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jglossenger.bsky.social
jglossenger
@jglossenger.bsky.social
92 followers 100 following 47 posts
Artist / Educator, St. Louis
The world is full of wonders 🐙
Make room for awe 🌌
🌱🎨 🖖🏻
jglossenger.com
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jglossenger.bsky.social
I’ve been looking deeply at sycamore bark. I love its texture. The way it sheds throughout the growing season; leaving behind a mottled, colorful surface. Each is a unique work of art. The tree pulls pollutants from the air and sheds them with its bark. What do we hold onto that we should let go of?
A close-up of sycamore tree bark. There are many organic shapes of various sizes in mottled colors of beige, light gray, medium and dark brown. Some of the shapes are lifting and curling away from the surface as they shed from the tree’s trunk.
July 8, 2026 at 9:14 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
First gouache illustration of summer break. A sweetgum tree seed!

#artsky #art #artyear #illustration #botanical #gouache #painting #warm
A gouache illustration of a sweetgum tree seed in a warm color palette (red, orange, peach, deep magenta) with the actual seed beside it. They're those spikey ball things that get underfoot on your walk and you have to avoid tripping over.
May 29, 2026 at 5:26 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
"Souvenir," my latest painting based on a slab of Utah Rhyolite. Se souvenir means to remember.

A reminder that everything changes with time; is impermanent.

#watercolor #art #painting #artsky #sciart #zen #rockhound #stone #pattern #Utah #rocks #nature #memory #time
A watercolor painting featuring a slab of Utah Rhyolite that hovers in a field of lavender, magenta, and vermilion. The stone has characteristic wavy lines indicating the direction that lava flowed when it was formed.
April 12, 2026 at 1:30 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
"Bettas in Bloom"
Traditional Watercolor Illustration and Procreate Background dropped in

#artsky #artist #art #fish #betta #nature #natureart #pet #animal #painting #illustration #watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle #sciart #scientificillustration #naturestudy
A watercolor illustration of 7 betta fish in a variety of colors with fabulous, flowing fins. They're suspended against a flat field of lilac.
April 5, 2026 at 12:55 AM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Made a new friend at the Butterfly House in St. Louis. The Blue Morphos are very active with the warmer weather!

#stl #butterfly #entomology #insects #pollinators #science #conservation
Blue Morpho butterfly alighting on a woman's hand.
March 31, 2026 at 9:57 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
TFW the painting starts waking up.

#artsky #watercolor #painting #art #workinprogress #scientificillustration #rocks #rockhound
A home studio setup with watercolor palette, water bowl with brushes, a large painting in progress featuring a slab of Utah Rhyolite. The slab sits ahead of the painting.
March 16, 2026 at 9:31 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
New year, new medium. This watercolorist is about to dive headlong into gouache. The colors are so lush! Any tips for absolute beginners?

#artsky #paint #gouache #illustration #holbein
Opened box revealing new gouache paints, paint brushes, and a freshly painted and labeled swatch card with each color and its tint in two long rows.
December 31, 2025 at 9:02 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
It's finished! And currently on display at Norton's Framing on Big Bend with the St. Louis Watercolor Society! Come check it out if you're in the Lou.

"Where the Path Begins"
Watercolor on Arches

#artsky #artyear #art #watercolor #painting #nature #natureart #naturalist #hiking #mushroom
A cluster of turkey tail mushrooms on a decaying stump. They have grey, brown, orange, burgundy, violet, and blue bands of color.
September 16, 2025 at 11:24 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Work in progress at my desk. Can you tell where it's headed?

#Watercolor #naturalist #hiking #fungi #artsky
Watercolor painting featuring bands of color and overlapping organic shapes.
July 15, 2025 at 10:22 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Found in Forest Park, St.L yesterday. It's giving barred owl to me but I'm curious if anyone else can help ID. Left it where I found it.

#feather #naturalist #birds #birding #birdwatching #nature #identification #naturejournal
A brown and beige striped feather laying in a public park. Measures about 1 ft with a tipped edge.
June 18, 2025 at 1:22 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
"Greetings from the Rift"
Acylic on upcycled canvas

This was originally a sun-damaged 70s-era canvas print of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington. I was commissioned to breathe new life into it and given free rein, so I reimagined George peering through a transdimensional rift. (1/2)
#artsky
Okay, so we've got a surrealist acrylic portrait of George Washington. He's wearing a suit from the opening scene of Austin Powers: Goldmember - complete with male symbol necklace. He also has Martha's pet cockatoo on his shoulder. They're placed against a botanical background of bright orange, blue flowers, vines, and foliage. The frame is gold with black accents.
June 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Sketchbook practice of a trilobite fossil. This was a good opportunity to break out the carbon ink for my new pen and liquid graphite. It acts a lot like liquid watercolor, has a metallic sheen, and you can erase it!

