moonvoice | Recent Entries

For the Unusuals deck.

I really like when I start to memorise the taxonomic names for all of these animals. Some fall away like fog, but others stay. Mellisuga helenae is a pretty name, and so is Zunzuncito.

With the completion of this piece, I now actually only have two animals left before completing all 40 cards of this deck. So the next batch of three will see both decks completed re: the art, and then everything after that is formatting. There is...actually a chance that this could be published by the end of the year. But with health stuff, I am doubt.

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Bee Hummingbird || Mellisuga helenae || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Small but fierce. Gusto. Full steam ahead. Your power is underestimated, but you know your inner fire. Flashes of insight. Reach. Unique relationships. A fierce inner flame. Living life at a different speed to others. Rushing around. Close friends are better than many acquaintances. Flower essences and magic. Moving at speed. Fashion is a language.

Description:

The bee hummingbird (zunzuncito) – Mellisuga helenae – is the world’s smallest bird, and is endemic to Cuba. The iridescence on their feathers is not always noticeable, and depends greatly on the angle at which they’re viewed. Their long bills are perfectly adapted for reaching deeply into flowers for nectar, and they can only feed from approximately ten plants, being remarkably co-evolved. The pollen that deposits on its bill and head helps with pollination. They can consume half of their body weight in food per day.

Bee hummingbirds are strong, fast flyers despite their size, and in one day can visit 1,500 flowers, with wings that beat around 80 times per second. They will also eat spiders and insects. They are notably plump in appearance, unlike other small hummingbirds. Their eggs are the size of coffee beans or peas. It is speculated that they may have the second fastest animal heartbeat in the world, at 1,260 beats per minute.

Males court females with display dives, and making sounds with their tail feathers. During courting displays, males can beat their wings up to 200 times a second. Females make tiny cup-shaped nests, using cobwebs, lichen, and bark. They will line the inside of their nests with soft plant fibres. Offspring are cared for by their mother for nearly three weeks. Because of their small size they have a wide range of predators, like birds, mongoose, bees, wasps, frogs, spiders, and fish. However, the biggest impact to their survival is human activity.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals deck.

I can't believe it's taken me so long to illustrate a whale shark! So much fun with this one. For some reason the connection was pretty immediate and pretty profound, I feel like this could be a good animal for me to personally work with.

There's an element of letting go of needing to know everything about every little thing with this teacher. It's okay to just sit with not knowing, after all, what we don't know vastly outweighs what we'll never know, so we'd best remember it's a fundamental truth of being.

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Whale Shark || Rhincodon typus || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

A meeting of minds. Mutuality. Curiosity balanced with wariness. Deep thought. Avoid high stress situations. Speculation and philosophy. Elusive answers. Filtering what is useful from what is not. It’s okay that you don’t know. Spiritual grandparent. You are made of star stuff. Gentleness. Gentle warmth. Ocean wisdom.

Description:

The whale shark is the largest fish in the world, and the largest animal in the world after the whale family. It is a slow-moving pelagic carpet shark, that filter feeds like a baleen whale with its large mouth. They are extremely efficient filter feeders with unique filtration pads not found in other filter feeders. They primarily feed on plankton and small fish, as well as clouds of fish eggs, in coastal and oceanic habitats. It prefers tropical oceans. The females are larger than the males, with males averaging 8-9 metres in length, and females around 14.5 metres, though longer and larger whale sharks have been documented.

Whale sharks live between 80 and 130 years. They are marked upon their backs with a variety of white spots and stripes, and these are unique to each whale shark and can be used to help identify them. It’s likely that whale sharks have a significant healing capacity and can recover from significant wounds and regenerate portions of their fins. Whale sharks are migratory, and will seasonally aggregate at well-known coastal sites – such as the Yucatan Coast where over 400 whale sharks have gathered at one time – at varying times of year.

At the time of this writing, no one has observed a whale shark pupping, but mating has been witnessed twice, filmed for the first time in 2019 in Australia. It is thought that whale sharks give birth to live young, and may do so over a prolonged period, instead of giving birth all at once. They are not a threat to humans, being gentle and docile in nature (and playful while young), but conversely, human activity has impacted them, including habitat destruction, oil spill pollution and hunting. Ecotourism is popular, but currently at unsustainable levels.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals deck.

