Ollie Fern
@whalefern.bsky.social
cyanotype artist, photographer, painter, and disreputable creature espousèd to @nemerevermore. photos mine unless otherwise noted. if you see a pigeon, tell it i said hi. art prints at https://www.whalefern.com
Fellow queer book nerds: My witty and wise pal @rebeccafraimow.bsky.social wrote a hijinks-stuffed sff novel about a disastrous queer con artist. LADY EVE’S LAST CON now boasts a starred review from PW, and is out June 6th! t.co/F6yprYq1gO
As Seen in Print!
"Spiced with clever sci-fi touches that make the romance feel fresh and exciting, this is compulsively readable and totally delightful."
—Publisher's Weekly in a ⭐️starred⭐️ review of LADY EVE'S LAST CON by @rebeccafraimow.bsky.social
awfulagent.com/ebooks/lady-...
It’s good to be back, and to catch up on some of the cool creature stuff you’ve done this spring! I’m gonna make another attempt to ease back into social media; every time I log on here I see so many delightful people from bird skitter/nature skitter!
I was sitting on the ground to look at a morel, and heard that distinctive tiny frog “flump” in the leaves when it hopped! They’re like piping plovers—completely invisible until they move!
I kept trying to find a photo angle at which the frog was clearly visible (without sticking my phone right in its face), and eventually just gave up and congratulated the little hopper 😂😂😂
aaa thank you! They sometimes lose that as they dry but this one’s holding up nicely :D!
Also, I’m feeling well enough to print, and my prior authorization just got approved for my fancy new migraine med; everything is tentatively coming up milhouse
I just finished washing this print! It’s still developing, but I like the vibe. I’m taking some comfort in how unpredictable and physical the process is.
Hi! I just saw the majestic hummingbird photo @gettoknownature.bsky.social reposted 😂!
I’m still fine-tuning this print, but I think it captures a little of how wildly expansive the smallest and most ordinary underwater worlds can feel
I tried to outsmart my impulsive plant-acquisition habit and instead it absolutely outsmarted me again
I don’t know why either but yes, you are grilled halloumi, confirm that the cheese is you ❤️
I’m visiting family back east, and thankfully have been well enough in the last few days to see some spring peepers, whom I have missed very much. 🐸
💗💗💗💗💗💗 I’m doing better overall, and the returned manifestation is super mild thanks to meds! Mostly weird face pressure and even weirder semi-hallucinatory resonances of certain sounds. I do feel that there should be a lemon law for brains the way there is for cars.
I’m now seeing a specialist neurologist who finally helped me figure out what’s been going on with my brain. Prior to that, this particular migraine sent me to the ER and (cw teeth stuff) broke two dental fillings through jaw clenching.
Hellooooo I am back with an exciting fact: Did you know that migraines can manifest as something called (I swear to god) “Alice in Wonderland Syndrome”? And that they can last for ten days, be defeated by rescue meds, and then start to return when the weather changes?
her fur had to be trimmed short, so we got her a sweater, and now she looks like an associate professor
I think that’s a really good approach! And a sign of success that the habitat you created for some species brought in other parts of the food chain in as well.
#addherper (I’m more of a casual appreciator of reptiles and amphibians, but I love them!)
It’s always so tricky! I had similar feelings upon realizing that one’s bird feeder is also a hawk feeder.
frogs: “you have made us a home!”
hawk: “you have made me a bouillabaisse!”
(nature: ever was it thus)
this did not occur to me about the aspect ratio until just now, and I would absolutely march under the banner of the sandhill crane
Thank you!!! I haven’t been able to get out in nature much lately, or paint, and got back into cyanotype as an art form I could do. It’s been so much fun reliving old nature memories and creating something new from the photos :D
now trying to imagine what intertidal creature would play Hobbes to the aggregating anemones’ Calvin
POV: You have just washed a small dog and she is at last free of the bathtub
This is my favorite print of the sandhill crane and moon so far. I think I set the paper on its side to dry after coating, and the chemistry ran down it just a little, creating shapes like clouds. (Photographed at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico in 2019.) #cyanotype #birds
Anemones! Cyanotype from my underwater photo of aggregating anemones. A cool thing about these: they can reproduce by division, and the ones in this photo are probably all clones. #cyanotype #photography #underwaterphotography
www.whalefern.com/product/ghos...
I agree wholeheartedly, and submit the Emerald Dove as a runner-up, on the strength of its eyeshadow
a game entitled “what cool bird did my mom see?” (I WILL be calling these birds “Big Puffy” from now on.) 🪶
Divine’s fashion take on the mourning dove aesthetic would have been transcendent
oh man, if I could find a variety that stayed small enough for the greenhouse window, and supplement it with a second plant light,
Some friends helped get it set up :D! I was hoping to get it online before Christmas, and juuuust managed, haha. Thank you SO much for the encouragement that made me think it could work!!
Thank you so much again!!!! (Let me know if your swans take too much longer! From USPS tracking, the package entered "international transit" on December 10th, which I think means they handed it off to Canada Post.)