the top of each flower. Painting by Misha Donohoe. 2024. Yukon.

Female Bebb’s willow flowers emerge soon after the males begin their yellow floral display. As females mature, the yellow stigma becomes more prominent and receives pollen. Once fertilized, each ovary swells as the style elongates, rendering the fruits quite recognizable.

#mishfish #sciart #botany

Incredible work by Angela Palmer can now be viewed at OUMNH.

You can read more about these masterful geological portraits of the UK, featuring rocks from every geological period spanning 3 billion years on Angela’s website.

Thanks Prasad. It is a fun challenge to render these flowers effectively. All those tiny anthers and filaments can become a maze. Understanding structures is immensely helpful.

I can see why. Ophrys are incredible!

Three cheers for the visual delights of sexual deception in plant reproductive strategies! 😂

Botanical illustration of male Salix bebbiana willow in watercolour. The paining shows the sweeping curve of a young, maroon branchlet with catkins opening to reveal apetalous staminate flowers emerging along with fresh young leaves. Original art by Misha Donohoe. 2024. Yukon.

As the vibrant green of early spring sweeps up from valley bottoms, eruptions of yellow anthers from male Bebb’s willow flowers bring a welcome wash of colour.

Unlike precocious willows, the flowers of Salix bebbiana emerge with or just after the leaves.

Salix bebbiana
#mishfish #sciart #botany

Yay!!!!

Thanks Prasad. I agree.
When we do get the balance right, it feels very satisfying. I am enjoying seeing your work too.

That is so lovely to hear, Griffin. Thanks for saying so.

Amazing news! Thanks so much for making this happen. The feed has helped me find friends here - old and new - as well as fun and inspiring art. Very much appreciated :)

Ah-haha!! Amazing.

A photo of swans flying over open water at Marsh Lake, Yukon in April 2024. #birdwatching #SwanHaven #MarshLake #Yukon #tundra #swan

Every year, I head to #SwanHaven at Marsh Lake, Yukon in April to see the tundra swans arriving. In September we see them heading South. I love hearing news of their arrival in different places throughout the year.

Thanks Paul. Looking forward to enjoying more of your wonderful photographs.

Amazing photo. So happy that your planting choices successfully attracted in the cairns birdwing. Happy wildlife viewing :)

Small study page with a watercolour painting of an orange nasturtium flower by Misha Donohoe. 2023. #mishfish #botany #watercolor #watercolour #flower #botanicalillustration #botanicalart

This piece is beautiful!
Nasturtiums are notoriously difficult to capture; the long trumpet shape of the flower and the flat disc of the leaves present completely different challenges and require a range of techniques to render well.

Here’s a small study I created last summer :)

Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing how this helps to shape the conversation, especially for those new to the field.

Botanical illustration of Salix alaxensis var. longistylis by Misha Donohoe. 2024. #willow #alaskawillow #salix #leaf #botanicalillustration #botanicalart #mishfish #endemicspecies #glaucous #watercolour #watercolor #rbgedinburgh #rbge #yukon #sciart #botany #tree #plant #sciart #botany

This is a female Alaska willow. On occasion, small evolutionary marvels transform her leaves. Chemical secretions of midges, mites and wasps merge with plant tissue, encoding a different blueprint: “swell and make a nursery chamber”. The plant yields and galls form in leaves, petioles, stems or buds

I so wish I would see this exhibition, but I am too far away. Thanks for sharing some images and a little if your experience there.

Just purchased a copy. Thanks for sharing!

Mixing blacks is one my favourite things to do. The subtlety and variety of warms and cools are endless and the range of value on a black petal never ceases to astound me. Thanks for sharing this WIP of your wonderful painting.