Praying Mantis – Sept. 26, 2020

 

I just completed my latest digital photo-painting. The title “Praying Mantis” results from a conversation with my good friend and incredible artist, Stephanie McGee. She is a quiller, creating beautiful paper filigree art. She is part of the Art a la Carte Gallery. One of her bestsellers is her spiders. She sells them as fast as she can make them.

Sorry, I’m not into spiders. But I remember something I read about Praying Mantis. Looking up their images on the Internet, they were impressive looking. During the research, I found they have an “interesting” aspect regarding females. You’re going to have to look it up.

I used Adobe Photoshop to create digital photo-painting. I hope to make this a new series of paintings for me to paint going forward.

A Shameless Plug

My brother’s latest book, called “Days of Days” is published on October 1 by Michigan State University Press. Below is taken from John’s website www.johnsmolens.com

In spring 1927, Andrew Kehoe, the treasurer for the school board in Bath, Michigan, spent weeks surreptitiously wiring the public school and his farm, with hundreds of pounds of dynamite. The explosions on May 18, the day before graduation, killed and maimed dozens of children and teachers, administrators, and village residents, including Kehoe’s wife, Nellie. A respected member of the community, the Kehoe himself died when he ignited his truck, loaded with crates of explosives and scrap metal.

In its portrayal of several Bath school children, Day of Days examines how such a trauma scars one’s life long after the dead are laid to rest and the wounded heal, and how an anguished but resilient American village copes with the bombing, which in its time seemed beyond comprehension, and yet now may be considered a harbinger of the future. One survivor, Beatrice Turcott, who decades later lies on her death bed, recalls the spring of 1927, and how this haunting experience has led her to the conviction that one does not survive the present without reconciling hard truths about the past.

You can purchase the book on Amazon or directly from Michigan State University Press. If you want a signed copy, contact Snowbound Books in Marquette, MI (a lovely book store).