277/366: 2016

Macro Monday theme - in a row

My stippling brushes...craft stash to the rescue again today. An alternative to today's theme is in comments, I had a job to decide which to use. HMM

I am unable to spend much time on Flickr at the moment, apologies if I don't get to comment on your work or if I leave just one word or just hit the fave button...a very busy few days but hope to catch soon.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: "The Pectoral Sandpiper is among the most recognizable of small shorebirds, larger than the small “peep” sandpipers and sporting a distinctively stippled breast that ends neatly at a white belly."

They are migrating through our region on their way to their Tundra breeding grounds.

Murray Marsh. Sturgeon County, Alberta.

This flat, shield-shaped bug is common throughout England and Wales, but less so in Scotland.

It is bright green and stippled with tiny black dots in spring and summer, but changes to greeny-bronze in autumn. Its wing tips are dark brown.

Adult shield bugs hibernate in grass tussocks or leaf litter and emerge in May.

Females lay clusters of small, barrel-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves. These hatch into wingless nymphs, which crawl between plants to feed, and become the new generation of adults in September. These bugs can often be seen basking in the sun during late summer before they hibernate. Both adults and nymphs suck plant sap.

It is sometimes called a green stink bug as it produces a pungent odour from special glands if handled or disturbed.

This flat, shield-shaped bug is common throughout England and Wales, but less so in Scotland.

It is bright green and stippled with tiny black dots in spring and summer, but changes to greeny-bronze in autumn. Its wing tips are dark brown.

Adult shield bugs hibernate in grass tussocks or leaf litter and emerge in May.

Females lay clusters of small, barrel-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves. These hatch into wingless nymphs, which crawl between plants to feed, and become the new generation of adults in September. These bugs can often be seen basking in the sun during late summer before they hibernate. Both adults and nymphs suck plant sap.

It is sometimes called a green stink bug as it produces a pungent odour from special glands if handled or disturbed.

This flat, shield-shaped bug is common throughout England and Wales, but less so in Scotland.

It is bright green and stippled with tiny black dots in spring and summer, but changes to greeny-bronze in autumn. Its wing tips are dark brown.

Adult shield bugs hibernate in grass tussocks or leaf litter and emerge in May.

Females lay clusters of small, barrel-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves. These hatch into wingless nymphs, which crawl between plants to feed, and become the new generation of adults in September. These bugs can often be seen basking in the sun during late summer before they hibernate. Both adults and nymphs suck plant sap.

It is sometimes called a green stink bug as it produces a pungent odour from special glands if handled or disturbed.

Sunrise at the Horizon, Eastern Plains/Rocky Mountains Front Range, Colorado

Nests in wet, grassy tundra, usually near coastal areas. Migrants and wintering birds select grassy wetlands of many types, both natural and artificial (such as sod farms, rice fields, wet pastures).

Picks and probes in shallow wetlands and mud for invertebrates. Males perform spectacular flight and terrestrial displays.

Adults are patterned in brown, gold, and black above, with white belly and neat dark-brown rows of stipples on the breast that stop sharply at the white belly. Juveniles are similar but with some rusty-edged feathers above. The legs are yellowish. In flight, shows little to no wingstripe.

There have been a good many migrants tracking south along the rivers here in Georgia as we have had near drought conditions for some weeks. This is probably a first fall male. You can see yellow stippling through the lower part of the hood and olive stippling through the upper part of the hood. Notice how much lighter in color the beak is compared to a spring male.

9/10/2019

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Very uncommon large, long-billed shorebird, nearly the size of a godwit, found in coastal mudflats and open marshes. Breeding adult extensively brick-red below, dark and strongly marked with brick-red tones above. Nonbreeding adult grayish brown with a duller, browner bill. Juvenile dark above, with broad gold feather edges, pale below, washed with warm buff or gold tones and with neat dark stipples and chevron-shaped marks. Blackish legs distinguish Asian from Long-billed Dowitcher, which has yellowish-green legs. Blackish or brownish bill of adult Asian differs from bicolored bill of godwits; note that bill of juvenile Asian has pale base. (eBird)

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We had seen one Asian Dowitcher in Darwin, Australia, but it was very difficult to differentiate from the other dowitchers due to the amount of mud hiding the colours of the legs and bill. So when we found this flock of 40 all dining in cleanish water, we could clearly see the ID marks and I could take a decent, albeit long-distance, shot of this threatened bird.