Australian marsupial moles have always been fascinating to me. They're, for a start, a great example of convergent evolution. They're not related to any of the moles in the northern hemisphere, yet evolved to fit the niche of moles, and look like moles, with several exceptions - their golden, iridescent fur, and the fact that they don't make tunnels, but swim in sand, every place they go collapsing behind them as they swim in sand the way a turtle swims in the sea.

Most Australians will never see one. They're too rare, too unusual, too desert-bound. Rare and unusual even for the locals in this country.

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Marsupial Mole || Notoryctidae || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Diving below the surface. Sand wisdom. Using your senses wisely. Believing what you feel and not what you see. The heart of the desert. Wait for the rains to clear. Unusual situations. Confirmation of your beliefs. Let go of doubt, it is doing nothing for you. Faith.

Description:

The marsupial mole of Australia consists of two similar species of burrowing marsupial found in the deserts of Australia. They are a great example of convergent evolution, where despite not being related to the moles of the northern hemisphere, they evolved remarkably similar characteristics and lifestyles to fill that niche in Australia.

They are a beautiful cream-golden colour with an iridescent sheen, have vestigial eyes and no external ears. The marsupial mole’s nostrils are protected by a horny plate and its front paws have evolved two shovelling claws. Marsupial moles live underground and occasionally surface after rain. They consume insects such as ants and termites as well as seeds.

Due to often living in sandy environments their tunnels often collapse behind them, it often looks as though they locomote by swimming through the sand. They have evolved a backwards facing pouch so that it does not fill with sand. They are unique among marsupials, and not thought to be closely related to any other marsupials, they have been around for at least 50 million years. Marsupial moles are solitary and make squealing noises if disturbed.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals deck.

This illustration gave me so many problems right up until it was completed, and then suddenly I loved it. The draft went through three iterations, which isn't normal for the way I work with animals. I wasn't super happy with the inking. I thought the initial wash of watercolours didn't look right. And then I took literally about 7 months off from art (lmao check the keywords for this moth), and came back and suddenly it turned into magic in my fingers.

This moth has powerful fucking messages/energy, for something so small, and so rarely encountered by anyone. Anything that successfully (basically) freezes to death every year for seven years isn't messing around.

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Arctic Woolly Bear Moth || Gynaephora groenlandica || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Slow down or stop completely. Freeze and thaw cycles. Consider pausing your project to gain resources in the meantime. Do not act prematurely. Hardiness. Invisible strength. Ice magic. Wind magic. Willow magic. There is strength in stopping. Dormancy. Basking in the sun. Sun friendship. Understanding your personal relationship to the seasons. A unique path. You don’t get things done like everyone else does, and that’s okay. The journey is everything. Your environment isn’t giving you enough, adapt and slow down. Make yourself a safe place.

Description:

The Arctic woolly bear moth (Gynaephora groenlandica) is found in the High Arctic, on Greenland, in the Canadian archipelago and on Wrangel Island in Russia. They are relatively plain appearance, both as caterpillars and moths. Females rarely fly, but males are capable of flight and do so often. Its main predators are bats, other carnivores and some parasites. The Arctic woolly bear moth has a defensive system against bat sonar, completely reversing their paths upon encountering it.

They are most well-known for spending extremely long periods in the larval/caterpillar stage, sometimes up to seven years, and unlike some other insects, spends nearly all its life in the caterpillar stage. This is because it simply cannot get the food it requires in the High Arctic, and so must enter diapause and freeze completely for much of the year, before thawing to take advantage of the short, warmer months to primarily eat Arctic willow. They can withstand temperates as low as -70C. It’s thought that wind direction greatly influences their sites of hibernation/diapause.

