OniOniOniArt

Continuing down the miniature path...here is a wee stag beetle. It was made the same way as the tiny fiery searcher . sketch cut stamp color! The tiny stag beetle can be viewed in my shop  HERE [March 3, 2020]

I love miniature things and I already had these tiny easels so I decided to make some mini stamps which I could then color with watercolor paints. As always, I start with a sketch: The fiery searcher is a very colorful predatory ground beetle in the Order Carabidae. Next I transfer the sketch by laying it on the stamping material and rubbing the reverse side with a pencil: Then I begin to cut out the image: Done! Next I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with waterproof black ink: Then I painted it with watercolors: Next I highlighted certain parts with gold ink and cut it out to the desired tiny size: You can view the piece in my shop  HERE [March 2, 2020]

This counts for three days...because I need to catch up!  (And I'm combining posts, also because I need to catch up). Day 59: A blue pleasing fungus beetle (yes, that is its common name), outlined with a brush pen onto ACEO-sized watercolor paper. Day 60: A metallic wood boring beetle, also outlined with a brush pen on the same paper. Day 61: Color and Splatter! As seen above, I've painted the beetles with water color, and I'm masking them for the splattering process ( t his is so I can splatter the background without getting any onto the beetles in theory) . For a mask, I've traced the outlines of the beetles onto clear acetate film and cut them out. I actually do have some Frisket film which is made especially for this sort of thing, but it is more time consuming to cut out and this method works pretty well. Using water color paint and a paint brush, I splattered the paper by "flicking" the bristles. Once it dr...

I tried a little bit of a lighter hand with the brush pen today. I think I have been pressing too hard; this is an improvement. Then I decided it would be fun to splatter watercolor paint on it (and it was!) I put a small paper cut-out over the head and pronotum to keep it clear of paint. [February 20, 2020]

I browsed through some of my old Bug-a-Day stuff from 2016 looking for ideas, when I realized that my friend C never did send me a photo of the watercolor I made at her house (and left there). So I decided to recreate it as best I remember, resulting in the sloppy watercolor above ( Two weeks in, and the creative challenge I've set for myself is already kicking my ass, meaning I'm having difficulty carving out the time to complete something because I feel like there are myriad other things I should be doing) . This is the original post: *** "Open to Interpretation" [Still waiting on C to send me the photo!] I went to my friend C's house to paint away some anxiety. The result was a tiger beetle decapitating many ants in soothing watercolor. C speculated the beetle represented the corporate machine and we are the ants being crushed in its mighty jaws, the flowers (rewards) always in sight but out of reach. This is why I love...

"Green is the color of so many different things.  Use it as your inspiration today." The keeled scales of the rough green snake.  I love green. (watercolor and ink) [October 17, 2016]

"Make something intentionally messy" We'll just call this Chaos, Day 11 , shall we? It turns out making a hot mess with watercolors is a good way to de-stress. (October 11, 2016)

[Still waiting on C to send me the photo!] I went to my friend C's house to paint away some anxiety. The result was a tiger beetle decapitating many ants in soothing watercolor. C speculated the beetle represented the corporate machine and we are the ants being crushed in its mighty jaws, the flowers (rewards) always in sight but out of reach. This is why I love art. What's this really about? I don't have a clue, but it's fun to imagine. It remains in C's custody. [February 12, 2016] Update (1/16/2020): I attempted to recreate this "masterpiece" View it HERE

Diaprepes abbreviatus Watercolors on Bristol, matted with origami paper (aizome chiyogami). It's too bad this insect is an agricultural pest, I think they're beautiful! The colors I used are a slight exaggeration of a bluish-green one in my bug collection. A light reddish color is more common. It is also a shame I was afraid to ruin the origami paper by cutting out the rest of the leg so that it would show. They have such adorable feet: Side bar: This makes up for yesterday's toilet humor ;) [January 9, 2016]

Day 24 Break a Rule. This broke two rules: 1. Color inside the lines. 2. I hate yellow. This watercolor painting is based on a bee fly photo I took in AZ. I don't know what species the flower is - it kinda looks like a tassel flower. I have to admit, the first few brush strokes made me very nervous, but then it was quite liberating putting paint where I normally would not. My strokes were freer, less confined, less controlled. Fun!

Day 13 Use the front page of a newspaper or cover of a magazine as materials or source of inspiration today.  Stargazing Stinkbug My inspiration came from the following National Geographic cover which I happened to observe in a Safeway supermarket: Materials: Paper, glue, watercolor paint, colored card stock, paper board, toothpicks, sharpie marker There are two bug constellations in the sky, a grub on the left and a beetle on the right. The additional toothpick is my Dad's contribution (to be fair, he also suggested the extension on the tripod)