Here's a link to our Thailand bird trip list: ebird.org/tripreport/328567

Bang Kaeo--Laem Canal estuary, Phetchaburi, Thailand. February 2025.

Rockjumper Birding Tours.

PIED BEAUTY

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

Glory be to God for dappled things—

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise Him.

I've mentioned before about how great it is to be able to get up above the cars at the Goodwood Members Meeting, and at the 74MM this again was a possibility for those of us with the patience to wait for a gap to appear (its a popular spot amongst spectators with good reason).

Having elected to watch the Alan Mann Trophy race from here on the Saturday night, knowing that it was one of only two races over the weekend to feature a driver change, it guaranteed at least one drive through of each car during the hour long race.

This particular car, owned by Daniela Ellerbrock, and driven in the Alan Mann Trophy race by Olivier Ellerbrock and Frank Stippler, took the prize for the fastest race lap of the 74MM, with Frank Stippler clocking an impressive lap time of 1min 21.607sec.

__________________________________________

Dave Adams Automotive Images

Mostly brownish above, with pale feather edges, tan below, with neat dark stippling. The crown is dark brown with a pale central stripe, and most show a narrow dark eyeline.

Whimbrels probe with their long bills into mudflats or wet sand for invertebrates such as crabs, walking slowly through areas where water is very shallow. Flocks moving in migration, or between roosting and feeding areas, vocalize often. Males sing and display on and above nesting territories in the arctic, often calling loudly when they spot predators or intruders.

Glory be to God for dappled things—

For skies of stippled-color as a brinded cow;

For gilded geese in form above trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

-- Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Plicata” is a descriptive term for irises that have patterns of stitched, stippled or banded colors contrasting with the base color. I think that's a great description for this cattleya orchid. Seen at the 2017 San Francisco Orchid Exposition.

Hope you have a great weekend ahead! Thanks, as always, for stopping by and for all of your visits, comments, awards and faves - I appreciate them all.

© Melissa Post 2017

Click photo to view Large.

Late Afternoon.2021 Jan

Breeding adult has bright rusty back and crown, black belly patch, and white underparts with dark stippling. Nonbreeding Forages by picking and probing in mud, walking slowly, usually in large flocks. Breeding males display over territories with fluttering, gliding flights and give unusual trilling songs.adults have grayish brown upperparts, head, and breast, and are pale below. Juveniles are browner, with a scaly black and rusty brown marbled pattern above, white below, with faint stippling and trace of dark belly patch. The legs are dark.

Focus-BKT

Swertia perennis (Gentianaceae) 199 20

Swertia perennis (felwort or star Swertia) is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family.

It is native to several regions of the northern hemisphere, including much of Eurasia and western North America.

It is a plant of wetlands, particularly calcareous fens. It is common to abundant in many areas, but it is known to be negatively impacted by habitat fragmentation and other habitat destruction, and human activity has led to its extirpation from some areas where it was once common. It is a perennial herb producing usually one erect stem growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is an open panicle of flowers atop the stem. The corolla is dull blue to violet in color with darker purplish veining or stippling.

From Wikipedia

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I had just uploaded this same shot but changed to a copy of this shot with a pure white flat background as usual. The water colour paper is useful with its stippled effect to help stop the marbles rolling about. i prefer the pure white background of my finished shots and just thought I would tell you the simple way to get it in post. I simply go to levels in Ps and I imagine most editors would have the same facility and pick the white eye dropper to pick it up. I then click on an empty corner of the background paper... occasionally it goes a little too far but easy enough to paint back the detail taken accidently..Sue :)

Btw..you can see the difference to the previous shot which is flat and pure white. I could use pure white flat paper but it’s impossible to stop the marbles rolling about…just a tip I thought I would share with you than can be used in many applications if pure white is your preference x

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A large, bulky eagle of forested hills. The small head, immensely broad wings, and large, often fanned-out tail give this bird the silhouette of a hawk on steroids when in flight. When perched, the thin upright crest separates this species from any hawk. Adults are dark brown above with thick brown bars on the belly and vertical black streaks on the throat. Juveniles are paler below, with brown upperparts showing neat pale-edge feathers and mostly pale head, lightly stippled or streaked with brown. (eBird)

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A wonderful experience as this lovely eagle flew overhead, high in the mountains of northern Thailand. We saw two, both in the same park. Previously we had seen them in Sikkim, India, in similar terrain.

