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Smart Alyk

@smartalyk.bsky.social

430 followers 780 following 480 posts

In my Bacteria Era 🦠 Painting a new Species daily until I die. Starting as a beginner, watch my art evolve over time. instagram.com/smart.alyk

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · Aug 25

I made 2 folding art storage boxes to store my paintings in. Since I started in June I've been saving my art in a dresser drawer, so I built these that can be stored on a bookshelf.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 11h

The colonies look like tiny, yellow-green fuzzy balls or tapioca floating in water. They are composed of hair-like filaments radiating from the center and can be seen without magnification.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 11h

DAY 131
SPECIES 131 - Gloeotrichia echinulata
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek watercolor + Paper

G. echinulata is a colonial cyanobacterium that forms small, fuzzy, spherical colonies about the size of a pinhead.

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #alyk

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 1d

I love how you painted it!

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 1d

G. natans is a freshwater cyanobacterium that forms spherical colonies. Composed of radially arranged, hair-like filaments. These colonies are olive-green to dark blue-black and have a gelatinous texture.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 1d

DAY 130
SPECIES 130 - Gloeotrichia natans
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek watercolor + Paper. Writech pen, Tombow colored pencil

NOTES: This species has an illustration from the 1880s. I referenced that, and more modern microscopic images. Love me some old illustrations

#sciart #watercolor #art

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks! 🙏

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 2d

It's discovery in 1975 generated significant scientific interest because its pigment composition resembled that of chloroplasts in plants. Although largely later refuted, it lead to discussions about chloroplast evolution and endosymbiotic theory.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 2d

P. didemni is a unicellular cyanobacteria that is photosynthetic and oxygenic. It lives symbiotically within marine invertebrates called ascidians (sea squirts).

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 2d

DAY 129
SPECIES 129 - Prochloron didemni
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, DS, HWC, QoR Watercolor

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #biology

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 2d

O wow! That's fascinating. 😮

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 3d

S. volutans is a gram-negative, bacterium from the genus of Spirillum which occurs in freshwater. It has an amphitrichous flagellar arrangement. It is one of the largest bacteria species.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 3d

DAY 128
SPECIES 128 - Spirillum Volutans
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek + QoR Watercolor. Writech pen

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #microbiology

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 4d

S. starmachii is a species of cyanobacteria first described in 1988 from the High Tatra Mountains. It is known for occurring in cold, ultra-oligotrophic environments, such as high-altitude, extremely nutrient-poor water

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 4d

DAY 127
SPECIES 127 - Scytonematopsis starmachii
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, HWC + QoR Watercolor. Writech + Kingart pen

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #alyk

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 5d

That's funny, when I posted it I was thinking about saying it looked more like a turquoise necklace than the bacteria. 😆

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 5d

DAY 126
SPECIES 126 - Scytonema hofmannii
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, HWC + QoR Watercolor. Writech pens

S. hoffmannii is a filamentous cyanobacterium. It has firm, yellow-brown sheaths colored by the photoprotective pigment scytonemin.

#sciart #watercolor #painting #art

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 6d

DAY 125
SPECIES 125 - Westiellopsis ramosa
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, HWC + QoR Watercolor. Writech pens

W. ramosa is an intensely branched cyanobacterium isolated from a freshwater habitat of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India.

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 7d

C. stagnale is a species of filamentous, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria found in aquatic and terrestrial environments, forming mats on and growing as periphyton on plants. It has distinct specialized nitrogen-fixing cells present at the ends of the filaments.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 7d

DAY 124
SPECIES 124 - Cylindrospermum stagnale
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, HWC + QoR Watercolor. Writech pens

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #alyk

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 8d

DAY 123
SPECIES 123 - Dolichospermum crassum
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. HWC + QoR Watercolor. Writech pen

NOTES: Not that I need to be challenged more😄, but I wanted to attempt this specimen that's partially out of focus submerged in the broth

#sciart #watercolor #painting #art

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 9d

Oscillatoria tenuis is a species of filamentous cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 9d

DAY 122
SPECIES 122 - Oscillatoria tenuis
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek+ QoR Watercolor. Writech pen

NOTES: I find myself thinking more and more about solving these puzzles of light when I paint.

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #alyk

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 9d

Those look so nice!

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 10d

O. limosa characterized by its unbranched, filamentous trichomes that are typically dull blue-green, though they can appear violet or brown. It's a freshwater species, found in shallow, stagnant, or slow-flowing bodies of water, and can cause an earthy odor in water due to its production of geosmin.

Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 10d

DAY 121
SPECIES 121 - Oscillatoria limosa
STAGE: Bacteria
MEDIUM: Chromatek Paper. Chromatek, HWC + QoR Watercolor. Charsoco pen

NOTES: A bit rushed on tonight's painting but excited to be doing some more Cyanobacteria! 🙂

#sciart #watercolor #bacteria #painting #art #paint #artist #alyk

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