Artist collaboration: beautiful slime colonies in Petri dishes

[Dan Power]

Hey Slime friends

I’m an Australian artist/science communicator currently working on an exhibition on soil, fungus, slime and insects. I’ve been building up to a work that explores de-centralised intelligence in ant super colonies, and what better way to design it then collaborating with SLIME MOULDS!

Unfortunately, my deadline is looming and my slime cultivation skills need a lot of work. I am searching for slime-enthusiasts who would be willing to let me use their photos of colonies (preferably Physarum species) growing in round Petri dishes as references for my work.
Namely, 3x small oil paintings of slime moulds and 1 large illustration of an ant super colony that maps the intelligent foraging behaviour of a particularly clever/ beautiful slime mould -see the bellow concept sketch. All submissions welcome - with image credit provided for the final work but I need to get moving on this ASAP. 

massive thanks, and happy sliming! 

[Vicente Lopes]

Hi Dan,

I'm willing to help with the source material!

Let me know the specifications you might have in mind.

[Dan Power]

Hi Vicente, thank you for your interest and quick reply!

I would love a sample of 10-20 happy slime mould colonies, ideally growing in round containers or Petri dishes with a few dense clusters or nodes linked together with some main arteries and fan-like foraging patterns. Any images that you feel show slime at its smartest - that is - displaying an elegant, efficient growth pattern, preferably without any obstacles (or mazes). 

I plan to select 3 images that are particularly aesthetic and make some small oil paintings, and then choose the best to use as the layout for the ant colony artwork. I’d like to get going ASAP so your help is appreciated!