[Art] Sunda Flying Lemur as Totem

[moonvoice]

$85 USD
18.5 x 20.5cm (or 7.4 x 8 in)
illo's board, fineliner, aquarelle, pencil, metallic and iridescent paint


Scan





Photo with Flash (washed out areas are due to flash).




Sunda Flying Lemur (Colugo)
Galeopterus variegatus

The Sunda flying lemur, or colugo, is not actually a lemur, nor does it fly. Instead it is one of two species belonging to the family Cynocephalidae, found in rainforests of South-East Asia. They are extremely competent at gliding, being able to glide for more than 70 metres at a time; they make up for this proficiency by being awkward climbers. They have excellent binocular vision to assist with take-offs and landings, as well as locating food. Interestingly, they are mammals with marsupial-like adaptations. The young are born very small, and spend the first six months of life clinging to the mother, as she curls her tail into a faux-pouch, for sustenance.

As a totem animal

Soaring through life, getting perspective, seeing exactly what you want and knowing how to get it, evoking a sense of safety and protection, grace and awkwardness, looking at problems from all directions, multiple perspectives.

Comments

[earthguardian.livejournal.com]

I thought this was some sort of bat! :D It's really cute.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[anrui-ichido.livejournal.com]

Heehee! I love the pose. Upside-down, almost playful. :) I can definitely see 'multiple perspectives' from this! Wonderful!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

The 'multiple perspectives' works with the picture too, the composition works in any direction. Heh.

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I really like the shading on the shoulders and the way the colours flow in the spirals.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you. :)

[ariestess]

This one is very fun and playful. And I like that the main "spirals" aren't rounded at all, but more angular, like folds of paper. Very nice.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*nods* Those sorts of spirals don't happen very often, but sometimes the animal just wants them (just like some want a bunch of really tight spirals close to their body).

[ariestess]

I didn't think you used those sorts of spirals that often. I like them.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I don't use them as often, not many energies sort of call for them. My Red Kangaroo icon has them though. They're a bit 'tighter' but still more angular than usual.

[psychrobia149.livejournal.com]

I love how you've been doing the soft, mottled colors on alot of the animals' bodies. So beautiful P. You are so awesome :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Aw *blushes* You too!

[makhsihed.livejournal.com]

That is ridiculously amazingly cute.

*steals a lemur-glider~*

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Heee. :)

[firehauke.livejournal.com]

is cute, is he upside down?

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

They hang as comfortably upside down as they do 'right way up,' so it doesn't matter which way this one goes.

[firehauke.livejournal.com]

that's cool!

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

COLUGO! <3

Flying Lemur is such a misnomer :(

If I'd known you were doing this one (soz, not paying much attention to LJ lately) I could have given you a shit-tonne of reference photos from when I was in Borneo.

The wee daft critters get drunk a lot, and we found one that had misjudged a leap and done itself in on a tree, probably a combination of drunk, sleepy, and dazed by sunlight. Snapped its neck on impact, we found it within about 20 minutes. It was heartbreaking but I do have excellent detail pictures of it (feet, teeth, etc.)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yeah, flying lemur is like, twice as much wrong.

That is SO cool regarding the reference photos. Was it a Sunda? Or the other kind?

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Yup, Galeopterus variegatus, though apparently recent research indicates that the Sunda have speciated on each of the islands where they're found, so they're probably mid-reclassification as we speak.