Emily S. Damstra
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emilydamstra.com
Emily S. Damstra
@emilydamstra.com
1.1K followers 220 following 100 posts
• Science illustrator, coin designer, native plant gardener, goldenrod enthusiast
• Great Lakes region of N. America
• she/her
emilydamstra.com
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Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
ferrisjabr.bsky.social
For the @nytimes.com Magazine, I wrote about the increasingly fervent native plant movement; its esteemed guru, the entomologist and bestselling author Douglas Tallamy; and the complexities of ecologically responsible gardening in our modern era.

Gift link 🎁 : www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/m...
I Wanted an Ecologically Responsible Garden. It Was Harder Than I Thought.
www.nytimes.com
July 7, 2026 at 5:55 PM
emilydamstra.com
My new Butterflies of Canada puzzle just launched! It features a collage of my illustrations & is available in 3 different piece counts (1008, 504, & 192) from the unique Ontario #puzzle company The Occurrence:
www.theoccurrence.ca/product/butt...
Made in Canada!
#butterflies #jigsawpuzzle #sciart
image of 504-piece puzzle box top, showing a collage of butterflies with a few plants, caterpillars, and a pupa mixed in
May 22, 2026 at 9:37 PM
emilydamstra.com
This is impressive!
arctomet.bsky.social Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · May 6
Popped into my FB memories: a wonderful and peaceful paleovisualization of some of the strangest cephalopods in Earth's history.

More Oncocerida from Gotland youtu.be/rVHPlJZ9Y-E?...
More Oncocerida from Gotland
YouTube video by Kiabugboy
youtu.be
May 6, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
dpulera.bsky.social
If you’re looking to add a new traditional easy-to-learn and very forgiving technique to your skillset,  I’ll be offering my one-day carbon dust workshop again hosted by Lyme Art Association, which starts in the next few weeks.  #SciArt #carbonDust
 
lymeartassociation.org/online-class...
May 6, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
secondatbest.bsky.social
The Amber Tree, this month’s riso print

I’ve always had a love for amber fossils, so this one was a great excuse to do a bit more reading on the prehistoric insects preserved within and trees that were responsible.
January 20, 2026 at 3:30 PM
emilydamstra.com
Canada Post released this set of 5 #fungi #stamps last week. I'm so pleased to have had the opportunity to illustrate them!
Design by Joce Creative.
More stamp images: www.emilydamstra.com/canada-post-...

#fungifriends #postagestamps #stampcollecting #philately #fungiart #mushrooms #lichens #SciArt
Front of the 2025 Canada Post fungus stamp set's Official First Day Cover, featuring images of 5 different fungus stamps against a background that includes larger-size cropped portions of the oyster fungus illustration.
September 3, 2025 at 1:20 PM
emilydamstra.com
Beautiful!
erinhansonartist.bsky.social Erin Hanson @erinhansonartist.bsky.social · Aug 29
Borrego Springs is beautiful in spring, when blossoms carpet the desert floor and the earth turns green with plant life. This piece captures the peaceful morning light of California's high desert.

Peaceful Light
Oil Painting by Erin Hanson, 2015
48 x 84 in
Original Available

#westernart #dailyart
https://www.erinhanson.com/portfolio/peaceful-light "Peaceful Light" Original Oil Painting by Erin Hanson 2015 48 x 84 in Original, Textured Replicas, and Prints Available About the Painting Borrego Springs is most beautiful in March and April, when the desert blossoms carpet the desert floor and the brown earth turns green with tiny desert plantlife. This painting captures the peaceful morning light of Southern California's high desert.
August 29, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
flyingtrilobite.com
From paleoart to fine art,
comics to medical illustration,
bioart to space imagery,
explore the rich SciArt ecosystem on Bluesky with the SciArt Starter Pack.