Arctic woolly bear moths use the power of the sun through basking to aid in digestion, speed their metabolism, assist in consuming oxygen, and keeping their temperature regulated. In winter when they go into diapause, they generally make a hibernaculum for themselves, a kind of protective cocoon, and make antifreeze type enzymes that will allow them to survive freezing. During this time, their mitochondria degrades, and their metabolism stops. In the coldest regions, they will spin this cocoon every year for seven years, until they have finally gained enough resources to metamorphose into a moth, which they only enjoy for three to four weeks.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals Deck.

I knew I wanted an Anglerfish in this deck, and like with the Giant Pangolin, I struggled to get one in here. Less because of them being Critically Endangered, and more because, quite honestly, it's really hard to find good reference images and to associate those images accurately with certain species. I've seen the same photos used for almost every single species of Himantolophidae. That's not great! So I went with a more general Genus name.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players may recognise this fish already!

I am incredibly happy with how this art came out. The shadows are much darker and denser in person, and the light is almost luminous.

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Anglerfish / Footballfish || Himantolophidae || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Search the murk. Do not trust the brightest lure. Wariness. Know your surroundings. Use other senses. Intuition. Unconscious workings. Otherworlds. The underworlds. You have power to attract what you need at this time. Symbiosis. Be grateful to what keeps you alive. The creatures within you, sustain and support you. The life you cradle closest have your best interests at heart. Look at imbalance in close relationships. Your problems look scarier than they are. Twilight wisdom. Shadow work.

Description:

Himantolophidae is a family of deep-sea anglerfish. They are also known as footballfish or football-fish. They are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. They are usually found in the deep-sea, often in the mesopelagic region, or twilight zone. Their sizes can vary, but the largest can be over 60 centimetres. Despite looking naturally fearsome and even horrifying to many humans, they pose no threat, are rarely sighted by humans, and cannot be eaten.

They are extremely sexually dimorphic, with males being tiny compared to the females. Females have huge mouths with rows of sharp teeth, as well as the lures and multiple sensory organs, as well as some bony plates. Males are parasitic in nature, having no lure or true teeth. It is not known if they are even capable of feeding at maturity. They attach themselves to females and their flesh melts into the female’s, at which point they become inseparable, as the male now uses the female’s blood in his system. Males are utilised in this way for their sperm.

They are notably round, with a bioluminescent lure (esca) that is used to attract prey. The bioluminescence in the lure and throughout their bodies is created by a symbiotic relationship with bacteria. They are mostly sedentary carnivores, waiting for their prey in deep open water. Their main diet consists of pelagic fish, cephalopods, and shrimp, who are all generally attracted to the light-emitting lure. One of their natural predators are sperm whales and other anglerfish.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals deck.

It was a struggle actually, to get a Pangolin into this deck, because so many of them are Critically Endangered, and I'm trying to save Critically Endangered for the 'Rarities' deck. The Giant Pangolin is 'only' Endangered. Isn't that sad though? They're the most trafficked mammal in the world.

Pangolins deserve better.

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Giant Pangolin || Smutsia gigantea || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Measures of safety. Armour and shielding, support and solidarity. Wait until it’s over. Attention to detail. Take a break from the big picture. Boundaries. Ancient gods and spirits. Time to reflect. Avoid the crowds. Tear to get at the truth, you are strong enough. Pride, nobility and dignity.

Description:

The giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), is a large, scaly anteater, it is the largest of all the pangolins, which are the most trafficked mammals in the world. They primarily eat ants and termites. They are found in Africa (West Africa to Uganda), and prefer savanna, rainforest and forest habitats, they do not like areas of high altitude. They need readily available sources of water, and preferably big termite populations. As they have no teeth, they cannot chew, so their tongue is extremely long and sticky, and used to gather prey. They have spines in their gut to help with digestion and will swallow stones (gastroliths) to also help with grinding apart their prey. They are extremely important for termite control in their habitats.

Males are larger than females. Giant pangolins have a strong sense of smell. Like all pangolins, the giant pangolin is nocturnal, and also solitary. They can climb trees and rocks. When sleeping, or needing to defend themselves, they will curl up into a ball, protected by their armoured scales. Their scales are made of keratin, and form armoured plates in brown or reddish-brown. They are the only mammals to use keratin in this manner. They have very sturdy skeletons, that assist their need to tear apart hard substrates. They have eyelashes, a long snout, a long prehensile tail and massive claws designed to pull apart termite and ant nests. They are good swimmers. Giant pangolins have poor vision.

