I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One (VFA-151) emerges from a cloud created when it broke the sound barrier in the skies over the Pacific Ocean, July 7, 1999. (Photo by John Gay/US Navy)

Hope Solo of the USA looks dejected after losing 3-5 after penalty shoot-out the FIFA Women's World Cup Final match between Japan and USA at the FIFA World Cup stadium Frankfurt on July 17, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Chinese woman Duo Zirong feeds stray cats at her home February 14, 2006 in Shanghai, China. Duo Zirong, a Daur ethnic minority group woman from Inner Mongolia and reported as the “Cat Woman”, has housed about 300 cats with her Shanghainese husband Liu Junluo and mother-in-law. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

“The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A rocket, similar to the Al-Qassam rockets used against Israeli is prepared for launch as new members of the Islamic Jihad fighters show their skills as they attend a military show in the former Israeli jewish settlement of Atsmona September 26, 2008 in Rafah, southern of Gaza Strip. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

Members of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire a 41 gun salute in Hyde Park to mark the 60 anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on February 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

A member of Alfama's group is seen before going to the Saint Anthony's Parade in Lisbon, Portugal June 12, 2016. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)