aaron

Overall

After I dropped out of college, I started freelancing while also having some kind of day job. I fell in love with the world of plants after working at my first nursery and horticulture has been my career ever since. I still enjoy making art but my creativity comes in extreme waves, so the spontaneousness of freelancing works well for my life style. Iv always been a bit of a weirdo and my work defiantly expresses that. The philosophy of one being unapologetically true to themselves is a huge part of my queer experience. Art is a powerful tool and I use it for my own expression, but i also hope i can share that connection with others as well. It’s the human way!

jpegdisco was a name that combined two big interests of mine. The word jpeg, paid homage to how I created my first pieces of digital art in the early 2000s. Even though I don’t dare touch that file type for my work today, it gives me a lot of nostalgic joy. as for disco I feel thats pretty self explanatory. Sister Sledge, Cheryl Lynn, Donna Summers, Chic (this could be a very long list) are musical artists I associate heavily with my childhood. It was music created by minority communities and even considered “perverted” for its time. Truly a genre that pioneered a lot of what we listen to today and, in my opinion, hosts cultural importance thats worth celebrating. These two words were kind of just slapped together but they invoke a feeling of personal nostalgia that I enjoy.

aaron’s naturalist log

  • blooming oakleaf hydrangea

  • fruiting american mulberry

  • euphorbia

  • banana slug

  • blooming northern catalpa

  • opalescent nudibranch

  • robin fledgling

    every season we have young robins hopping around the lot. sometimes they wonder inside the green house and i have to relocate them.

  • moon snail egg collar

    can you believe there are thousands of tiny little eggs compacted into that thing? they littered the ocean floor when i went tide pooling in 2022.

  • painted anemone

  • large burls on an oak

    this is an oak at my parents house. it has large burls due to, what looks like, a past injury that damaged the cambium. this burl is a whopping 20’ in circumference, wow!

  • red rock crab...i think

  • parsnip swallowtail caterpillar

  • carolina mantis oothecae

  • miss olive greenhouse manager

  • bald cypress fall foliage

  • lacewing fly eggs on a red maple

  • gall on an oak leaf

  • golden rod bloom

  • shield bug nymphs

  • two marked treehopper

  • hummingbird clearwing moth

  • daffodil blooms

  • old growth katsura

  • squid egg sack

  • bull kelp

  • common garter snake

    another animal i relocated pretty frequently at my old nursery, but such a treat when i get to!

  • old growth sycamore

  • fruiting service berry

  • robin hatchlings

  • eastern redbud spring foliage

  • 380 yr old white oak

    This is the oldest tree in Cincinnati OH. She has large hanging branches that touch down to the ground, giving her almost the shape of an octopus!

  • brood x nymphs

  • io moth

  • brood x cicada

  • brood x nymph shells

  • freshly emerged brood x cicada

  • blooming "ann" magnolia

  • salamander

  • lined chiton

  • ochre sea star

  • moon snail shell

  • defense postured garter snake

  • bull frog tadpole

  • reverted wheeping bald cypress

    This was a bald cypress that lived in my old nursery’s display bed. i’m especially found of her because it WAS a weeping variety, but then decided to “revert”.

  • bald cypress "knees"

    Bald cypress thrive naturally in swampy environments. You will find that the roots closest to bodies of water will form “knees”. Botanist don’t really know why but its thought to be an adaptation to help the tree adapt to wet conditions.

  • monarch butterfly

  • black and yellow garden spider

  • fasciated rudbeckia

    This was such a treat to see! We got a shipment of annuals and one of the blacked eyed susans had fasciation. This is when a plant’s tissue abnormally fuses.

  • organ grape

  • fern spores

  • swamp cicada

  • carolina mantis

  • kelp crab

  • bald faced wasp nest