The Beautiful Adder

My Beautiful Beast for this week is the adder, fascinating secretive and much maligned.

A brief description: A stocky snake which is usually around 2 ft long.

Males tend towards a grey, whitish, occasionally yellowish colour. The contrast with the black markings can make them appear almost silver. The females tend to be brownish with considerable variation of shade and occasional hints of red or yellow. The heavy dark zigzag pattern runs down the back with dark spots in rows on the flanks. At the back of the head there is a heavy “V” or “X” shaped marking and a dark band running from behind each eye.
The head shape is notably different from the other British snakes being rather broad and angular with an upturned snout.
The eyes are large and tend to be reddish in colour with a vertical pupil – again a feature unique to this species in this country.

from Add an Adder site, part of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation trust (ARC)

As part of our Beautiful Beasts work Sue and I are working on something of Fenland theme as we live on the borders of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Adders were once quite common there but not much loved.There are some grisly stories from the Fens about the treatment of and superstitions surrounding adders. The adder rarely escapes with its life.
See my post on P&L, Adders What’s not to love? for a bit more adder info.

But I don’t think I want to go down the superstition route for my work which just perpetuates ignorant dislike of this lovely creature.  Perhaps pattern, perhaps habitat, perhaps a pleasing design, perhaps basking in the sun which is what I wish I were doing right now.

Initial sketches.

 

Watercolour Sketches looking at pattern and camouflage.

I used a very simple adder for  my first Japanese style woodcut.I am hoping to develop that a little more this week.