OniOniOniArt

Like most adolescents, this katydid nymph seems a little out of proportion. [January 29, 2020]

I still have some gold & brown ink splatter paper leftover from Day 20 and decided to sketch another fossil insect. The wasp looks like an ancestor to today's spider hunting wasps with its curly antennae. I actually made this paper a few years ago and then decided it was too textured to use. The brush pen handles the texture pretty well, but there are a few spots where the metallic gold is too thick and the India ink (from the brush pen) doesn't quite adhere. [January 28, 2020]

The ice scorpion is a member of the Scorpionfly family which has the uncanny ability to traverse snow in the winter.  [January 27, 2020]

The 17-year cicada spends most of its life as a larva underground, sucking on tree roots, when miraculously at 17 years of age, all the members of that particular brood come to the surface to mate, lay eggs, and die over the course of many days. How they synchronize their emergence is still a bit of a mystery. Brood IX will be emerging this year in NC, VA, and WV. I'd love to witness their mass emergence and subsequent chaos as they cover every available space and loudly declare their arrival. It also got me thinking, 17 years is a long time...where was I 17 years ago?  Looking back that puts us in early 2003...I was in college and that same year I took a course in entomology. I was working at Petsmart and living in my first solo apartment in Casselberry. I was obsessed with anime and wasn't yet a vegetarian. I had a 1-year old nephew [who is graduating high school this year]. I had two orange fur babies, lots of reptiles, a newt, and some fish. Also, so much strife over t...

This morning again, I suffered from shaking coffee hand...so it's a bit jagged. [January 25, 2020]

For today I decided to reprise my old Creative Sprint project from October 2015 . I always wanted to turn it into a card for my shop, but never got around to it (huh, imagine that, Procrastinating...so unlike me!). So I decided to turn it into a two-color stamp. First I made a register, something to help me line up the stamps with (it's the brown paper under the green bee at top). Then I created transfers for the design utilizing the register so everything *in theory* lines up. One transfer is for the black color, the second is for yellow (which for testing purposes is green, because I have a green stamp pad. I use block printing ink for the actual cards). Above is the yellow stamp, in the process of being cut. After inking the completed stamp, I attempt to line it up with the register so I can mark the paper to assist in lining up the black stamp. Right now it looks like a green potato. Above is the transferred black stamp image before ...

I seem to be making a lot of stag beetles this year. In 2016 , it was preying mantids. Here I've taken my brush pen sketch from  Day 12 and turned it into a stamp. I mostly use these to make greeting cards in my etsy shop.  First I printed out a smaller version of my drawing and outlined it in pencil. Then I taped it face down to a piece of speedy carve, a rubber stamping material.  Rubbing the opposite side with the pencil transfers the lines to the speedy carve. I carve the outlines with my lino-cutting tool: ...and here is the finished stamp... UPDATE!: I made mini greeting cards with this stamp which can be viewed in my shop HERE [January 23, 2020]

The brush pen is a fun thing to use, but the quick sketch does not always come out as hoped. I don't do any pencil sketching for these, it's just brush to blank paper, cross my fingers and hope for the best! Could be worse I suppose :) If I do this for a year, I'll get good at it, right? [January 22, 2020]

And here is the finished dremel-beetle, painted with gold ink and black acrylic paint; sealed with varnish. This could have a pendant bail glued to the back of it to make a necklace, but I don't have any ;) Part I can be viewed Here . [January 21, 2020]

My hubs was very sweet and bought tickets for me to see Jurassic World Live. Once there, we realized that the vast majority of adults were accompanied by children for a reason. It was a good diversion, but definitely geared for kids and not quite what we were expecting ( Poor S! He apologized profusely. Your heart was in the right place!) .  At any rate, in the spirit of Jurassic Park, one of my favorite movies, I've sketched a fossilized mosquito with the brush pen on a background of brown and gold ink splatter - a good substitute for stone I think. Side Bar: I want one of those raptor costumes for Halloween! [January 20, 2020]

