Table Sugar, a still life. I recrystallized sucrose from a solution in grain alcohol. It took days for the crystals to form on my glass slide. I spied these two formations, which reminded me of a long married couple. Go figure. This couple would fit between a honeybee's shoulders.

Hey, sugar. I took you, just as you are, from the first pressing of your cane home and still holding hints of molasses, dissolved you in intoxicating DIY (75% alcohol), and let you ripen on a glass slide into sweet crystalline micro-sculptures, each right-sized if you were a hard candy for a bee.

I had forgotten that I submitted a photomicrograph of the soluble and recrystallized components of an opioid pill to Pulse, an online medical, health and healing venue. To my delight, yesterday the editors posted the image and a deep caption explaining it. pulsevoices.org/visuals/opio...

Cold Sun. This, from the archives, makes me think of a star with its broadcast of heat and light dialed down, a fantasy in heat-wave times like these. The image shows a recrystallization on a microscope slide of the amino acid, alanine. The area depicted would fit on the head of a match.

Sweet and Sour. Vitamin C and the sugar substitute stevia, recrystallized from a solution onto a glass slide into minuscule yet jaw-dropping formations, like this one. It would fit inside of a Cheerio's hole. As always, all of the crystal photomicrographs that I post could be hanging on your wall.

Steve and Alan. A combo of the sweetener stevia and the amino acid alanine recrystallized from on my microscope slide from an ethanol solution into organic, kelpy formations. Here is one that grabbed my eyeballs. The area here might fit inside this printed O.

Double T: T and T for the amino acids threonine and taurine, the latter of which was first found in the bile of a bull and gives Red Bull some of its pep. I recrystallized this duo onto a microscope slide and this formation caught my eye. The area shown would fit in a Cheerio hole.

Conjuring a Canopy. An experiment in recrystallizing salicylic acid (C₇H₆O₃), a staple for wart medicine and a chemical precursor to aspirin, yielded a variety of formations on my microscope slide, including this one. The area shown would fit inside the hole of a Cheerio.

Dear Friends, here is something for you to know ... The Golden Hour art exhibit: June 4 - July 24, 2026, South Orange, NJ An eclectic mix of paintings and photography by local artists. ALL WORKS OF ART IN THE EXHIBIT, INCLUDING MINE, ARE FOR SALE! www.creativeincommon.org/gallery

Relax! Cylcobenzaprine–a wingnut-shaped molecule with the formula C20H21N–was first studied as an antidepressant, but now is mostly prescribed as a muscle relaxant. I recrystallized the water-soluble components of a cyclobenzaprine pill onto a glass slide. This formation is the size of a fly's eye.

Vanilla Gone Spectral. I recrystallized vanillin, the primary flavor chemical in the celebrity flavor vanilla, in Mezcal. Here's a snapshot of one of the formations that solidified onto my microscope slide. This crevasse-like formation would fit in a needle's eye, just about.

Come hither. The amino acid and protein building block, alanine, and citric acid, a sour-adding kitchen denizen and a essential player in your cells, recrystallized from a solution onto a microscope slide. This formation, the size of a snowflake, seemed to beckon me into its crystalline microscape.

Geometry Worship. C3H7NO2, 13 atoms in a configuration known as alanine. C6H8O6, 20 atoms in a configuration know as citric acid. Here, I recrystallized this duo of compounds on a glass slide and took this picture through a microscope. The formation is the size of a typical snowflake.

Whirlihoo. Chemicals really do the darnedest things. LIke this. I dissolved two amino acids, alanine and glutamine, into a sub-shot of Mezcal and then recrystallized the solutes onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the microscapes I saw on the slide. It's smaller than an appleseed.

My Facetation With The World. Here's another visage from a glass microscope slide onto which I crystallized a combo of the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia that I had dissolved in grain alcohol. The area seen here would fit readily on a canvas that would fit inside this letter O.

Surge Against Maroon. I recrystallized the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia in on a glass slide. A polarizing filter and a patch of clear plastic food wrapping in the light path did some optical physics to generate the colors. The actual area seen here would fit readily on a fly's wing.

Three Aminos. On a glass microscope slide, alanine, glutamine and glycine (three of the 20 amino acids that build into your body's proteins) recrystallized from an ethanol solution. I used vodka for my solvent. The patch of the slide shown here is the size of a mouse's eye.

Canopy on Kepler-452b. I let a solution of the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallize on a slide. This scene, one of the many I spied on the slide, would fit on a bell pepper seed. Perhaps looking up through tree-like life on a habitable exoplanet like Kepler-452b would look like this.

Glycine is one of the 20 amino acids that build into your body's proteins. In 2016, NASA scientists found glycine in particles of the comet Wild 2 that were returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. I recrystallized glycine on a glass slide. The area shown would fit inside of this printed o.

Abstract of an octopus dream. I found this sesame-seed-sized composition on a microscope slide on which I recrystallized the amino acid combo of alanine and glutamine from a solution. It elicited a cephalopod hallucination, until I looked away.

Begetting Flames. The recrystallization of the amino acids alanine & glutamine onto a glass slide almost always delivers surprises wrapped in beauty. Here I see a core of flame on the purple side of the spectrum giving way to flames on the yellow/red side. This visage would fit on a dragonfly's eye

Curtain Call. Could be a design for a 3-leaved theater curtain. What you see, actually, is a result of a recrystallization onto a microscope slide of the acetaminophen/codeine combo in a percocet pill that I had dissolved into an ethanol solution . The area you see would fit inside this printed O.

Portal in a Thicket. This dendritic formation emerged on a glass slide during a re-crystallization of the natural sweetener stevia and nitrogen-rich urea. On the slide, this molecular sculpture is the size of a freckle.

