Arion rufus - frosted glass watercolor mug

This massive black Arion slug is now called Arion rufus after the reddish color phase. But I prefer the old name, Arion ater, which I believe means "black". Totally awesome, this beast! The first one I ever saw in the wild was in a roadside bed of tall Horsetail on Vancouver Island. I shouted excitedly to Fred that I'd found a "black licorice slug". The individual that I have painted here is an adult, 150 mm long. Actually, the meaning of Arion is "horse". This is one hefty horse of a slug! I feel so privileged to paint these animals from life - to get to know the personality of each individual, and enjoy discovering the differences between species. Physical differences, and differences in behavior. They actually get used to being observed by me as I set them on a damp stick which I hold in my left hand as I draw and paint with my right. Shy at first, they spend some time hunched up with their heads tucked under the front edges of their mantles, but eventually each one decides to move. The black Arion does a very strange thing, which reminds me more than a little of a rabbit tucking its head under to receive and re-ingest the special soft fecal pellet that is part of good rabbit nutrition. Periodically this slug attended to its hinder end - eating the clear mucous that accumulated at the opening of its tail-tip mucous gland. Then it returned to its usual business, which in this case was slowly and deliberately searching for a way off the stick. It holds its breathing hole, the pneumostome, very wide open, and I could see the ivory, cottony-textured flesh inside as it took tiny puff-breaths which made the center of its mantle rise and fall a little about once a second. Slugs do not defecate from their tail-ends. They extrude long green strings of gut contents from beneath the front flap of the mantle, right next to the pneumostome - which I seem to remember being held closed during the process. http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.ca/2008/07/slugging-away.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALETA KARSTAD is an artist of the out of doors. With her biologist husband Fred Schueler, she has been exploring nature in Canada for 40 years. Since 2009 this blog has showcased the results of their art and exploration. Here, science, art, and conservation come together. Aleta's paintings glow as you scroll down the blog, and there are many surprises, as her subjects are not all landscapes! Equally enthralling are accounts of how she does them. Alongside the art are journals of adventures in on-site "en plein air" painting, and new discoveries of rare species, invasive aliens, and ecological change. Join in discussion by leaving comments, and purchase Karstad paintings to support art & science in the exploration of Canada. Aleta welcomes contact by e-mail: karstad("at"symbol)pinicola.ca