I didn't have time to finish this. Similar to Day 13's project, I've used the Dremel to engrave a stag beetle head onto this tiny wood disc. Same process, but I carved it a little deeper this time. Finished project is Here . [January 19, 2020]

This sketch is a species of syrphid (flower of hover fly) which more resembles a bee fly (Bombyliidae) than other syrphids. [January 18, 2020]

Weevils are fun creatures...not so much if they're attacking your food supply, but aesthetically speaking, they're fun to look at. The acorn weevil in particular has an impossibly long proboscis which it uses like a subterranean drill. I didn't quite capture its charming goofiness, maybe I'll try one again later. [January 17, 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...

Yep. I missed another day. Yesterday was full of paperwork and unease. Let that be my excuse. As stated just a short few days ago , anytime I miss a day, the punishment is a roach. [for January 15, 2020]

In my defense, I had too much coffee this morning and my hand was shaky - check out those jagged lines! I was also in a hurry to complete something. Mantispids, AKA mantis flies, are darling little Neuropterans which resemble and behave similarly to mantids. They have a parasitic phase, though, in which they raid spider eggs and wasp nests, so I think that elevates them a bit above mantids in the bad ass department. [January 14, 2020] Side Bar: My husband is dragging me to see Star Wars in the theatre today for a second time. If that isn't love...pray tell what is?

I got a Dremel for Christmas and this is the first thing I've attempted to make with it. I used the engraving attachment. The simple design was inspired by Japanese netsuke (there are many beetle on leaf and manju (painted disc) examples). I would have liked to have cut the background portions deeper, but I got impatient to finish it. Also, I think I need different sized engraver attachments - mine only came with the one, which seems to be good for details, but is tedious for removing background. 'tis tiny... I started with a pencil outline on a tiny wooden disc: Here it is after it's been engraved with the dremel... ...and then painted with acrylics and gold ink... Above is an attempt to add dimensional sealer - it seemed like a good idea at the time. [January 13, 2020]

Here is a stag beetle rendered in a brush pen. I think I'm coming to terms with this brush pen... [January 12, 2020] Update: I transformed this drawing into a stamp for Day 23 ... ...and then used the stamp to make cards for my shop which can be seen HERE

...and just so we can all forget Day 10's post, here is an adorably over-fuzzed bee in mid-flight. [January 11, 2020]

I did not complete my daily bug yesterday! Shame! So I forced myself to draw this sad cockroach, which is the view you would have if it were crawling on your face. Blah! I've stated on here before that, as much as I love bugs, I have no love for roaches (though a certain few are tolerable, perhaps "cute" e.g. the domino roach...), so this is my punishment every time I miss a day - I will draw a roach. :P [for January 10, 2020] PS - "roach on the face" is supposed to be a bad pun on "egg on your face" for when you do something dumb and embarrassing.

The spoonwing is a Neuropteran closely related to antlions. I had some difficulties completing this today - i.e. I'd rather have not, but I'm not sure why. [January 9, 2020]

The devil's coach horse is a rather large rove beetle with the reputation for behaving more fiercely than it actually is. Above is one of its defensive postures. Below is my view while drawing...sweet Damien! He blends in perfectly with the chair... [January 8, 2020]

In honor of my 3rd anniversary with S (he's the tiger beetle) I drew this romantic dinner scene (pre-dinner, because with the species involved here that could get pretty gruesome). I decided on a mantis and tiger beetle based on a previous Creative Sprint project from back in 2015 (and just realized that in this context, they are naked here...hmmm...). My hubs does not approve of my drawing bugs since he hates bugs and makes fake barfing noises every time I show them to him, but he conceded this drawing was alright. [Mwahahaha! Victory...baby steps to total bug domination....] On a side note, we're going to Longhorn for dinner tonight because we received gift cards for Christmas. Free anniversary dinner! We didn't plan that (though I'd like to think we did), but what a great perk for having your anniversary in early January. [January 7, 2020]