#art #artsy #artist #painting #drawing #watercolor #ink #sketchbook #fossil
A workspace set up with ceramic water bowl, palette, paintbrushes, ink, pen, sketchbook, magnifier, and a trilobite fossil specimen. Painting of a trilobite fossil in ink, liquid graphite, and watercolor. Other tools in the frame include a ceramic water container, palette, paintbrush, magnifier, and trilobite fossil specimen.
June 5, 2025 at 9:06 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
The Navigator
Watercolor

The Polyphemus is attracted to light at night and artificial light enticed the one I photographed at an outlet mall. Consider turning out your lights to protect local species so they can navigate by natural light.

#art #artsky #painting #watercolor #naturalist #nature
Watercolor illustration of a Polyphemus moth and the full moon against a gradient wash that shifts from blue (upper half) to purple (lower half)
February 22, 2025 at 2:19 AM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Sycamore Leaf in the Labyrinth
Watercolor

I love the Sycamore tree. Their large leaves have such presence. The tree has medicinal uses and can house animals its hollow trunk. Don't even get me started on their beautiful bark 😍

#artyear #artsky #art #watercolor #painting #nature #tree #fall
Watercolor painting of a fallen Sycamore leaf laying on a dark ground beside a row of rocks. The leaf has shifted from green to shades of orange and yellow.
February 18, 2025 at 12:39 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Discovering little moments of awareness between the thoughts is pure joy.

#meditation #scenery #NationalForest #winter #awareness
View from a window down onto a forest of bare trees and distant ridge lines. There's a thin layer of freshly fallen snow over the world.
February 17, 2025 at 2:39 AM
jglossenger.bsky.social
This is an ammonite fossil study I did years ago. When my students ask, "What's the most challenging thing you've painted?" This one is always top of mind. I re-drew it three times before I got the proportions right 😅

Should I get prints made?

#art #artyear #artsky #watercolor #illustration
A watercolor illustration featuring a spiral-shaped ammonite fossil.
February 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
No Birth or Death
[Only Transformation]
Watercolor on Arches
Private Collection

#artyear #watercolor #painting #realism #art #aquarelle #scientificillustration #illustration #artsky #sciart #bioart #reincarnation #buddhism #death #deathpositive #vultureculture #nature
Watercolor illustration of a fox skull, flowers, and butterfly. A cluster of magenta-colored cone flowers are growing through the eye socket of the skull. A spicebush swallowtail butterfly is about to land on one of the flowers.
February 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Repose
Watercolor on Arches

#watercolor #art #painting #aquarelle #sciart #bioart #animal #death #deathpositive #vultureculture #reincarnation #decompose #decomposition #valuestudy
Monochromatic blue value study of a fox skull with a cluster of capped mushrooms.
February 1, 2025 at 8:16 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Deposit
Watercolor on Arches paper
9"x12"

From a series on the incremental passage of time. Cave formations grow very slowly; less than 10 centimeters every thousand years.

#watercolor #art #scientificillustration #naturalscience #texture #cave #time #carlsbadcaverns
Watercolor painting featuring a close-up of a column cave formation with intricate folds in a sepia tone.
January 27, 2025 at 3:00 AM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Erode
Watercolor on Arches paper
9"x12"

From a series on the incremental passage of time. A reminder that everything changes; is impermanent; and that rocks will still be around long after we're gone.

#watercolor #art #scientificillustration #naturalscience #texture #hiking #illinois #time #zen
Watercolor painting featuring an eroded limestone cliff face with pitted holes.
January 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
jglossenger.bsky.social
Crystallize
Watercolor on arches paper
9x12"

From a series on the incremental passage of time. A reminder that everything changes; is impermanent; and that rocks will still be around long after we're gone.

#scientificillustration #naturalscience #contemporaryrealism #rockhound #agate #rocks
Watercolor painting featuring close-up of crazy lace agate
January 24, 2025 at 1:35 AM