150 artists, plus the entire popular SciArt Feed 🐡.
And no gen AI or NFTs.
August 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
emilydamstra.com
I really like Bluesky (thanks, @jay.bsky.team) so I hope that a future iteration of its logo might depict a LIVE butterfly. Like bsky's logo, butterflies in popular culture are often shown w/ their wings unnaturally spread as if they are pinned (dead). Details:
www.emilydamstra.com/please-enoug...
Please, enough with the dead butterflies! - Emily S. Damstra
We all have pet peeves, even though there's a lot going on in the world that makes them pretty insignificant. While acknowledging that there are many more
www.emilydamstra.com
March 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
emilydamstra.com
This #paleoart shows 3 views of the Devonian brachiopod fossil Paraspirifer bownockeri; one is reconstructed w/ some epifauna and boreholes. These are fun to find; they're an impressive size (for brachiopods). I had an excellent specimen to use as a reference for this painting.
#FossilFriday #sciart
Detailed color illustration showing 3 different views of the same specimen. Two at the bottom are the unreconstructed fossil from different angles. The reconstruction at the top shows the brachiopod in life position, with 9 visible boreholes and the common epibionts Cornulites and a bryozoan. The shell has pinkish and whitish horizontal stripes and the valves are slightly agape, with cirri lining the opening.
February 21, 2025 at 7:01 PM
emilydamstra.com
In this illustration of a false map turtle carapace, I show the scutes on the right side & the underlying bones on the left.
Notice the way that the scutes overlay the bones, so that their edges don't line up. Like a brick wall!
#sciart #herps
Detailed color illustration showing a dorsal view of a False map turtle (Graptemys pseudogeographica) carapace.
February 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
emilydamstra.com
Canadians are feeling a bit territorial at the moment, so it feels appropriate to share this photo of a 2012 Lucky Loonie. It's the only circulating coin I've designed for 🇨🇦; it was inspired by a scientific paper describing the territorial behaviour of loons.
#numismatics #sciart #coindesign
Photo of the reverse side of a 2012 Lucky Loonie coin, which includes the inscriptions "Canada" and "Dollar." It features a loon rising up from the water with its wings spread - a territorial display. It also includes the Olympic logo, a stylized maple leaf (like on the flag), and a security feature that's a circle a little above centre, with a maple leaf design inside it. Lastly, my initials ED are near the bottom left.
February 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM
emilydamstra.com
This painting, from a specimen in my yard, features one of many associations between insects & Late goldenrod. Fly larvae (P. atra) induced the plant to form 16 rosette galls, which ornament the stem like green flowers.
#sciart #ontarionativeplants
Original: www.emilydamstra.com/product/late...
Watercolor painting of a the top portion of a Late goldenrod (Solidago altissima) plant in summer, showing an array of leaves and rosette galls. White background.
February 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
emilydamstra.com
Though I make a living as an illustrator, I also enjoy writing. So I was delighted when asked to write the foreword to this excellent 2022 book: "100 Greatest Canadian Coins and Tokens" by Harvey B. Richer. Read the foreword here, if you like: www.emilydamstra.com/foreword-to-...