Giant pangolins are born with soft scales that harden over time, and their eyes are open. They will secrete a foul odour from their anal glands to keep away predators. They cannot walk when they are born, but will move on their bellies. Offspring are often raised over a period of years, partly because it takes time for them to become strong enough to rip open termite mounds on their own.

Giant pangolins often walk bipedally, using its tail for balance and tucking in its front paws while walking on its hind legs. Because of this, in some global mythologies it has been considered akin to a little but dignified person. They are threatened by deforestation and habitat destruction, as well as poaching for bushmeat and traditional medicine particularly in countries like Taiwan, China and Laos. They are featured in folklore in many cultures all around the world.

( More images under the cut. )

These are also from like 5 years ago.
Basically there came a time when the labour of processing and sharing photos was just too hard with the Fibromyalgia. But I also really miss sharing photos?
And I really like having them here to go back through sometimes.
It's very selfish to post them like this.
But I hope you get something out of them.

( Read more... )

These photos are... *checks watch*
five years old. But I never put them here.
Which kind of annoys me actually.
So I'm putting them here!

There's no time limit on sharing photos. x.x
I hope.

CW: Two insects beneath the cut (no wings).

This botanical garden (Wombat Hill) is in Daylesford, Victoria, which is not only the queerest country town in Victoria, but also quite pretty.

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Actually I should have posted the drive down to Margaret River first.

These are from last year.
This year we'll be going to Dunsborough, if all works out,
breaking a ten year loyalty to a particular place,
that is no longer as good.

We are so lucky to be able to travel freely. I have been craving sitting on white beach sands and staring out at the horizon and feeling endless.

But here are karri forests in Djeran (autumn), that make me feel endless in an entirely different way.

( Hi, do you like fungi by any chance? )

All I do is look up.

When we're walking,
all I like to do is look at my feet,
or look at the sky,
or look at the plants,
or look at anywhere that means,
I'm not making direct eye contact.

Mammatus, cumulus, etc.

( Of course there's more. )

Getting my ass into gear to finally post these.

So this was the first year I discovered both Evenweave and the mini 'one square' stitch, as well as Owl Forest kits and tapestry style stitch projects. Compared to regular Aida projects they were more challenging, but once I got the hang of them they were also way faster, because there were just less stitches and far more negative space in the projects.

Owl Forest is a Russian company, and I have sold my soul to Russian cross stitch companies and honestly I don't think I'll ever look back.

I apologise that none of the final products are ironed. I basically finish, take a scrappy photo, shove it into a cabinet and start the new project.

Three Dragons - Owl Forest Kit

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Fox Forest - Owl Forest Kit

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Baba Yaga - Owl Forest Kit

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Poppies. This was a kit but I don't remember through who.

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Frog Prince - Owl Forest Kit (I finished this one in 2021, so photos are going to have to wait of the finished project).

( Read more... )

For the Unusuals deck. So this little guy (and I do mean little!) lives about two hours away from me. Probably closer to an hour and a half, like most of the world's Peacock Spiders actually. They're all small, easy to miss, and dance like Birds of Paradise for their partners.

I get to be biased and put some locals into my Unusuals deck, because hey, it's still an unusual animal - and certainly an unusual spider! - but look at that fuzzy wee cute face. So happy with how the fur texture came out on this one. I went back in with a white marker to bring out the details and I'm really happy with it.

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Coastal Peacock Spider || Maratus speciosus || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Unexpected brilliance. Dance like you mean it. Having faith, taking leaps. Standing out from the crowd. Be brilliant, hide when you need to. Grounded glamour. Dancing. Learning complex skills out of love. Pushing to always improve. Delicacy. You are overlooking something special.

