I’ve got CRABS!!

Tags

aquariums, art, Artist, beach, beach art, beach house, cajun food, crab, crab cakes, crab facts, crab legs, crab shack, crabby, crabs, faabest, facts, Fine Art, fine dining, florida, food, fun, humor, kitchen art, maine, new orleans, ocean, ocean life, restaurants, sea, sea life, seafood, seafood restuarant, sharon cummings

No not “those” kind!  But now that I’ve gotten your attention, let’s take a look at this strange looking ocean creature. Crabs are decapods (ten legs) crustaceans (their skeleton is on the outside) and arthropods (they have segmented legs). Interesting FACTS:

If a crab loses a claw, it will grow back.

Males grow one larger claw.  It’s purpose is to impress female crabs rather than for attack or defense.

A crab’s teeth are in its stomach.

Crabs can be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Crabs can also be cannibals and will sometimes feed on weaker crabs of the same species.

There are 6,793 species of crabs divided into 93 families.

King Crabs are not considered true crabs.  Neither are Hermit, Porcelain, or Horseshoe Crabs.

We began on a light note, so we might as well end on one too. 🙂

Man walks into a restaurant and says, “Do you server crabs here?”

The hostess replies, “We serve everyone.  Have a seat.”

Learn more about my CRABS here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/two-sides-duality-crab-art-sharon-cummings.html

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For The Birds…

Tags

animals, aquariums, art, bird, bird watcher, bird watching, birds, blue heron, egret, egrets, florida, great blue heron, heron, herons, interior design, licensing, licensing art, museums, natural, nature, pelican, pelicans, pop art bird, sharon cummings, tropical birds, tropical decor, tropical painting, tropical print, wall art, wild life, wildlife, zoos

 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/big-bill-pelican-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

I got a call on Friday while my husband and I were on a photo shoot in St. Petersburg, Florida.  We were capturing images of the beautiful birds that call our state home.  Pelicans and blue herons mostly.  The call was timely as it came from one of my licensing agents who had just completed a trade show in Atlanta, Georgia.  Her voice was hoarse and weak from all of the talking she had to endure, but she couldn’t wait to give me the news.  They had taken a handful of my animal pieces for display and got a tremendous response from buying agents for zoos, aquariums and museums from around the country.  I was specifically excited to hear that the San Diego Zoo was interested in my work!  More animals she says…….and that is exactly what I was working on! Serendipity is definitely “for the birds”. 🙂

 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-great-one-blue-heron-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

I’ve got CRABS!!

Tags

aquariums, art, Artist, beach, beach art, beach house, cajun food, crab, crab cakes, crab facts, crab legs, crab shack, crabby, crabs, faabest, facts, Fine Art, fine dining, florida, food, fun, humor, kitchen art, maine, new orleans, ocean, ocean life, restaurants, sea, sea life, seafood, seafood restuarant, sharon cummings

No not “those” kind!  But now that I’ve gotten your attention, let’s take a look at this strange looking ocean creature. Crabs are decapods (ten legs) crustaceans (their skeleton is on the outside) and arthropods (they have segmented legs). Interesting FACTS:

If a crab loses a claw, it will grow back.

Males grow one larger claw.  It’s purpose is to impress female crabs rather than for attack or defense.

A crab’s teeth are in its stomach.

Crabs can be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Crabs can also be cannibals and will sometimes feed on weaker crabs of the same species.

There are 6,793 species of crabs divided into 93 families.

King Crabs are not considered true crabs.  Neither are Hermit, Porcelain, or Horseshoe Crabs.

We began on a light note, so we might as well end on one too. 🙂

Man walks into a restaurant and says, “Do you server crabs here?”

The hostess replies, “We serve everyone.  Have a seat.”

Learn more about my CRABS here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/two-sides-duality-crab-art-sharon-cummings.html

So Fish Tic Ated

Tags

aquarium, aquariums, art, Artist, black, black and white, canvas, creativity, fins, fish, fish fins, green, modern fish, mosaic fish, paintings, prints, sharon cummings, silver, sophisticated, stone, stones, tropical, tropical fish, wall art, wall decor, wall hangings, white

 

I recently had a chance to Stone Rock another fish.  I normally gravitate toward bright colors, but I love the simplicity of this tropical beauty.  When I am not using bright primary colors, I depend on high contrast to create interest and drama.  The black background seemed a perfect backdrop.  It’s sophisticated…or Sofishticated….

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/sofishticated-fish-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Clownin’ Around…..

Tags

aquarium, aquariums, art, Artist, beach, beach art, beaches, clown fish, faabest, fish, florida, ocean, photography, sarasota, sarasota florida, sea, sharon cummings, siesta key, siesta key florida, snorkeling, summer, summer vacation, tropical, tropical fish, underwater life

I have been drawing and painting fish for as long as I can remember.  Growing up and living in Florida has allowed me to see a variety of marine life up close and personal.  I have spent many hours at local beaches swimming and snorkeling.  For years my family lived next door to a fish market on Siesta Key in Sarasota.  Every day I would go over just to watch the fish swim in the huge aquarium they had on display.  I particularly loved to see the clown fish.  That burst of orange contrasting with the white and black is one of natures finest masterpieces.  Yesterday I was interviewed for a feature and one of the questions was:  What inspires my art?  And my answer was that it was an accumulation of my life’s imagery.  It’s no wonder my portfolio is filled with the ocean…

Learn more about my aquatic dreams here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/into-blue-tropical-fish-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Quick! Puffy Is Fast!

Tags

aquarium, aquariums, art, Artist, faabest, fish, fishing, florida, magic, name, names, naming, ocean, photography, puffer, puffer fish, puffy, sea, sea life, sharon cummings, tampa, tampa florida, the florida aquarium, tropical fish

 

So I wanted a nice shot of a puffer fish to add to my collection of Tropical sea creature art. How hard can that be? They have puffer fish at The Florida Aquarium. I paid my 22 bucks and headed for the tank. They had 6 beautiful little puffy fish to choose from. Camera at the ready and it was off to the races…literally! These guys are fast flitting about the aquarium at lightening speed. Snap….snap…snap….I took over 100 photos. Surely I had some great shots somehow.  When I got home and downloaded all of the images almost all of them were just blurs. I could make out eyeballs here and there, but not a fin in sight! Until this one…the “magic” shot…be still my beating art.

Learn more about Mr. Magic Puffer here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/magic-puffer-fish-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

What’s In A Name?

Tags

aquarium, aquariums, art, Artist, faabest, fish, fishing, florida, name, names, naming, ocean, photography, sea, sea life, sharon cummings, tampa, tampa florida, the florida aquarium, tropical fish

I’ve been having a lot of fun in the last few days working on my photography.  I have a series of shots of underwater life courtesy of The Florida Aquarium.  I absolutely adore fish and you will find many of them in my paintings and art.  While I never seem to run out of creativity in painting and processing, I do sometimes get stumped for a name.  I’ve been known to use song titles, positive affirmations, popular book titles and movie titles.  But the piece you see here is it “Dive Bar”, “Watering Hole”, “Three’s Company”, “The Meeting”, “The Gathering Place” or something else……What would you name this piece?

Learn more about my underwater photography here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/sea-spirits-manta-ray-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html