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Ryn Gargulinski

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insects

Bee Art: Beware of Bees – Wacky Yard Art

Bees’ knees are cute – but their stingers leave a lot to be desired. Warn folks to steer clear of the buzzing little buggers with this fun and funky Beware of Bees sign. This metal sign in the form of a bumbling bumble bee is an excellent addition to any area that flourishes with flowers and especially helpful near hummingbird feeders oozing with sweet red nectar.

Why you need it:
Do you honestly like being stung?

How I made it:
Metal yard art is created with love and care by first cutting out shape from sheet metal, filing down the edges with a Dremel and pounding out kinks with a flat hammer and anvil combination that the neighbors and my dogs hate.

Why I made it:
I still harbor a horrific childhood memory of being stung at a family picnic and resorting to eating in the car. The bees here in Tucson also invade my bright red hummingbird feeders.

Specs:
Approx. 17 inches wide by 8 inches high.
Weather resistant, rust-resistant paint finished off with clear coat.
Wire loop for easy hanging. Bright yellow and black with silver white highlights.

Variations:
Custom orders always welcome! If you are more annoyed by other bugs, feel free to popt for a Beware of Gnats, Beware of Mosquitoes, Beware of Flies or an umbrella Beware of Insects sign. To place a custom order or more info, e-mail ryngargulinski@hotmail.com

beware of bees sign
beware of bees sign
beware of bees sign
beware of bees sign
beware of bees sign

Filed Under: art, metal outdoor indoor art, SHOP art, voodoo Tagged With: bee stings, bees, beware of bees, bumble bees, flowers tucson, garden art, insects, tucson bees, tucson insects, yard art

insect illustrations

Filed Under: illustrations, kooky gallery Tagged With: bugs, funny bugs, insect drawings, insect illustrations, insecta, insects

Art purges rage, awards contest winner

It’s tough to be angry when you’re hooking up art as a prize for this week’s photo contest winner, someone who has always been supportive and kind.

Congrats, AZMouse for the most creative scenarios on the tourist photo. Since AZMouse is an avid animal lover with two dogs and two cats, the prize is a polka-dot dog-cat, created with kindness and joy.

AZMouse's new RynArt polka-dot dog-cat/Ryn Gargulinski
AZMouse's new RynArt polka-dot dog-cat/Ryn Gargulinski

Now the photo contest post is going to quietly disappear lest it wreak havoc when we least expect it, like during my next vacation.

Thanks to all who participated in the contest – every entry made me chuckle.

Gratitude also goes out to readers and fellow bloggers, such as Renee Schafer Horton, who came to my defense. I’m still unsure what to think of other bloggers who initiated hateful, personal attacks or jumped on the mega-hit bandwagon with false accusations and less-than-positive posts. Oh well. Like a wise man once told me: “F it.”

Creating art is one of the best ways to deal with emotions. You can use it to enhance joy or rid yourself of hatred, despair, disgust and rage. Just don’t work with sharp metal during the rage.

Reviewing my portfolio, it becomes clear when I used art to help me through a difficult situation or to celebrate something beautiful.

Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

A bad hair day

artpurgegetlost
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski

Recovering from solicitors

Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski

That bumblebee sting

Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski

Enduring screaming kids at a theater

Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

That vegetable attack

Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski

Celebrating bats in early morning or while walking the dogs at dusk

wb-logolil

What do you think?

Have you used art to purge? What did you come up with?

How do you get rid of emotions or celebrate something grand?

Filed Under: art blogski, blogski, gross stuff, life Tagged With: art, azmouse, bats, bumblebee, carrots, celebrate, cool, emotion, environment, evil, funky, gross, happy, insects, kids, purge, rabid kids, rage, rat, rynski's blogski, solicitors, tucson, twisted, vegetables, wacky art, weird

Invasion of the crispy, brown demons

Crispy, brown demons are invading my yard, and for once it’s not part of my artwork.

If I figure out how to incorporate them, however, they soon shall be.

Perhaps invasion is too strong a word. There are about a half dozen of these crispy critters, which are apparently the exoskeletons of some type of demonic looking insect.

Demonic close up/Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Demonic close up/Photo Ryn Gargulinski

What first caught my eye was how the exoskeleton is left behind still clinging in precarious places, like the thin plastic tube I used for the tail of a rock rat or the side of a concrete tree border.

insect1
Demonic side view/Photo Ryn Gargulinski

I am enthralled with these little demons and, although insects in general give me the heebie-jeebies, I have come to adore these and some other Tucson bugs:

Tarantula hawk wasp/File photo
Tarantula hawk wasp/File photo

• The tarantula hawk wasp. These large black bugs with bright reddish-orange wings are about the size of hummingbirds. They appear menacing and evil. They are beautiful.

• Those giant mosquito-looking things that are not mosquitoes. They are easy to smash and don’t leave green innards behind.

• Moths. They are easy to cup in the hand and take back outside, which gives you the feeling that you are a worthwhile, very saintly person and leads to a good night’s sleep.

Southern Arizona is also ideal because it lacks other insects we have come to abhor, like the cockroach.

Sure, Tucson may have those giant sewer bugs that folks call roaches. These can be seen swarming under lampposts and atop manhole covers.

But I shall never again have the roach invasion that hit when I lived above a Brooklyn pizzeria. Here the world “invasion” is not too strong a word.

The roaches bred like bunnies in the large sacks of pizza flour and then worked their way upstairs. One early morning they started plopping from the ceiling like plump, crunchy raindrops.