Description:

The coastal opal peacock spider (Maratus speciosus) is a member of the Maratus family of peacock spiders, which are largely found in Australia (with one species at the time of this writing found in China). They are known for being very small, and for the males having a very colourful upper abdomen used for elaborate courtship dances to woo females. These dances have been likened in complexity to those found in many birds of paradise, featuring different stages, as well as documentation of males practicing their dances when the female isn’t around.

The coastal opal peacock spider is found primarily on beaches and among vegetative sand dunes in Bunbury, Western Australia. They are most active in August, September and October, as that is when the males are seeking females to perform their courtship dances for. They have a distinctive iridescent blue, red and black upper abdomen with lateral flaps and bright orange bristles, these flaps can be extended, and the bristles shown during courtship. Their abdomen is raised and then ‘danced about’ to best show off the iridescence. Females are white-grey-brown, camouflaging well. They release pheromones to indicate when they’re receptive to mating. Females lay egg sacs in December in a nest, and will stay with the sac until they hatch.

Peacock spider dances include physical movements, but also vibrational signals. They have an extra long pair of decorated legs which assist in the dancing movements. Their iridescence, particularly the blue shades, use nanostructures not seen in any other animal. The blues in the coastal opal peacock spider do not fade over time. They are able to see in red, blue, green and ultraviolet. It is thought that their long legs assist with avoiding predation by females. Males have been known to dance for up to fifty minutes for a female. They can also be aggressive in courtship, and will even pursue uninterested and pregnant females, and even females of different species.

Like most jumping spiders, peacock spiders do not make webs to hunt, instead actively searching their prey of flies, moths, winged ants, grasshoppers and other insects. They can take down prey four to five times their own size. They can also jump twenty times their size. They are predated upon by many other animals, though their ability to jump helps them escape quickly. They live primarily solitary lives until breeding season.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals Deck. A jellyfish that eats other jellyfish, perfect. I've never quite been happy with how I've drawn jellyfish in the past in this style, until now. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to illustrate this guy, and I'm really happy with the outcome.

The fact is I really love jellyfish. I own books on them, listen to podcasts about them, eat them (delicious!), and generally otherwise stare at them very happily. If I could do a deck just on jellyfish, I really would.

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Egg Yolk Jellyfish || Phacellophora camtschatica || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Searching deep meanings. Thriving where others struggle. Conserve your energy. Drifting. At the mercy of life’s currents. Do what you can, learn to let go. Balance. Give a little, take a little. Unintentional generosity. Are you being taken advantage of? Ocean wisdom and magic. Deep sea wisdom. Trust, not gullibility.

Description:

The egg yolk jellyfish (Phacellophora camtschatica) is also known as the fried egg jellyfish. Its bell distinctly resembles a sunny side up fried egg. It is very large, with bells of around 60 centimetres (2 ft) in diameter, and tentacles that can trail for 6 metres (20 ft). They are sometimes confused with other species of jellyfish that look similar or have similar common names. Like many jellyfish, its range of motion is limited and influenced strongly by the currents, though it can actively swim. As with many jellyfish, they have no respiratory, circulatory or excretory systems. They lack a mesoderm and use mesoglea.

It is primarily a jellyfish hunter, collecting smaller medusae, as well as plankton. As a tentacle feeder, it will bring its food to its mouth to digest it. Its tentacles are covered with stinging sells (nematocysts) that help it capture its prey, and protect it to a degree from predators, though its stinging cells are weak compared to some of the more dangerous jellies.

Its life cycle contains many stages, but overall begins with a polyp that attaches to rocks and piers that reproduces asexually, followed by a medusa form (the more familiar jellyfish we’re used to seeing) that reproduces sexually.

The medusae prefer cool waters, such as those in the Northern Pacific, though they prefer to reproduce in warmer water. It has also been found in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. It prefers to aggregate over deep basins. They have shown some population increase in areas with degraded ocean environments, and large numbers are indicators of poor ecosystems. Egg yolk jellyfish move faster during the day. They also engage in vertical migrations. To avoid competition, they will sometimes dive into hypoxic zones where less oxygen discourages other lifeforms. They are able to withstand these environments for hours.

