Jen C Mars

Ah thank you!

Wip of artist painting moth on a blue mushroom with village below.

Hera Buckmoth visits the forest glade (wip)

She turned out amazing!

A bronze ant seen from the side sitting on a wooden table top. Just in front are my fingers for scale. The ant is highly detailed, and has its mandibles wide open and antennae swiveled forward.

Hello at last. ❤️ A worker ant, Camponotus species. Bronze, 14 cast pieces and two magnets, plus nuts and bolts.

Thanks to everyone who watched our stream and everyone who donated. We raised a total of $890 for our various organizations, but it needn't stop there—our donation links will remain live indefinitely.

bit.ly/icirr-towe (CHI)
bit.ly/chirla-towe (LA)
bit.ly/irco-towe (PDX)
bit.ly/carecen-towe (DC)

Four shots of a baby giant pacific octopus bouncing around

It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑

Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for.

We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.

2025, in snake portraits:

1 Lampropeltis holbrooki "Speckled Kingsnake"✨ - Oklahoma

2 Pantherophis obsoletus "Western Ratsnake"🐀 - Oklahoma

3 Bothriechis nigroadspersus "Central American Eyelash-Viper"🐍 - Costa Rica

4 Thamnophis proximus "Western Ribbon Snake"🎀 - Oklahoma

A pass on a light background with an orange burst. Text reads PASS GOOD FOR WEEK OF MAY 7 to 13 1950 INCL. There is a large 19 in green and black numerals in the center. More copy: Good from 5:00 A. M. Sunday until 5:00 A.M. the Following Sunday Within the Single Fare Area of Milwaukee Only— Not Good on EXPRESS BUSES of Wisconsin Motor Bus Lines Pass must be shown upon demand.

A pass on a light background with a red and blue elements. Copy: T. M. E. R. & T. CO. Within the Single Fare Area of Milwaukee Only MAY 13 to 19 1945 There is a large 20 in yellow numerals in the center. More copy: $1. Weekly PASS THE WEEKLY PASS GIVES LOWEST RIDING COST Pass must be shown upon demand.

A pass on a light background with blue and grey elements. Text reads: Weekly PASS AUG.27 to SEPT. 2 1942. There is a large 35 in green numerals over a blue triangle. There is a round element in blue with clock hands and text reading SHOP BETWEEN 10AM AND 3PM More copy: Pass must be shown upon demand.

A pass on a light green background with red stripe on top. Text reads PASS GOOD FOR WEEK OF NOV. 12 to 18 1950 INCL. There is a large 46 in dot-pattern red. More copy: Good from 5:00 A.M. Sunday until 5:00 A. M. the Following Sunday Within the Single Fare Area of Milwaukee Only. Not Good on Vehicles Marked "EXPRESS" Pass must be shown upon demand.

(1) Four transit passes from the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., from a collection of 300 of them from 1932-1969, held by @letterformarchive.org.

Close-up photo of a greater angle wing katydid (a green, grasshopper-like insect) with its front legs holding the tip of the leaf it's standing on while its antennae slant dramatically over its eyes, giving it a possessive and defensive appearance

My precioussssss

5 wood sculptures, a dragon with a duck on it's head, a humanoid mantis wearing a dress, a humanoid cuttlefish wearing a dress, a humanoid cat with four eyes, horns pointy ears in a blue dress, and a bat inspired creature on a workbench

Nice light this morning.

What are they up to ?

Gtk! Based on what I've read cresteds seem like a good fit, and will do some scoping out of local reptile expos

4 small circular paintings of cicadas on a single sheet of paper.

Here’s all the little cicadas together. Put a little varnish on them. Now I just need to cut them out, scan them, and get them in some frames.

Definitely! I by no means am trying to be derogatory towards the industry, there is certainly a diverse mix of people. It’s just a very different landscape in pet finding than what I’m accustomed to (go to shelter or bring home the kitty I met outside)

Ah, gtk! We’re all pretty new to keeping reptiles so I’ve been extra cautious when looking into options about making sure we can provide a good home

Ah leachianus look so cool, but we don’t have the space. If we haven’t gotten one by spring I’ll def reach out! I’d feel a lot better getting one from someone who I know takes good care of their animals

Gtk! I’ve been looking online in our area, I’m willing to drive, just not toooooo far

Gtk! I know you do breeding but wasn’t sure about geckos. We’re not quite there yet with purchasing, but do you have other Caledonians?

