Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿
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palaeojules.bsky.social
Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿
@palaeojules.bsky.social
7.1K followers 1.4K following 900 posts
British Palaeobotanist, palaeobotanical illustrator and consultant, currently researching Mesozoic plants.
🌿Commissions and consulting open!🌿
BSc, MRes, PGR Student at OU
(she/her)🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈
patreon.com/JulianneKiely
https://palaeoflora.blogspot.com/
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palaeojules.bsky.social
So, an unexpected development, but I'm gonna be giving a talk tomorrow at SVP in Birmingham!!!!! I'll be speaking about palaeobotany in palaeoart, so hopefully it goes well despite being slightly rushed😅.

Anyway, if you're gonna be around for #SVP tomorrow, come say Hi!!! #paleoart #palaeobotany
A PowerPoint title slide with the words The Problem with Plants, Why restoring extinct plants is difficult for palaeoartists.
November 10, 2025 at 9:34 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
I haven't posted much in a while because, probably unsurprisingly, my PhD has kept me busy! But I was just using this drawing of Wielandiella angustifolia from last year, and I realised that I've never shared a close-up showing all the details of the leaves! So anyway, enjoy! #paleobotany #paleoart
A close up of the canopy of a plant with several thin stems ending on clusters of long serrated interlocking leaves.
November 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Oh wow, I just found out that Alderblattina simmsi got published a year ago! This still might be one of my best pieces of artwork; certainly one of the ones I'm most proud of. It went on to win an award, and it's one of the best environmental pieces I've done! #fossilfriday #paleoart #paleobotany
A drawing of a cockroach crawing over moss
October 24, 2025 at 3:44 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Reposting an oldie for #FossilFriday!
This is Kalligramma brachyrhyncha, a medium-sized kalligrammatid ( #Mesozoic lacewings) from the Middle #Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. It is known to have had eyespots on its wings and may have acted as a pollinator for #bennettitaleans. #paleoart
A brown butterfly or moth-like insect with an eyes pot on its wing sitting on a yellow flower like cone.
October 24, 2025 at 1:26 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
OMG, thank-you so much to everyone who congratulated me! I still can't quite believe that I'm here, but I'm already enjoying it sooo much!!! Sorry for the lateness of the reply, and the lack of individual thanks - first two weeks have even pretty busy, but I'm basically settled in now! Thanks y'all!
A Ginkgo leaf of a microscope being back-lit. A page of pressed Ginkgo leaves A view down a microscope of Ginkgo leaf venation Me in the labs, supposedly working with a microscope in the background.
October 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Yeah, I haven't really thought about it too seriously before. I've sometimes wondered if the feathers just kinda splay out to the sides, as they do in some fancy pigeons? But of course they are different in both their arrangement and morphology.
youtu.be/oHVt2yn8zaA?...
A white and grey and black pigeon with grey wings on its feet which splay out flat against the floor it's standing on.
October 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Continuing my recent trend of #Yanliao beasties, here's an updated, more serious attempt at #Jeholopterus for #FossilFriday!!! The camouflaged colouration is based in #Ginkgo bark, which would have grown in contemporary forests.
#paleoart #paleontology #sciart #pterosaur #Jurassic #paleobotany
A mottled grey and brown fluffy pterosaur seen in overheaad view, with its left twing and leg outstretched as if in flight, and it's right wing and leg tucked up as if at rest. The patterning in its body and wings looks like Ginkgo bark and its incredibly fluffy.
October 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
And here we have the original Dead Darwin, which was just a relatively quick pen sketch! #paleoart #paleontology #pterosaurs #jurassic #sciart #FossilFriday
A pen sketch of a dead Darwinopterus with its wings partially folded and its head and tail curved up and back over its body.
October 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
A very happy #FossilFriday to everyone except this poor Darwinopterus, which has unfortunately succumbed to whatever ailed it. This is actually a redrawing of a Dead Darwinopterus which I drew years ago, only with updated anatomy. #paleoart #paleontology #pterosaurs #jurassic #sciart
A freshly dead darwinopterus corpse with a cream and brown body, and a blue headrest and tail. It's wings are folded partially and it's hard and tail are pulled up back. This position is based on the idea of it falling through the waters of a lake, or settled at the bottom with some of it's buoyancy keeping parts of it afloat.
October 10, 2025 at 4:23 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Some good news from me; I've just started a PhD on plant evolution at @openuniversity.bsky.social!!! I'll be posting a lot more soon, but for now here're some of photos from my first week! I can't believe I'm finally here!
#phd #paleobotany #paleontology #research #botany #plants #leaves #evolution
Me standing in front of a poster by Dr Emily Swaby, which my artwork of an ancient dragonfly figured. Me smiling with a pathway in the ou campus in the background One of the induction lectures, with a slide showing a mansion with the caption Expectations, and a chappy logo house with he caption Reality My desk!!!! Aaahhhhhhh!!!!!! With a fan and computer screen set up on it
October 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
It's been a busy week, and I have a LOT of photos to post, so I'll be catching up over the weekend. But in the meantime, here's a Palaeobotanical Bouquet, which I drew earlier this week during an icebreaker event!!!!!!
#FossilFriday #paleobotany #plants #paleontology
A black pen drawings of a bouquet of prehistoric plants. There are lots of leaves and stems and it's kind of a mess. On the front of the wrapping of the bouquet is a cross section through sediments with some fossil blocks in it, and in the top right of the wrapping is a pencil, a magnifying glass and a fossil plant.
October 3, 2025 at 6:27 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Happy #BiVisibilityday everyone!!!
#lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia+ #bisexual #bi
A cartoon sinosauropteryx holding a ginkgonstick with a bi flag attached to it. The background is also coloured like the bi flag.
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Happy #FossilFriday! Here's a little goober I haven't shared here yet: a Tianyulong jumping of a broken branch of Yimaia capituliformis (a relative of ginkgo). This is based on an unpublished specimen which did the rounds online a few years ago. #paleoart #paleobotany #paleontology #dinosaur
a small brown dinosaur with a very fluffy round body and a long skinny tail with a tuft at the end jumping off a broken off ginkgo branch, splinters of wood fly through the air behind it.
September 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
So, we finally have more iridescent mammals!!!