Here's a link to our Thailand bird trip list: ebird.org/tripreport/328567

Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park - Doi Lang East, Chiang Mai, Thailand. February 2025.

Rockjumper Birding Tours.

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A very small shorebird of both inland and coastal wetlands and estuaries. Breeding adult has vivid orange head bordered by dark stippling (no dark markings internal to the orange, unlike Little Stint) and bright orange and gold tones in upperwing coverts. Nonbreeding adult gray above, pale below; juvenile similar but richer gray-brown above with neat pale feather edges in upperparts. Flight call a high-pitched, raspy “krreeet.” (eBird)

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This is just a very small part of the flock of 400 stints foraging in the salt pans. They were with thousands of other shorebirds of various species all bulking up before breeding season begins.

Khok Kham--Bird Center vicinity, Samut Sakhon, Thailand. February 2025.

Rockjumper Birding Tours.

Harris Brown-ALL rights reserved. This image may not be used for ANY purpose without written permission.

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Virginia, USA

Thanks to all who take the time to view, comment on and favor my images. It is very much appreciated.

Breeding adults have bright rusty backs and crown, black belly patch, and white underparts with dark stippling.

They forage by picking and probing in the mud, walking slowly, usually in large flocks.

Nikon Z9 camera with Nikon Z600mm f 6.3 PF lens.

1/3200 F6.3 ISO 640

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

John 8:32

LATVIA

The Downy Woodpecker can be differentiated from a Hairy Woodpecker by its smaller body and beak and stipples outer tail features.

Black Panther

Created with Midjourney

PP work in Adobe PS Elements 2024 Raw filters

Generate a high resolution black and white tattoo design of a black panther portrait. Style: micro realist, stylized, stencil friendly. Requirements: Slight global simplification: reduce overly dense textures for excellent small scale readability Strong contrast with clean, sharp lines, rich intermediate gray gradients Fine, dense, progressive stippling/dot work in shadows and mid tones (dark zones) for volume and depth Light zones and highlights remain smooth and clear Professional tattoo art: subtle blend of realism and dot work illustration with rich gray nuances Fine lines, no harsh outlines Important: Preserve EXACTLY the pose, angle, composition, and general structure of a panther High resolution, optimized for stencil printing Perfect balance between contrast, visible dot work, and soft gradients

--chaos 5

--ar 3:4

--raw

--v 8.1

--stylize 50

--weird 4

--hd

--profile 2gnx5m7

If you are inspired by my creations and want to use my prompt/text please give me the courtesy of either credit me or at least say: inspired by Irene Steeves. Thanks for your understanding.

Thank you all for the visit, kind remarks and invites, they are very much appreciated!

All art works on this website are fully protected by Canadian and international trademark law and personality rights laws, all rights reserved. The images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated or used in any way, without written permission from the artist. Link to trademark law or personality rights registration:

www.canada.ca Intellectual property and copyright.

Update April 02, 2025. Now I only accept new group invitation that allows all media types including videos.

Thanks for 8,453,281 views 🙏 August 06, 2026

Entered in: AIA Challenge -2026 August- Black & White & Grey

www.flickr.com/groups/recreatingmasters/discuss/721577219...

Derrybawn, Wicklow, Ireland

HTMT

Breeding adult has bright rusty back and crown, black belly patch, and white underparts with dark stippling. Nonbreeding adults have grayish brown upperparts, head, and breast, and are pale below. Juveniles are browner, with a scaly black and rusty brown marbled pattern above, white below, with faint stippling and trace of dark belly patch. The legs are dark.

Quickly Changing Colors, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Denver Basin, Colorado

This photo reminds me of Ink stippling which was invented by Giulio Campagnola, an Italian engraver, around 1510 to achieve tonal variation in his engravings. By using multiple tiny dots instead of lines, he could create more nuanced gradations of light and shadow. This technique was later adopted in various forms of ink and paint art, eventually distinguishing itself from the similar painting technique of Pointillism, which uses paint instead of ink.

Breeding adults are dappled in brown, black, gold, and rufous above, with pale underparts and dark legs. The head, nape, and breast are stippled or streaked with brown, but the flanks are white. Nonbreeding adults are much plainer, mousy grayish brown above, pale below, with weak supercilium (pale line over eye). Juveniles are similar to nonbreeding adult but the upperparts show a neat, scaly pattern.