Crested, based on ease of keeping and our small, cool (temp) apartment

A promotional image for The Ones Who Endure: A D&D Charity Stream in Support of Our Neighbors' Rights and Dignity. It includes headshots of DM Keith Ammann and players Brian Gray, Jen Kretchmer, Lexi McQueen and Jeff Mueller. The players' headshots are accompanied by banners adapted from the municipal flags of Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Chicago; and Portland, Oregon. Per the image, the stream begins at 6 PM U.S. Eastern Time, 5 PM Central Time, 3 PM Pacific Time.

When one of us is attacked, we all roll initiative!

Join us this Saturday, Nov. 15, for a charity D&D stream to raise funds for immigrant/refugee organizations in CHI, PDX, LA and DC, in support of our neighbors who are being harassed, assaulted and abducted in the name of immigration enforcement.

I'd go to the store but the only dedicated reptile shop I've found in driving distance has a skull and crossbones logo with an insta page showing a very bro-dude mugging at the camera with questionable hand symbols so...

Looking into getting a family gecko and woah is the reptile biz just bananas

On the one hand, I feel like I fell through a time hole and now I'm back surfing the net in 2003... on the other, who is nacholizard72 and how do I know he's going to sell me a gecko and not steal my kidneys?

They’ve decided. It’s time.

They will Voltron together and hunt down every last yacht.

Blue painting of creatures in a tree

Green painting of weird creatures

Green painting of weird creatures

"Dream Entities", mini paintings from 2022

Watercolor/multimedia 2.5"x3.5"

#art #surreal #aceo #painting

I suspect people don’t know that most scientific conferences charge many thousands of dollars to set up a sales booth, which is why the vending areas are full of boring corporate bullshit and none of the fun wacky artists you’d actually want to see there.

Photograph of a small cuckoo perched on a black identifying sign. The bird is grey, bugg, and white, with a dark beak, black and white tail feathers, and yellow rings around its eyes. It is round and fluffy, looking cute and innocent despite being a parasitic cuckoo. The sign identifies a species of plant (not pictured), reading "Edgeworthia chrysantha, 'Grandiflora', Thymelaeaceae"

I took my very first photographs of a Fan-tailed Cuckoo today! They've been a Nemesis Bird of mine for many years now so this is a big deal for me :)
#birds

A macro photo of the triangular face of a praying mantis, against an out of focus background of green leaves and yellow and pink flowers. The mantis has pale pink compound eyes, and a pale mint-green face with yellow and blue highlights on the mouthparts.

A closer look at Ms. Mantis (Stagmomantis limbata, native here in SoCal) from today. Adults can be green or brown, but that doesn't adequately describe how much they vary. "Brown" can tend toward yellow, orange, or even pink, and "green" can be grayish, deep shamrock, or mint-pastel. #Bugsky 🐙🌿

A seven-page comic. On page 1, the sun begins to set over an autumnal scene in a forest. The sun continues to set, reflected in the eye of a bird. The sun finishes setting, reflected in the bird's eye and zoomed out a bit. The bird has various hues of stormy blue feathers. The sun has fully set and the stars are out, and the bird, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, says "It's time."

On page 2, the bird says "Ready for another night of migration?" to a male Black-throated Blue warbler, who replies "I ate all the good bugs in this forest, so, sure." She says "Okay. Let's do this." They take off from a branch, saying "Up up up." They hit their cruising altitude and fly through the starry darkening sky.

On page 3, they are flying along and the male says "I think this trip is going pretty good so far-" And the female interrupts "Wait." There's a green reflection in her eye. She says "There's something behind us." They turn and see the eerie glimmer of aurora. The male says "Oh"

On page 4, the male says "What is... Is that wildfire smoke?" And the female says "I don't think so." They book look alarmed. He says "Should we fly faster? Try to get away?" and she says "No, now it's in our flight path, too!" The aurora has spread and dances through the sky. Some of it becomes pink. He says "It's everywhere!" and she says "I... I don't understand."

With the aurora popping up again last night, I thought I'd repost this adventure from last year. I drew this when the great @nepeteaa.bsky.social wondered what night-migrating songbirds might make of it all. Part 1/2

Illustration of a European Robin perched on a snowy log looking skyward with its head slightly tilted to the side. Snowflakes fall through the air over a pale grayish background, making the bird's bright orange throat and chest stand out.

A European Robin for @purpzie.com , thank you for your #Waymakers donation! And for a super fun bird choice, I've actually never done one of these before I think? they're so dang cute, here's one looking ahead to winter! 🎨🪶 #BirdArt #SciArt

More Aurora over the Lake Michigan horizon now with bright red showing up over the green band

RED RED RED AURORAS IN CHICAGO OMG #ilwx #aurora

I appreciate that, thank you!