Elephant Pseudomorph (Dali after Moebius)

Today's Tiny Tuesday is my final as host, and the theme is “surreal”. If you'd like to join in, post a macro, close-up or picture of something tiny, that seems (at least to you) surrealist, and tag it TT487.  You can google macro surrealist photography for some ideas. Visit Blipfoto's Community Challenges if you're new to the whole idea of these fun photographic challenges.

I've mashed up two close-ups here, both involving my husband's mineral collection.  In the background are some azurite suns (enlarged, repeated), in the foreground a malachite mother elephant is wailing for her baby elephants lost in quartz jungle or perched precariously on an amethyst cliff face.

In mineralogy a pseudomorph involves one mineral taking on the characteristic form of another as result of the new mineral replacing the original mineral. Which frequently happens with azurite and malachite.  In this case, the title refers to elephants (a regular subject of surrealist Dali) and the crystal landscapes so popular with fantasy cartoonist Jean Giraud (Moebius).

I was in two minds whether to post this realistic version or the one put through a cartoon filter in Filter Forge to more closely conjure up a Moebius world. Unfortunately, despite renewing my Blip membership, I have no Extra, so if you want to see that, you'll have to go to this temporary Flickr upload)

Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.  It's been a blast hosting, but I can't deny I'm looking forward to taking things a bit easier in October!