Artwork by Petey

Untitled No. 9, nose-prints on glass

Opportunity “Petey” Felison first began exhibiting his work at age 5 (36 in cat years) in Moscow, Idaho.  Petey’s intriguing abstract works define the triumph of feline stoicism in spite of a routine and pampered lifestyle.  Petey deftly employs a time-intensive process of printmaking known as nasus clauorum vitro, or nose-on-glass.  A subtle form of expression and peaceful protest-- which the artist combines into  breathtaking installation pieces.  Each ephemeral stipple-point is as personally identifying as a man’s fingerprint. The underlying glass is of particular significance to Petey, as it symbolizes his window to the world.   The viewer is immersed by the primeval and raw qualities of the medium, made paradoxically modern by displaying the work in situ and back-lit by modern lighting.  As if it were the transparent lens of an eye, the work is ever-shifting and re-focusing.  Built up, layer by layer the work is cumulative yet never complete-- a token of the artist's quest for a greater sense of perfection.

The artist at work.

Cascade Mountain and Big Baldy

 

Mountain wildlife: old and new

 Trilobite from Cascade Mountain, above the 10,000 foot level.

Rattlesnake on Squaw Peak Road.

Carolina Wolf Spider

Leopard Frog

Tadpole Shrimp (Notostraca)

I caught this in Kimball, Idaho, in an irrigation ditch.  I had to look up what this was, craziest thing I've ever seen.  Turns out to be a kind of shrimp.

Here's its shrimp tail, a little too small to cook up though.

Alaska [Cruise] Wildlife

 There were lots of these little diving birds.

 Hey, we have these back home.

 What do you think, Bald Eagle?

 Two Harbor Seals

A king Samon.

And Surf Scoters.

An unidentified, but rather creepy, spider.

Fossil Sponge

I'm no expert, but I think this is a sponge, like the one below.

Mt. Nebo Insects

Mormon Cricket

Ladybugs

Rocks/Geology

I found this unusually sphere-shaped stone on a hike. It's about the size of a large gumball.

What really got me curious, is that a few miles away, I found a second one (the size of large grape) with very similar traits.


The outer shells are both very rough, like a skateboard top. The cut sides are very smooth and dark.


The similarities indicate more of a type of formation, and not just a fluke. Anybody have any clue?

Golden Eagle?

It was as big as a turkey vulture, but I am really sure it is not a turkey vulture. Not the best photos, but I think it's a gold eagle or an immature bald eagle.

Arches Un-Wound

This is not the best composite arch, but the tourists show what's going on. The camera is held like a key, and turned 180 while repeated shots are taken (Base A, overhead, Base B). The trick is that the screen is out of sight the whole time, so you have to guesstimate the coverage of each shot.

This is one of the Double Arches. It turned out well in part because I adjusted the exposure en-route so that the overhead shots were not silhouetted.

This is Delicate Arch. I think it's cool how the sen is shading one end, and lighting the opposite.


This is actually about what landscape arch looks like from the trail. Long and skinny. But I wanted to make a composite of it anyway.

Here's the same trick on a tree, although the branches don't come back down to the ground. I am laying on the ground with my head toward the trunk. I am closer to the tree than it looks, because the image has to deal with rapidly changing scale.

Hummingbird

Chipmunk

Scorpion

Bullfrog; Green Frog

Milipede

Bridge

Elevator