I‘ve spent a little time with the moths again… no joke ..
This time combining the two plates.
Hmm.. nice possibilities. These are just proofs on newsprint which prints up really well! Better sometimes than the expensive paper. That’s just how it is sometimes ..
A couple of pages of notes about the gorgeous colours and patterns of some of the moths.
Eyed hawk moth and Elephant hawk moth.. very beautiful things.
Sketchbook Watercolour 8 x4
I am doing a bit of exploratory work for our proposed Fenland Book, which nicely ties in with some research from last year, concerning the local willows. Willows are a vital foodplant for many insect species, including bees of course and some very beautiful moths. I have become more and more interested in moths having watched a couple of moth ID sessions last year and I am really beginning to appreciate their beauty, diversity and incredible camouflage abilities. The willow it seems hosts well over 150 species of varying shape size and colour.
I am also looking at Fenland moths in general and so am starting off with a few sketches of general moth shapes..an amazing variety I find! These are locally recorded moths so encompass the Great Fen area as well as our small hilly plateau.
Many Moths …pencil on A4 sketchbook.
and a couple of colour note sketches….
I do have a small moth trap which I have yet to use so perhaps I will set it up tonight, although I think it is a bit late in the season.
I am still playing with the coot and after a bit more cutting away I have another black proof.
I am hoping to make a few experiments with this and now have a blue green version and a couple of dark blue ones.
Coot Blue Lino 10 x11 inches
More to come :)
The final piece with some foliage, a suggestion of the birch trees and a view of the distant bird hide. I am dithering about adding a Highland Cow.
The hide is known as“Jon’s Hide” an eco friendly straw bale hide created by Jon Smith one of the restoration officers at the Great Fen project. You can see how the building of the hide progressed here.
The Highland Cattle are there to help manage the land. I included them in my first sketches at the beginning of April. They are good grazers for wet lands and will eat tough weedy plants, keep the vegetation down, break up the ground and so encourage more marsh loving wild flowers.
As I quoted in an earlier post, “artwork is never finished…just abandoned”. At this stage I usually put a picture away for a week or so, out of sight. Then have another look. I might add another leg to the bee… I might add the highland cow…I might play about with the hairs on the bee’s thorax a bit more… but that’s for another time. I shall be back in about a week.