Semipalmated Sandpipers walk slowly through mudflats and wetlands, rapidly and continuously pecking or probing for tiny invertebrate prey. They can occur in large flocks; dominant birds often chase or peck at others that approach too closely.

Breeds on arctic tundra; forages in mudflats, wet and plowed agricultural fields, river margins, sewage ponds, and estuaries.

The photo's title is also the title of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, my all-time favorite poet.

Written in 1877 but not published until 1918, the poem paradoxically connects at the end the variety of creation with the immutability of its Creator.

The structure of the poem is a "curtal sonnet", which is sort of a truncated sonnet and a form Hopkins himself invented.

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things —

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced — fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Bowling Green Lane, Clerkenwell

Title: Red Bear

Artist: Tony Da (San Ildefonso Pueblo)

Date: Circa 1970

Medium: Polished redware ceramic pottery with turquoise inlaid stones, shell/stone mosaic band, and fine sgraffito etching

Visual Description

1. Form & Shape

Stylized Silhouette: The piece is a highly stylized, three-dimensional sculptural representation of a bear. It features a smooth, sloping back, an elongated snout, small subtle ears, and thick, arching legs that frame a open underside.

Finish & Texture: Most of the body has a brilliant, mirror-polished redware surface, characteristic of San Ildefonso pottery traditions. The underside/interior arch of the legs reveals a textured, unpolished natural tan clay finish.

2. Inlays & Materials

Eye: A small round, bright turquoise cabochon is set into the side of the head for the eye.

Flank Inlays: Larger, teardrop-shaped turquoise cabochons with natural matrix are inlaid into both the shoulder and hip areas.

Back Band / Saddle: Running vertically across the center of the bear's back is a multi-row mosaic band featuring tiny, meticulously set beads/heishi of white shell, reddish coral, and turquoise.

3. Sgraffito Details & Etching

Geometric Borders: Flanking the central mosaic band are incised Greek key / fret motif panels etched into the polished red slip.

Heartline & Accents: Very fine dotted lines (sgraffito) accent the contours of the bear's body, including a traditional arrow motif/heartline running along the rear flank.

Lineage Within San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery

Tony Da (1940–2008) belonged to one of the most prominent dynasties in Native American ceramic art:

Grandparents — Maria & Julian Martinez: His grandmother, Maria Martinez, is renowned for revolutionizing Southwestern Native pottery with her polished black-on-black ceramic techniques. Julian Martinez painted intricate motifs on Maria's vessels, establishing iconic San Ildefonso traditions. Following his military service in 1964, Tony Da lived with Maria and learned traditional pottery-making directly under her guidance.

Father — Popovi Da (Anthony Martinez): A master potter, painter, and innovator in his own right, Popovi Da experimented with gunmetal finishes, sienna firings, and introduced early turquoise inlays and sgraffito etching.

Tony Da (Thun-Phoe-She / "Sun Dew"): Tony synthesized the polished finishes taught by his grandmother and the innovative spirit of his father, while advancing the art form into three-dimensional sculpture.

Artistic Innovations & Techniques

While maintaining traditional hand-coiling and natural clay preparations, Tony Da introduced several breakthroughs into Pueblo ceramics:

1. Sgraffito (Fine Surface Etching)

Building on techniques pioneered by his father, Tony perfected the use of sgraffito—carving intricate, shallow line details directly into the polished slip before or after firing. His sgraffito work included fine geometric borders (such as Greek key/fret designs), feather motifs, heartline arrows, and representations of the Avanyu (plumed water serpent) and Mimbres-inspired imagery.

2. Inlaid Turquoise, Shell, & Stone Mosaics

Tony Da was the first Pueblo artist to extensively integrate high-grade turquoise cabochons, fine stone mosaics, and heishi shell work into ceramic walls and sculptures. He set turquoise matrix stones directly into carved recesses in the clay body to complement the polished slip.

3. Three-Dimensional Sculptural Forms

Prior to Tony Da, San Ildefonso pottery predominantly consisted of functional vessels such as jars, bowls, and plates. As noted on the museum display, creating standalone, fully three-dimensional animal sculptures—such as bears, turtles, and frogs—was a defining area where he expanded Pueblo pottery into new artistic dimensions.