This is really useful for paleoart as it helps to show what #iridescence on monofilaments looks like, which is difficult to tell from just birds.

Now I just need to try and access the paper.
share.google/jWVQz8BtmVmY...

#paleoart #mammals
The back of a brown rat with streaks of iridescent blue and green on some hairs
September 12, 2025 at 2:38 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
I re-illustrated #Anchiornis again, and it looks quite a bit different from usual!!! This still matches the known data for this #dinosaur, but I really wanted to avoid it looking copy-pasted this time. I've given a full description of it on my Patreon.
#FossilFriday #paleoart #paleontology #sciart
A square image with the head, neck body and wing of anchiornis visible. Is is a long thick necked bird with a grey body and ginger patches on its head and upper arm. The wing is made of many feather layers which are white with black tips.
September 12, 2025 at 2:17 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
If anyone wants to get a closer look at any of these or find out a little extra information about them, I've added all of these drawings at their original resolution to my Patreon:
www.patreon.com/posts/137343...
Fuzzed out image with the words An assortment of Jurassic Goobers on it.
August 29, 2025 at 12:43 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Here's an assortment of #Jurassic critters for #FossiFriday, which I recently put together! Honestly, I particularly love my #Heterodontosaurus (the best dinosaur!) and the wittle #moth Archaeolepis! And of course, there are plenty of #plants. #paleoart #paleontology #paleobotany #sciart #dinosaur
A square image with a pale off white background with many leaves, trees, branches, fruiting bodies and animals scattered across it!
August 29, 2025 at 12:27 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Behold our Lord and Saviour, @davehone.bsky.social !
A close up of my pin badge jacket, which white denim with a pink collar. On the colar are various badges including a pale pink badge with DAVE Hone's face on it.
August 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Nanjinganthus was originally described as an Early Jurassic flower but was very quickly suggested to be a conifer cone. However, it's never been drawn the latter way - this undoubtedly warps people's perspectives of it as male #conifer cones don't look the way we imagine them! #paleoart #paleobotany
Nanginganthus then and now. A picture on the left of a drawing I did at the time based on the initial interpretation. On the right is a new restoration based on a more correct conifer cone interpretation.
August 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Oh HIIEEEEEE!!!! Yeah, here it is; this is the talk I gave and an additional diagram I made. I hope they're helpful!
youtu.be/_p4jmlj-Fkk?...

#paleoart #paleontology
A diagram showing a prototaxites with explanatory text
August 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Speaking of this: I'm still really proud of my geological and palaeogeographic maps, and the strat column I created for my undergrad Dissertation! They're all inspired by the Sheikah Slate map in #Zelda: Breath of the Wild!!! It took me a long time to match their style, but I'm very pleased with it!
Geological maps in dark browns and blues Palaeogeographic map showing south America and Africa just barely connected to each other. Stratigraphic log of the Araripe Basin
August 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Aaaand here's the final haul from @dinoconuk.bsky.social!!!! Omg there were so many gorgeous things, but I was good, and didn't get too much.... most of these are gifts or sticker swaps from some of the amazing palaeoartists at #dinocon: thank-you so much, Everyone!!!!! I had a wonderful weekend!! 🥰
A photo of prints and stickers arranged on a green background
August 22, 2025 at 3:42 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
Almost a week on, and I had a simply AMAZING weekend at the first ever @dinoconuk.bsky.social! Ahhhhh!!! I can't believe how well it went!!! So many nice people! So many great stalls! So many fantastic talks and workshops! It was incredible and I can't wait for next year!!! #FossilFriday #paleoart
Me standing behind my stall. A close up of the badges and stickers I was selling The palaeoartists panel I was on Me covering my face in embarrassment in the panel
August 22, 2025 at 2:12 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
We're all prepped and on our way to @dinoconuk.bsky.social!!!
See y'all soon!!!
#paleoart #paleobotany #paleontology #comicon #stall #dinocon
Stickers and badges all packed up Close up of ammonite badges A few jurassic park plant stickers Bags all packed up in a pile at the station.
August 15, 2025 at 1:14 PM
palaeojules.bsky.social
I had an idea.... I made said idea.... I made myself a LOT more work....and I'll have Palaeobotanist badges at @dinoconuk.bsky.social !!!!!

#paleoart #paleobotany #paleobotanist #badges #convention #comicon
The Jurassic Park logo with a plant silhouette and the word palaeobotanist on a badge being held in for the of some Ginkgo leaves
August 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM