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Use coupon code PICKUP to pick up your order at our workshop in St John's, our booth at Portland Saturday Market, or at travelling shows. Find us in booth 902 every Saturday and Sunday at the Portland Saturday Market, March - Dec 24th.
Lupus Lucidum - Glowing
Lupus Lucidum - Glowing
This is a limited original canvas print. Sienna Morris hand paints each of these fine art canvas prints with phosphorescent and fluorescent paint, making them glow brightly under a UV light or for a short time at night.
It comes with a magnifying glass and a certificate of authenticity which describes the numbers used in the piece. Both the art and the certificate are signed, numbered and dated. This piece also comes with an 8x10 microscope photograph she took in her lab of either a sheep or a cow's tapetum lucidum.
Artist recommends purchasing this with the custom shadow box frame, which includes a UV light installed under the frame.
We use hemlock wood for the front of the frame, and pine for the sides. Stain color options available for custom glow pieces. Contact Sienna via the contact page to discuss your options.
"Lupus Lucidum" is drawn with science to explain the function of a wolf's night vision and eye shine. It is drawn with a chemical formula for Guanine which is an important chemical of the tapteum lucidum. There are also Rayleigh scattering equations to quantify the light photon's behavior as they pass through the many thin crystalline layers of the Tapetum Lucidum and reflect back into the eye and out of the pupil. The light enters the eye, reflects off the Tapetum Lucidum which is behind the retina, and bounces around the eye, increasing the photon absorption in the photoreceptors, giving animals like wolves, cats and dogs vision at night. This is also why you see that characteristic "eye shine" when a bright light hits their eyes. This is the light bouncing off the tapteum and exiting their pupil. There is also a little speed of light thrown in there and some Retinal, as the increased light from the tapetum is absorbed by rod cells.
The last photo you see in this collection is a photo I took with my microscope of the tapteum of a cow eyeball. A print of this comes with the glowing limited editions. The original will come with a framed print of the microscopy.