I’ll take the crispy, brown demons any day.

Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

What insects to you love to hate? Hate to love?

Have you ever been invaded? What happened?

wb-logolil5

Filed Under: art blogski, blogski, danger, environment, gross stuff, health, life Tagged With: brooklyn, demons, flour, gross, insects, mosquito, moths, new york city, pizzeria, roaches, sewer bugs, tarantula hawk wasp, tucson, water bugs

Bees buzz about midtown

Folks are warned to bee careful, as the bees are back in town.

Tucson in late May and early June is prime time for the Africanized bee, also known as “killer bees,” for very good reason. They are aggressive and cranky, not to mention sometimes lethal.

beelive1

The latest has been a swarm sighted in a Sam Hughes yard. The resident said thousands of the cranky critters attacked the maintenance man and then stung the exterminator some 40 times through his clothing.

_____

Facts from Insecta-Inspecta.com:

The new hybrid, called an Africanized bee, took many years to establish colonies throughout South and Central America. The bee is aggressive, easily agitated, and generally has a bad attitude. The first Africanized bee was found in the United States in October 1990, in a southern area of Texas. The Africanized bee is expected to spread across the southern part of the country, where the winters aren’t so harsh. Some scientists and entomologists believe that the Africanized bees will be able to adapt to colder weather and roam as far north as Montana. If this projection is true, it could become a big problem for a number of reasons in the United States.

_____
This is not the first time bees have bumbled around town with disastrous results, as evidenced in this May 2008 story:

Couple cites vacant home in fatal bee attack on dog
By Ryn Gargulinski

The foreclosed Northwest Side home next door to Brandi and John Comeau is more than an eyesore.

The couple said it led to their dog’s death.

The property, directly east of their home in the 5100 block of West Albatross Place, has sat vacant for about a year. For about the last month, the home has been infested with two large bee nests, said Brandi Comeau, 27.

She came home Tuesday afternoon and found that a massive swarm had left the hives to attack the Comeaus’ dog, 3-year-old, three-legged Chihuahua Stubby. The dog was born with three legs.

“I saw my dog being attacked through the sliding glass window,” she said. “I tried to do what I could, threw water on him, without getting stung myself.”

Her husband grabbed Stubby and ran down the street, trying to dislodge the bees. By the time the couple got Stubby to the vet, the dog was stung more than 250 times.

Initially the vet stabilized the petite pooch.

“The vet’s office called around 10:30 p.m. and said his organs were shutting down,” she said.

John Comeau, 26, went to bid the dog farewell for his wife and their 11-month-old son, Bradyn.

“I feel very concerned for my son’s safety,” the young mother said. “We can’t feel comfortable at all.”

She said the bees started attacking neighborhood dogs after an official from the Tucson Country Crossing Homeowners Association began spraying the nests with an insecticide.

“They were swarming around agitated,” Brandi Comeau said.

Stubby was the only dog who died in the attack.

The bees were still swarming Wednesday afternoon, she said, but it appeared a property manager was on the property.

“Unattended homes are always an issue,” said Rick Hodges, chief executive of the Tucson Association of Realtors. “They were an issue two years ago when there were investors’ homes on the market and are an issue today with rental homes on the market.”

The large number of foreclosures doesn’t help the matter.

The online foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac reported 4,471 foreclosure filings in 2007. Not all filings end in foreclosure or result in a house sitting vacant for an extended period.

Health risks can include infestations of vermin and mosquitoes breeding around unattended swimming pools.

“Bugs and critters don’t respect property lines,” Hodges said.

Liability lies with the home’s owner, he said, which in the case of foreclosures is usually a bank.

He said real estate agents who represent a property are trying to sell it and may keep the property in better shape than one sitting abandoned.

The property directly east of the Comeaus’ is owned by the Michigan-based Jaguar Associated Group LLC, according to the Pima County Assessor’s Office. No one at the group could be reached for comment.

Comeau said she and her husband will discuss whether to present part of the $800 vet’s bill to the homeowners’ association, which did the spraying. No one at the association returned calls for comment.

“I want people to be wary of empty houses for their own safety,” Comeau said. “I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

This year has been predicted to be a record year for the bee population, according to bee experts.

beedead

_____

Bees Dos and Don’ts:

Don’t bang on the hive with a crowbar or stick it with a stick.

Don’t let your pets near them.

Don’t get drunk and brag how you can stick your face in the hive with no ill effects

Don’t stick your face in the hive while sober, either

Don’t try to blow them up with hairspray and a lighter

Do call a professional to come eradicate the beastly little buggers

More from Insecta-Inspecta.com:

An extremely aggressive Africanized bee colony may attack any ‘threat’ within 100 feet and pursue for up to one-fourth a mile. Generally, Africanized bees attack:

· only when the colony is threatened

· when loud noises, strong odors or fragrances, shiny jewelry, and dark clothes are perceived as threats

· the face and ankles

What to do if attacked:

· Africanized bees are slow fliers and most healthy people can out run them.

· Run away in a straight line, protecting your face. Avoid other people, or they too will be attacked.

· Do not try and hide underwater. The Africanized bee swarm will wait for you to surface.

· Seek medical attention. Some people are allergic to bee stings causing anaphylactic shock. Since Africanized bees attack and sting in great numbers, it is possible that an allergic response may be triggered.

Filed Under: blogski Tagged With: animals, bees, insects

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