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Small Salt. I recrystallized a pellet of Morton's water-softener salt, which is almost 100% NaCl, onto a microscope slide. The "big" cubic crystal would fit inside this O. The littler ones in the other picture, with the salt swords and waves, would fit on this period. Click pix for larger formats.

Portraits of Spring during a late April, late afternoon walk in South Mountain Reservation in NJ.

A maiden study of combining my crystal photomicrography imagery with original music. Turn on the sound!

Gratitude to Knowable Magazine for giving this article and second wind.

Roiling. On a microscope slide I recrystallized a combo of alanine and glutamine. These are two of the 20 amino acids that bond into the protein machines that do pretty much everything your body needs to be alive rather than dead. The actual area shown here could fit on a bell pepper seed.

Yang and Yang? Here I recrystallized urea, the world's most used fertilizer, with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull. The symmetry of this formation, the size of a bread crumb, reminds me of the Yin-Yang symbol, except both components seem more Yang-like than Ying-like.

Crossing Paths. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the sweetener stevia nitrogen-rich urea onto a microscope slide. Stevia has a complex molecular structure, urea a much simpler one. On my slide, the hub of this criss-cross is the size of a the period at the end of this sentence.

Sweet Nitro Tsunami. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the natural sweetener stevia and urea, the world's largest nitrogenous commodity fertilizer and a end-chemical in your body's own metabolic industry. This wall of crystal plumage could fit inside of a pigeon's pupil.

A Drop of Rainbow. When it recrystallizes on a microscope slide, vitamin C can assume an astonishing range of forms. Here the edge of a curvaceous front, itself composed of linear crystallites, seems to drip with a chromatic drop of a mystical liquid. It would all fit inside of this printed O.

Seeing C. Shown here is a sesame-seed-size patch of a microscope slide on which I recrystallized vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid. Nature's beauty goes deep. Sometimes it takes tools like microscopes to show just how deep it goes.

The C Dragon. A sprinkle of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) dissolved in Mezcal. The solution, gently applied onto a glass slide. Then, heat and time. As the the vitamin recrystallized, a curious crystalline creature crawled onto the slide. I was not alarmed; it could be caged inside this printed O.

Outward Bound. On this patch of a microscope slide the size of this little o, a couple of amino acids, taurine and threonine recrystallized from a solution into this micronova. A polarizer helped bring out the texture and another optical filter helped to generate the colors.

Sweet & sour moon. The Artemis II mission has been gifting us with new vistas of our gorgeous Earth-Moon duet. This combo of mannnitol and vitamin C delivered their version of a microcosmic pair as they recrystallized on my microscope slides. Here, the moon would fits inside this O.

Fire and Ice. A combo of vitamin C and ascorbic acid, recrystallized from a Mezcal solution into formations that here mash crystalline cold w/flaming heat. Polarizing filters and a retarder, a wavelength-affecting optical element, help bring out the details. This formation would fit on this emogi: 🔥

A preseason dawn in Cape May, NJ.. Two pictures, a few minutes apart.

Mezcal in a C-scape. A solution of Vitamin C in Mezcal, gently applied onto a smooth glass slide. Then, heat and time. Such rewards for this preparation, including this formation showing multiple crystal fronts creating boundaries with each other. This formation would fit within this printed U.

Birds of Paradise in homage of Spring. I spied this floral composition on a slide of recrystallized glutamine & alanine, a pair of amino acids, which are the kinds of little molecules that build into the big protein molecules that get stuff done in your cells. The area here is the size of a lentil.

Starved for Fertilizer. The war with Iran has disrupted the world's fertilizer supply chain, which relies on urea. Here I recrystallized urea with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull, onto a microscope slide. The area you see here would fit would fit on a sesame seed.

PORTAL OF TU. Another image from a recrystallization of the amino acid taurine with urea, a fertilizer (and urine component), onto a microscope slide. This sesame-seed-sized spot on the slide delivered a grabbing composition, rife with a "deep" portal and a fine geometric texture on the left

Oil prices are spiking due to Trump's war with Iran, but so are prices of fertilizers, including urea. I recrystallizerd urea with the amino acid taurine, which is in @redbull.com energy drinks, onto a microscope slide. This phyllo-like formation would fit within a pigeon's pupil.

Two chemicals: urea (in urine and fertilzer) and glycine (one of the 20 amino acids in our proteins). Dissolved in grain alcohol and then recrystallized onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the resulting formations. The area of the slide shown here would fit inside this printed O.

Urea-ka. Urea provides the molecular means by which your body rids itself of nitrogen-bearing waste. It also makes for a great agricultural fertilizer. I recrystallized urea, with a pinch of the amino acid glycine, on a microscope slide and took some pix. This formation is the size of a gnat.

Scenes from Analgesia. Recrystallized onto a microscope slide from a solution in ethanol, aspirin – aka acetylsalicylic acid, aka C9H8O4 – assumed many arresting forms. This one, which reminds me of snow-weighted boughs, would cover an area the size of a teeny pill suitable for a chipmunk.

Flaming Aminos. On a microscope slide, the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallized from a solution into roiling formations like this one. Your proteins, which are molecular actors for everything you do, are rife with these biochemicals. The area shown here would fit on the head of a match.

Spiraling Vitamins. I recrystallized vitamins B12 and C onto a microscope slide. I was thunderstruck by the gorgeous spiral formations that emerged. In this case, a winged being also appears to be escaping from my microscope slide. The area shown here might fit in side one this letter B's windows.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts has released the 2025 Artist Fellowship Catalog, now both online and as a hard copy. I am thrilled and grateful that the council included me and my crystal photomicrography work among such an engaging and diverse group NJ artists. lnkd.in/e8rhzJKW