4. Dual-Texture Finishes

He frequently contrasted high-gloss polished redware or blackware slips with unpolished, textured clay surfaces (such as stippled or rough natural-tan slip on the interior arches of sculpted animals) to emphasize depth and form.

www.nativeamericanartmagazine.com/issues/53/Pueblo-Rock-Star

“Few potters have had the impact of Tony Da on the world of Native art,” says gallery owner Charles King. “[He was] one of the first ‘pop stars’ in the Native art world saying, ‘The more outrageous you are, the more people will want to come to see you.’

“Among the first men to make and design pottery, he introduced sgraffito etching, inlaid stones and beads, initiated black and sienna colorations, and invented his stylized iconography derived from the ancient Mimbres pottery,” the gallery notes. “Throughout his career, Tony Da demanded perfection. As a result, he was an innovator in his art, as well as in his life. Tony was known to his family members as a creative perfectionist and as a creative genius.”

New Mexico 2026

Taos

iPhone + snapseed + Flickr filter

Website | facebook | Google+ | Blog | Stipple

Happy Slider Sunday

Wood ducks breed across most of the central and eastern United States, southeastern Canada and along the Pacific coast from California to British Columbia. The highest breeding densities occur in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. In recent decades, the breeding range has expanded westward into the Great Plains region following development of wooded riparian corridors. Wood ducks prefer riparian habitats, wooded swamps and freshwater marshes. Females nest in tree cavities or nest boxes and lay an average of 12 bone-white eggs.

Female wood ducks have a gray-brown head and neck with a brownish, green, glossed crest. A white teardrop shaped patch surrounds the brownish-black eye. The throat is white and the breast is gray-brown stippled with white, fading into the white belly. The back is olive brown with a shimmer of iridescent green. The bill is blue-gray and the legs and feet are dull grayish-yellow.

Found this female in Polk County, Florida.

Film: Rollei Retro 400S @ 400 ISO | Develop: HC-110B 6:30 mins @ 20°C | Scan: Plustek OpticFilm 8200i

doesn't look like seurat's "bathers at asnieres" but for some reason it reminded me of the painting - maybe its the texture which looks a little like stippling...

Solitary Sandpiper at The Pool in Central Park, NYC.

Solitary Sandpipers are small, slender shorebird with a somewhat long neck and long bill. It has fairly long wings and legs.

They are dark olive-brown above with a white eyering; pale below. In breeding plumage, the head and breast show dark stippling and the upperparts are neatly spotted with white. In non-breeding plumage, the back is mostly unspotted and the breast is washed with brown. The legs are olive. Dark underwings contrast sharply with white belly in flight.

Solitary Sandpipers forage in small freshwater wetlands, often in wooded environments, where they walk slowly through shallow water, frequently bobbing the rear of the body. When startled, they fly a short distance, call, and land, often keeping the wings raised above the body momentarily after landing.

--- allaboutbirds.org

Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc ... Always very much appreciated !

Finely stippled

Uniform beard

Idealized masculinity

OlympusOmZuiko 55mmF1.2

Happy Sliders Sunday

Here is a side by side (front and back) shot of the completed thrift quilt. I am done with stippling. I have to add the binding. Can't wait to get the binding started.

....remembering....

Pied Beauty

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

This is a beautifully lit seed jar, a classic Puebloan pottery form defined by its low, flattened, wide-shouldered body and a small, tightly constricted neck opening at the top — historically used for storing seed corn or grain while limiting spillage and protecting the contents inside.

A few observations about the piece:

Form: A broad, disc-like silhouette that swells generously at the shoulder before drawing sharply up into a narrow, almost volcano-like collar around the tiny mouth opening — a striking, sculptural profile.

Palette: A warm, polished ochre-orange slip serves as the ground, painted over in reddish-brown, deep brown-black, and cream pigments. This earthy, sunset-toned palette contrasts with the cooler black-on-white schemes seen in some other Pueblo pottery traditions.

Design: The composition is loose and painterly rather than rigidly symmetrical — bold triangular forms resembling feathers or wings, areas of fine cross-hatching and stippling, and sweeping curvilinear lines and spirals near the base that suggest motion or flight. This freer, more abstract design vocabulary, paired with the warm color palette, is characteristic of Hopi and Hopi-Tewa pottery, part of the Sikyatki Revival tradition popularized in the early 20th century and carried forward by generations of potters connected to that lineage.

Surface: A glossy, hand-polished finish catches the light beautifully around the shoulder and neck, evidence of careful stone-burnishing before firing.

New Mexico 2026

Santa Fe Museum

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

15TH GRAND PRIX DE MONACO HISTORIQUE 2026