It is not uncommon for the egg yolk jellyfish to be a host to symbiotic and parasitic lifeforms, such as crustaceans (larval crabs, amphipods) and young jack fish, who will even steal food off the egg yolk jelly’s arms. Generally, larval crabs are symbiotic, eating the parasitic amphipods to benefit the jellyfish, and gaining motion through the waters as well as exposure to warmer water at the surface which helps them grow faster. When the crab is older, it will begin to feed on the egg yolk jellyfish itself. Its main predators are crabs, deep-sea octopus and turtles. They live for approximately six months.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Iconics deck. This was a last moment addition, and researching the symbolism of the white dove over millennia, and across many different cultures, was really interesting. It's one you could definitely subversively work with if you wanted to, especially if your praxis has anything at all to do with Inanna.

As always, I'm late with putting this up. I finished the illustration weeks ago, but I've been so fatigued lately that the prospect of listing the artwork with all the right hyperlinks on two Facebook accounts, two Tumblr accounts, DeviantArt, Etsy, Twitter, Instagram and Dreamwidth is very daunting. I did, however, add the artwork and the meaning/descriptions to Wildspeak a while back.

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White Dove || Columba livia domestica || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Higher powers. Religion. God and godhood. Connection to spirit. Connection to the upperworlds. Messages from the gods or god. Peace and peacetime. A need for hope. Hope. The end of hard times, punishment or judgement. A settled soul. Contentment. Love. Messages. A connection to Inanna. The soul. Working with the shadow in relation to sexuality or war. World peace.

Description:

Also known as the white dove, or white pigeon, this description focuses primarily on the symbolism associated with white doves rather than rock doves in general.

White doves have been favoured in religious iconography from paganism, through Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is often seen as a symbol of peace and hope, as well as love, the soul, sexuality, war and sacrifice. It has been utilised by military and pacifist groups over the years.

In the New Testament, the white dove has been considered the spirit of god who approached Jesus during his baptism. The white dove is also associated as a symbol of the end of divine wrath, such as when the dove flew from the ark following god’s punishment. In art, it has regularly been depicted alongside baptisms, as well as later being associated with political peace. Around this time, it was also depicted in art that showed conflict, such as art which illustrated Noah and the Ark, Daniel and the lions, Susannah and the Elders and so on. The white dove in Christian iconography is often depicted carrying an olive branch, which is connected to the story of Noah in the Hebrew Bible.

In Judaism, Rabbinic literature interprets the olive leaf as ‘the young shoots of the Land of Israel’ as well as the symbolic message of an animal willing to eat bitter rather than sweet food in the service of deity. The dove here did not symbolise peace, so much as sacrifice, service and love through service, among other things. At this time, it was not an olive branch, but the leaf itself that was the important symbol associated with the dove.

In Islam, doves are respected because they are believed to have assisted the prophet Muhammad by the cave of Thaw’r, in distracting his enemies.

Doves were symbols of Inanna-Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia, associated with her traits of love, sexuality and war. Objects – including lead doves and frescos – associated with Inanna show dove depictions for thousands of years. Some of the depictions show the dove in place of Inanna, representing her directly. Doves have also been used to symbolise the mother goddess Asherah, Ishtar, and were sacred to Venus, Fortuna and Aphrodite (who gained her connection to doves from Inanna-Ishtar). Doves were sacrificed to Aphrodite during Aphrodisia, so that an altar could be purified in their blood. In Japan, doves are the familiar spirit of Hachiman, deity of archery and war.

White doves are now found as a common icon everywhere. They are recognised in political cartoons, on protest banners and anti-violence protests, at events promoting peace, and have been used to symbolise the promotion of world peace such that even the World Peace Council adopted it as its emblem in 1949. The dove continues to be used readily and familiarly as a symbol of pacifism worldwide.

( More images under the cut. )

For the Unusuals deck, I had to revisit the old illustration of Narwhal (which I hated) and come up with a new concept that Narwhal's energy also agreed to, which turned out to be both not easy, and easier than I thought once I moved way back to an aerial view, and was willing to include more than one, which is very unusual (snerk) in these illustrations.

