Little D Down Under: Little Sister, Little Sister

I haven't talked about my sister, Nae, much here in awhile because I haven't seen her in about 8 months. We try and talk every week or every other week, but it's just not the same as being at home and fighting and having adventures together. Nae is headed out next weekend as an intern on a great white shark diving boat to the Farallone Islands off the San Francisco coast. It has been her dream to travel there ever since reading the book The Devil's Teeth about the shark activity that goes on there. I hope that she has fun and is safe and, most importantly, spots at least a few sharks! If she gets any pictures, I'll be sure to post them on here. I can't wait to hear about her trip when she gets back!

I may have also mentioned before that Nae did a double major in college of Art and Environmental Sciences. Her art reflects her science background and deals with a mixture of human anatomy, animals, and themes about environmentalism. With her permission, I'm posting a bunch of her artwork on here today. It's not for everyone, as she does a lot of blood and guts stuff, but I've got to tell you that most of it turns out really interesting. There have been times when we've butted heads over her art, but not because I don't like it or appreciate it, only because there are so many damn large pieces that she was keeping at Mom and Dad's old house that needed to be moved when they were moving. She still thinks I don't like her fishbowl made from an old toilet piece, but I really do think it is neat; I was just being practical that Mom and Dad didn't need an old, dirty, unused toilet hanging out in their garage. Now that it is back to being a little fountain with fish in it, I think it is great!

These are some jellies she did up close. The rest of this painting has toilets floating in the background that blend in with the jellies.

This is a painting of some sand dollars. I'd like to have a beach wedding and I'm going to ask Nae to do a sand dollar/ star fish design for the invites and other stuff for the wedding...if it ever happens!

I forget if this is a dung beetle or a rhino beetle, but it's the grown bug and it's pupa. Nae casted this whole thing in bronze and built the box the big guy is sitting on. They are supposed to look like a blown up version of what you'd find in a science museum: the bugs on display with the big pins in them to keep them in place. Both of these pieces are very very heavy and hard to move!

This is another piece made from bronze that she first did in wax and then cast in bronze. It probably weighs between 25-30 pounds, but you can't tell from looking at it because it's about the size of a football. This is a frog that is being dissected and she cast her hand, as well, to have it coming out of the frog.

Another view of the dissected frog.

The toilet fountain I mentioned above.

This is a cast of one of her roommates. It's pretty freaky because it looks like the person is in a gross, bug-like cocoon!

These are intestines. She made them with real meat and towels. She didn't seal it properly the first time and the meat started getting a bit stinky...Haha, her poor roommates!

This is her human flesh.

I know this painting can seem really gruesome, but I think it's really neat and looks like it should be in a comic book!

This is a piece called "Denny" Don't know if it's about Grey's Anatomy's Denny or what since you are looking at the inside of the chest cavity and in to the heart and he had a bad heart...

I think this effect was done by placing another canvas behind the first one and then cutting the top layer so you could see what was going on underneath.

This sculpture had a mosaic thing happening on the insides. Care to guess what they are?? They are capillaries or blood vessels. You could probably display this in your house without anyone knowing it was something freaky.

My grandma saw this piece and said, "What a great drawing of hills." Can you tell what it really is?

This funky piece was meant for an old boyfriend of Nae's but I ended up keeping it in my old room for a long while and I love it.

I'm not sure what the hand at the top is about, I'll have to ask Nae, but the rest of the piece has an asian-inspired theme. Notice the little girl is wearing a leash? Nae based it off of a picture she took of a little Asian kid at Disneyland on a leash. She also did a second version of this painting for Boyfriend and it is hanging in his bedroom at his parents' house.

Koi fish painting. Mom and Dad had this hanging in their room for awhile. Nae also made some really cool light green sushi plates that have koi fish on them. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of those.