#coins #Canadiana
Image of the book cover, with the title near the top and a collage of photos of Canadian coins and tokens below.
February 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
emilydamstra.com
I assume it is Trump's racist/sexist/anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders that prevents the US Mint from celebrating #BlackHistoryMonth this year.
Because of that, I'd like to share this compilation of People of color on US legal tender #coins - curated by my friend Asa:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?v...
Compilation of 30 coin images, all modern US legal US tender coins.
February 12, 2025 at 8:32 PM
emilydamstra.com
This is a great thread; lots of eye candy here!
paleobyliam.bsky.social Liam Elward Paleoart 🇵🇸 @paleobyliam.bsky.social · Feb 12
Since algorithms across various social media platforms are making it harder to see what you enjoy, here's a thread of #paleoart I think is underrated or a tad overlooked.
Kicking things off with Sam Milkovits' azhdarchid portrait
Black and white digital painting of azhdarchid pterosaur head in profile. The tip of the beak has flaking keratin
February 12, 2025 at 7:19 PM
emilydamstra.com
Margot Lee Shetterly’s book "Hidden Figures" inspired a movie & an Act of Congress to award Congressional Gold Medals to the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race. Here's 1 side of Dorothy Vaughan's medal. About its design: www.emilydamstra.com/dorothy-vaug...
#BlackHistoryMonth
Image of the reverse side of Dorothy Vaughan's Congressional Gold Medal. The design shows Ms. Vaughan standing in front of two magnetic tape units— components of a mainframe computer—instructing two women, who are seated and taking notes. Although I don’t know if she ever actually stood up in front of a mainframe instructing others, I felt that showing her as an instructor w/ people literally looking up to her was a good way to symbolize her inspirational leadership qualities. She was someone whose colleagues looked up to her in the metaphorical sense. Below, three inscriptions highlight important aspects of Dorothy’s career: Fortran expert; Scout Launch Program; and Supervisor, West Area Computers. In the background of the design, a sun symbolizes enlightenment, and also suggests that Ms. Vaughan was beacon for others, leading the way for African American women—and indeed, all women—at NACA and NASA. Inscribed in the center of the sun are Dorothy’s compelling words: “I changed what I could, and what I couldn’t I endured.”
February 11, 2025 at 2:21 PM
emilydamstra.com
I 💜 blastoids. They're the fossils that got me interested in fossils. Specifically, the Mississippian species Pentremites godoni. ~25 yrs ago, I acquired this specimen and, using a microscope, made this pen and ink stipple drawing. Of my own work, it is one of my favorites.
#sciart #FossilFriday
Two side-by-side detailed pen and ink stipple drawings of a blastoid; one is from a side view, one from an oral view.
February 7, 2025 at 1:52 PM
emilydamstra.com
I created this digital illustration for an interpretive sign in British Columbia. It features the Blue-grey tail dropper slug (known from only 5 locations in Canada) & the iconic Banana slug. There's quite a size difference! A Douglas fir cone & twig hints at their habitat. #sciart #invertebrates
Detailed, realistic color Illustration of a banana slug, Blue-grey tail dropper slug, and a Douglas fir cone and twig Ariolimax columbianus, Prophysaon coeruleum, and Pseudotsuga menziesii
February 6, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
dpulera.bsky.social
I’m excited about teaching a vertebrate anatomy course this spring for Yale Peabody Museum Natural Science Illustration Program. Students will study, compare and sketch the skeletons and superficial muscles of various vertebrates.
#SciArt, #VertebrateAnatomy, #AnimalAnatomy, #anatomy
February 4, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Emily S. Damstra
flyingtrilobite.com
Discover one of the best corners of Bluesky: the SciArt Feed 🐡.

🎨 Hundreds of artists
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🎟️ Curated contributors
🥳 No NFTs or gen AI

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February 4, 2025 at 2:47 AM
emilydamstra.com
This stylish little beetle (3-7 mm) is the Goldenrod Leaf Miner, Microrhopala vittata. I illustrated it as part of project to highlight the fauna associated w/ goldenrod, my favorite wildflower and a biodiversity superhero.

The beetles rely on goldenrod for all of their life stages.

#sciart

1/5 👇
detailed color illustration of a Goldenrod leaf miner beetle, dorsal view
February 3, 2025 at 3:35 PM
emilydamstra.com
Lichens! I illustrated these as Artist-in-Residence @ Glacier Nat'l Park & Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park. One isn't allowed to collect specimens in a NP, so I noted the exact placement of the rocks bearing these specimens, brought them to my cabin to paint, then carefully returned them to their home. #sciart
Detailed colored pencil drawing of The Elegant Sunburst Lichen; Xanthoria elegans. Detailed color painting of lichens from Rocky Point in Glacier National Park, Montana. Acarospora fuscata, Aspicilia ceasiocinerea, Rhizocarpum geographicum Detailed color painting of Lichens on pink granite from Rocky Mountain National Park. Rhizoplaca melanophthalma, Dimelaena oreina, Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca Detailed color painting of Lichens on pink granite at Rocky Mountain National Park. Aspicilia sp., Rhizoplaca melanophthalma, Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca
January 31, 2025 at 2:07 PM
emilydamstra.com
Last fall, I witnessed one of our Front Porch Snakes trying to slip inside its usual hidey hole, only to find that a recent meal had made it too rotund to fit! I didn't realize, until watching this video w/ the sound ⬆️, that I had whispered "You're going to get stuck."
#gartersnake #Yearofthesnake
January 31, 2025 at 3:50 AM
emilydamstra.com
I don't always have access to a specimen when I need to illustrate something, so I was pretty happy to find an excellent specimen of a Western diamondback at the UMich Museum of Zoology's herpetology collection in 2006. This gouache painting shows the rattle, sectioned.
#sciart #snake #Crotalus
Detailed color painting of the rattle of a Western diamondback snake. The rattle is illustrated as if cross-sectioned, so you can see inside and understand the way the parts nest.
January 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM