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skulpturro β Everyone's Gotta Eat
Published: 2005-01-18 06:50:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 1077; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 124
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Description
Yup, that is our hapless, hopeless, interloping shrimp and his lunchI guess nobody is on top forever
The real (dead) pelican in this piece was found in a ditch the day after he was (terminally ill) gracious enough to allow a photography session.
Here he was in his corruptible, mortal state thanks to the lovely
[link]
You may see (parts of) him again someday!
Sick of the ocean yet?
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Comments: 45
this is awesome - I feel like I'm looking at a museum exhibit. You have so many unique and extremely skillful photomanips; I don't see a lot of people doing the calibur of work you have in this gallery...
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If only you were with me during the photoshoot - all of that nasty euphoria would melt away. More morgue than museum. Photoshop covers many sins, and cameras hide all smells. *shudder*
And I'm starting to feel a wee bit O' swelling in the cerebellar area, you should probably lighten up in the compliment department. Not that I'm not appreciative, I just get a little squirmy in my chair and light-headed. Much like the effects of a Red Bull and Vodka.
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i Like how y0u were aBle to tkae y0ur First iDea a step Farther. 
tHe bird lo0ks GorGeouS, especiaLLy his eye.
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The eye is the only artificial element in the whole photo; at least it belonged to him a week earlier....
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as far as i'M concernEd, iT stiLL doEs thAnks to y0u.
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Thank You
Some days that's all I need to hear to take another breath.....
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Tehehe!
I love the on going idea of the never ending animal food-chain, the way you've managed to position the pelicans beak being engulfed with water etc... looks fantastic!
SWIM SHRIPMY SWIIIIIM!!!
Oh well, he'll probably get eaten by something else anyway if he tries to get away....
Lovely piece dude!
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Thanks, Shiv! The pouch would not fill with water, I had to stuff a 1000mL glass separatory funnel in there to hold it open.
Work, Work, Work!!
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This piece could extend forever, like an actual scientific food chain. Kinda reminds me of "the old woman who swallowed a fly" rhyme but with animals.
Again great work considering youre change of hand and adapting to it.
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Thanks so much, Chuck! 
I wish I could adapt faster, I guess it's an old dog-new tricks thing
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bah, you have the best luck with finding things (although i had a similar experiance over the summer with a cormerant I encountered.
anyways, nice piece, I like that you combine elements from other works, it fits in with a cyclical theme.
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Thanks, i don't really belive much in luck; I spend about 2 hours 5 days a week at the beach looking for junk. Any plans with the cormorant? That's a great find.
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well since I dont have much experience with taxidermy I wasnt going to try and tackle the whole bird, so I removed the wings, salted/borax/dried them and now i have excellent wing refrence for drawing from, I buried the body. It was a really great learning experience, i got to find out first hand how wings work!
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I did kinda the same thing with the pelican; lopped off the wings and feet and dried them in the sun (hope that's enough - may have to do the salt thing later). The bird was really easy to skin; no fat, lots of air pockets, little smell!! The skull is a little smelly, but who can blame it
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are you going to let the head decompose, or boil and bleach the skull?
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Nope, we defleshed it and dunked it immediately in Hydrogen Peroxide. Boiling and bleaching don't work with anything but the biggest, toughest skulls, like boars and bears. I just trashed some fish bones last week by boiling and bleaching them
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really? ive boiled and bleached fox and coon skulls with no trouble, you just have to dilute and pay attention...but maybe those are strong enough to withstand.
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lovely 3 part sequence . and the perfect follow up to bringing home the bacon i was wondering how you got the pelican's eye so life like.
one paw or two, you are still the master of macabre museum art.
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In a bit of macabre irony, I cut and pasted the eye from the same pelican in his living state, photographed less than 12 hours before. A little color matching, badda bing......badda boom....Oila!
And thanks, I find your classifications of me and my 'art' most satisfying.
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oooh.... that is rather a bit like tampering with the primal forces of life and death. a Promethean fable in the making?
skulpturrostein just didn't have that zing to it.
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The pelican wll be missed.
He lives on in our hearts and minds. And in those pictures.
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okey, i'm not sure if i understood that: the pelican is death? O.o
but is a nice photo, i like the darkness around the beautiful colors
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the pelican, the shrimp, and the octopus are all dead. The pelican is already just a skeleton, and the other two are in jars with alcohol. I put the pelican's eye in with photoshop. 
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Yes, 1/3 dog, 1/3 cat, and 1/3 fish. Doesn't everyone's?
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You forgot the 1/3 rotting dead things.
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Believe it or not, I am very picky about keeping rotten things out of the house. Out on the deck there are scores of mouldering corpses, on the contrary, anything in the house is either dry and clean or soaking in Hydrogen Peroxide.
Amen.
Pass the drumsticks.
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That explains why no kids came to your door on Halloween.
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Oh, they came.......................bUt tHeY nEvEr LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hinteresting...kind of a chin scratcher...the death element is kind of funny, I've been discussing this lately with Patrik--we're due to go to the Dunes soon because of recent phenomena...Dead fish (not sure if it's sturgen or not) have been washing up on the beaches by the score, and I wanted to get some and do some photography in the syles (and likes) of you, dearest.
I'm glad I found someone who's appreciative of the art (he wasn't weirded out when I stated that I wanted a fish carcass to photograph...in fact, he wanted to supply the garbage bag).
I've always been interested in marine life, and I hope this series continues further, just feed my insatiable hunger for dead pelicans in eerie lighting situations.
The west coast is missed.
Kind of want to go to Southwestern Washington, just for photography's sake. There's plans for me and Pat to move out to the East Coast after I graduate (this is your news update, I might as well put it all in one big comment
As for schooling, I'm enrolled in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, starting schooling my senior year, and then graduating mid-term from this hell hole. I'm now co-editor of the newspaper, which is full of libertarian beatniks who scoff at the idea of world peace and are waiting for bush to blow up the earth.
I'm getting the hang of Photoshop, although the most I really do is manipulate one of my reporter's (Jake) heads onto different bodies. The most recent--a pregnant nun.
But yeah, that's about it. I'm glad I could find my other fourth (you and Rach being the the other 2 fourths, which would be a half...?), and there's a road trip due this summer that is definitely going down.
Hope to harass you soon,
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Manda, Manda.......I've been staring at your note for weeks now, It's time I replied. Wow, what mind-boggling things you've been through since you moved out of the Homestead. They all seem for the good, independence suits you pretty well. I barely recognize you from when we first met on-line.
That sounds like a great cloud, but like every cumulo-nimbus, there's a long drop so watch out for the thin spots. No need to commit to much of anything at this point, you know what you want and where you are going, no need for contracts. Good perspective, kiddo.
Harrass away, I am going to go out and sit on the porch and wait for you to arrive with your trash-bag supplier. Maybe I should take a snack with me. And a diaper.
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I was hoping you wouldn't be offended if I did.
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It's a home alright, I am not sure about the 'good' part........ certainly he won't be alone, there are upward of 85 skulls in our place now.......
I wonder what the dog thinks of all of that bone in the house?
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Seeing how you seem to have a lot of coyote skeletons, he might be wondering when his time is coming, or simply planning his escape.
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So who's next in the food chain - you?
(very nice piece by the way, beautifully shot and arranged. Can't help getting sidetracked by ruminating on your choices of playthings.)
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Like I tell everybody, I photograph whatever happens to be at hand, either after stumbling across a dead body or recieving one from a co-worker. So fate chooses my plaything for me. I'm just a photojournalist with Photoshop and a disturbed sense of humor.
Unfortunately, as much as I love animals, I DO eat meat. Bleh. I'm weak; a product of meat-eating parents.
Me NO eat pelican though.
I am, however, currently reducing it to it's component parts. Heh Heh Heh.
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Thanks, glad you Like!!
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haha, the food chain! This is an awesome piece, I like the pelican.
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Funny, you're the second person to mention the Food Chain. Or actually the first of 2. That was the operating title right up unto the end, when I changed it to something I thought would be more interesting.
Meh.
Thanks for the Pelican Love!!
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