Snakes on the Brain
Starting to work out what scales actually look like.
SNAKES!
When I was little, and I would go outside, my mom would yell “watch for snakes”. I had a healthy fear but never saw any snakes. As I got older, I realized I had never seen snakes in the wild because their camouflage worked on me. I COULDN’T find them myself. Even when they were pointed out to me, I struggled to locate them. I grew more fearful, mostly because I was afraid I would step on one right in front of me. My fear was strengthened because I knew nothing about them… not their mannerisms or which were the ‘bad’ ones. My fear was paralyzing. I would not go into the woods by myself without a giant self pep talk, and even then, it would often still keep me away from the trails I loved.
Then! I found the Mississippi Snake Forum and Identification page on Facebook. This group has been a game changer, and if you are in the area, you should join. I can now identify many of the snakes in the area, and I no longer fear them (but do respect the hell out of their venom). And I have accepted that there are no ‘bad’ snakes! Knowledge is power!
I even got really excited when, out on a walk in the woods of Florida, I spotted a cottonmouth! It was a big one, just curled up… waiting for a snack. I am sure it saw me, but wasn't really concerned with me. Another day, I saw a baby cottonmouth (you can tell by not only their size but also their green tail) in the road and encouraged it back into the grass so it wouldn't get squished. I saw a tiny watersnake… and encouraged it back into the grass. I saw the longest rat snake ever backing out of a hole, it was never ending.(No pic of this one). These encounters brought me so much joy because I was lacking the fear that I once had… and I knew what I was looking at. The actual snakes I am speaking of:
When Twisted Anchor put out a call for art for their snake art show, and pointed out that it is the year of the SNAKE, ideas flooded my brain and I had to start making snakes. I had no choice. My interest in them over the past few years has grown so much… I just couldn’t resist.
The actual piece for the Twisted Anchor show is yet to be completed… as are about 6 other ideas in my head. But for now, I leave you with my first couple of snake prints. One of a rat snake, and one of a cottonmouth scale pattern.
Fun Fact: both rat snakes and cottonmouths have keeled scales, or a tiny ridge that runs in the middle of each scale. (this I learned from the Mississippi Snake Identification group.) But what I didn't know was they use these ridges to help climb trees! Some snakes, like racers, don't have the keeled scales and that allows them to glide through foliage.
Preparing to print the rat snake!