Revisiting Narwhal once I started was far easier than I thought, especially the actual process of executing the illustration. I really enjoyed having all these other elements to play with, such as the looming/impinging sea ice.

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Narwhal || Monodon monoceros || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Nourishing others, unicorn symbolism and wisdom, being able to understand the depths of an issue, understanding more deeply than others, an affinity with themes of cold and coldness, the body as a weapon, diving below the surface, ‘deep and meaningfuls’, resisting captivity, poking holes in the theories of others, a desperation for freedom.

Description:

The narwhal is a toothed whale that lives in the Arctic. It’s single long ‘horn’ or tusk (which is actually a protruding tooth) is perhaps one of the most popular examples of a ‘unicorn horn’ in existence. The tusks are used primarily to determine hierarchy and rank; and can be up to three metres long. Some narwhals are double-tusked, and every now and then the females will grow one as well. They do a lot of deep-sea diving. They are hunted for meat and ivory. They have never done well in captivity, and always end up dying within a few months or a year.

( More images under the cut. )

Having just recently illustrated the Springbok (also an Oryx), I was in two minds about illustrating the Arabian/White Oryx, but there's no doubt that it's a significant animal in so many cultures. You might not be familiar with it, but it's the national animal of Oman, Jordan and the UAE, and beloved throughout the Middle East.

I actually really enjoyed working with this Animal Teacher, she was softer than I expected she'd be, though made for endurance and longevity in a harsh environment. There was an equanimity to her energy.

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Arabian Oryx || Oryx leucoryx || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Rain speaker. Keeping your goals in sight. Sword symbolism. Encounters and battles. Air energy. Defending what matters to you. Grounded but looking towards the future. Reading the weather (literally or etherically). The living unicorn. Unicorn mythology and symbolism. Purity and grace. Always looking for answers.

Description:

A medium-sized antelope with a white colouration (it has sometimes been known as the white oryx), and the smallest member of the Oryx genus. It is also known as the dishon (Hebrew), as well as the maha, baqar al-wahsh, boosolah and wudhaihi in Arabic.

Arabian oryxes live in small herds (around 2-15 animals) of mixed sex in huge ranges (over 3,000 square kilometres/1,200 square miles). They live within desert and steppe environments, preferring gravel or hard sand surfaces, resting within the heat of the day and digging small depressions in the ground to access cooler temperatures. They are fast runners and possess great endurance. Living in such harsh conditions can drastically lessen their lifespan due to malnutrition and dehydration.

Arabian oryxes eat grasses, as well as herbs, tubers, roots and fruit. They can go weeks without water. They have an ability to detect rainfall and will move towards it. Large herds of around 100 have been reported. They tend to be peaceable with each other outside of the breeding season where males can fight and spar with their horns. Their only predator is the wolf, though they are also susceptible to snakebites. They can live for up to 20 years.

The Arabian oryx became extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, only to be saved by dedicated, successfully breeding and reintroduction programs. It was the first animal to go from being extinct in the wild, to vulnerable status. There are approximately 7,000 Arabian oryx in captivity, and around 1,000 in the wild at the time of this writing. The Arabian oryx is the national animal of Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. It is an important part of the Qatar Airways and Al Maha Airways logo, and Orry the Arabian oryx was the 2006 Asian Games mascot. In the Middle East it is a significant, iconic animal.

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The Amrit Mahal (Cow) is one of the animal teachers in the Iconics Oracle Deck, and one of the very last group that I've been working on for this deck.

There have been some last minute shuffles while I've tried to figure out which animals are truly Iconic (like the cow) and which animals I just wish were more Iconic (like the bat, lol, which - as well as the crocodile - I also took out of this deck at the last minute, realising that while they may have been significant historically, there are other animals that hold pride of place as Iconic animals in our culture far more recognisably).

This was an interesting animal to work with, and he led me down the rabbit hole of Indian cow Instagram, where I came to familiarise myself with cow racing tags and much, much more.

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Amrit Mahal Cow/Zebu || Bos indicus || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary

Keywords:

Royalty. Uncommon royalty. How are you treating those less fortunate than you? Compassion. Sensitivity. Rumination. Thinking it over. The need for great endurance. The marathon runner. Putting your head down and getting the work done. The sun will take care of you. Sacredness is everywhere.

Description:

The Amrit Mahal is a zebu, a breed of a subspecies of domesticated cattle that are known for their distinctive fatty hump and a large dewlap under their necks. They are well-suited to living in dry, desert conditions with high temperatures, and cows would not always come into season in very wet and fertile lands.

The Amrit Mahal originates from India, in the Mysore state of Karnataka. They are derived from Hallikar cattle, and were originally used for war and transport, due to their endurance and speed. They gained royal protection hundreds of years ago.

Cows in this breed are not known for producing large quantities of milk, and are largely utilised these days in draughting. They are also popular in bull races in India.

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About The Gentle Wolf

Omega Aodhan Donne has buried his past, his life revolves around his chocolaterie, Little Star, a place where he creates sweet and happy memories. Demisexual, and used to being shoved in the friends category by the time he falls for someone, he throws all his energy into creating romantic moments for others in his store, neglecting his needs. His highlight for two years has been the man who visits his shop every Tuesday.

Beta Thomas Wilson is an historian who believes the past should be unearthed, working as the curator at Western Australia’s only shifter museum, educating children and adults about shifter history. Quiet and hard-working, he allows himself to visit Aodhan at Little Star once a week, as a treat.

When Aodhan decides he wants to get know Thomas better, he offers him a window into a complicated history that influenced the lives of shifters in the whole of Australia, and faces the possibility of Thomas learning too much about his dark past.

After deciding to take it slow, their unconventional relationship becomes a whirlwind, sweeping them up together and blowing open the doors hiding their painful pasts. They couldn’t face their truths alone, but if they’re willing to face them together, Aodhan and Thomas may get the love they’ve always yearned for.

OUT NOW AT AMAZON // KOBO // NOOK // APPLE

GIVEAWAY for Blackwood and The Gentle Wolf bundled together!

ADD TO GOODREADS

Deets:

The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall (Perth Shifters #2)
- Can be read as standalone! -
Each book in the series focuses on different characters
Queer (gay/demisexual ace spectrum character) m/m contemporary paranormal romance
Set in Western Australia
99,800 words // 252 pages
Cover by TiferetDesign
Character art by Em
Subscribe to the Foxhall Newsletter!

Curious about the world?

An informal introduction to Aodhan and Thomas (with excerpt)

Five random things about Aodhan and Thomas

Blackwood (Perth Shifters #1)

The back six for Inktober! Which now leaves 15 pieces for colouring, I might start doing that tonight.

All of these are for the Unusuals base deck, for the Expansive Animal Oracle, and from memory I think this means that all the inking for the cards is completed, which is wild to me.

That jellyfish was really complicated, but actually ended up being a lot of fun. I really love jellyfish, but don't illustrate them more often because, well, they're complicated. I'm also really happy with how the giant African land snail came out, because I feel like you really get a sense of their largeness.

Anglerfish // Himantolophus sp.

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Egg Yolk Jellyfish // Phacellophora camtschatica

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Whale Shark // Rhincodon typus

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Giant African Land Snail // Achatina fulica

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Bee Hummingbird // Mellisuga helenae

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Giant Pangolin // Smutsia gigantea

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I thought about splitting this into two posts and then decided against it.

This Inktober I'm focusing largely on finishing all the inks for both the Iconics and Unusuals Expansive Animal Oracle decks. I've actually finished all the inking for the Iconics deck, and now it's just the Unusuals deck, which has been the most confounding, because obviously there are a ton of unusual animals I'd love to introduce people to and just can't (the one proviso is that they can't be Critically Endangered, because they're being saved for the Rarities deck).

This proviso was the biggest issue for the Iconics deck, because so many of our iconic animals are Critically Endangered. When it came to tigers, I had to look for ones that were 'just' Endangered, and even that wasn't easy.

The Woolly Bear has been one of the more interesting ones to ink, it was the most fussy and particular animal teacher energy I've come across in some time.

I have ten more illustrations to go. :)

Narwhal // Monodon monoceros