Monarch

This month turned out to be more difficult than I ever imagined. I started off with an image of a praying mantis (one of my very favorite "bugs". I have fond memories from my childhood and my grandmother's garden surrounding these magical walking sticks of the insect family. Alas...the piece would just not materialize. I even wrote to Jan and told her I had put the piece in the corner facing the wall (like all little children who won't behave) and hoped for the best....but it was not to be. I then struck out to work with another favorite....the 17 year cicada but it too escaped my muse (I might add with a great passion) and I had all but given up. I was going to throw in the towel and spray myself down with bug spray and take another tact. THEN.....I looked at the calendar and realized that one of my favorite months was approaching. In October on Nantucket, the Monarch butterflies stop for a rest and to drink their fill of milk weed for their long journey south to Mexico to mate. I've had some amazing experiences standing on the beach at Miacomet Pond, which is surrounded by Golden Rod and Milk Weed, two of the Monarch's favorite foods. They are everywhere and they are so preoccupied with their quest for food and reproduction that they pay little mind to the few humans who come to watch. I've had as many as three of them land on me while observing (quietly I must add) their frenzy.

The moral of this story is not to force the work but let it flow. If it's not working, put it down, walk away and wait for your muse to find you and whisper in your ear. She will and then it's up to you to listen.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Bee Shay

Parasite

This piece came about from experimental "blob" printing with art paste.. After printing this shape on ledger paper, I cut out the human form. The background is gold foil and acrylic paint. I find the image of the large parasite clinging to the human form to be really humorous and not as scary as a picture of a "real" bug. Have I been reading too much science fiction?

(Posted for Judy Stack)

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Judi Stack

Dragonfly

I keep being surprised at what emerges this past two months. These are very different from my usual work. It's more bold. Not as delicate as someone described my work . . . This one popped into my mind and it turned out nearly exactly as I had imagined, not usually how I work. I'm enjoying the process.

Sorry for the late post, had company over the last week and I'm about to give birth to a new web site. Feel like I should get a merit badge!

Suzie

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Suzie Wolfer

This Mosquito Was Caught...

When I was a college student during early 1970s, I had a summer job at Bergen County Mosquito Commission in Paramus, NJ. Sometimes I had to collect live mosquitos out in the meadowlands during early evenings and put them in the freezer. I did ten (10) detailed drawings of the mosquitoes selected from the collection by the supervisor for training purpose, and I kept one of them for my portfolio. A couple of weeks ago, I pulled that colored pencil drawing out of the portfolio case and decided that I would use the image for this artwork.
When I did the colored pencil drawing, I had to use a microscope to examine this mosquito in detail and for color reference. I think that I used Spectracolor pencils on heavy vellum. For the background, I took a photo of the stagnant part of a pond in the woods. This part is a perfect breeding place for mosquitos, and little fishes feed on them. The mosquito above is one of the most common species. There are over 1000 species of mosquitos in this world, and I believe that about 60 species exist in New Jersey if I remembered correctly. And only the females bite.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by &rew Borloz

Butterfly Palace by Cynthia Mooney

My suggestion for a monthly theme was butterflies, so of course I wanted to incorporate them somehow. Butterflies have been a part of my art work for many years & to me represent transformation and rebirth.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Cynthia Mooney

Dragon Fly Visitor

Frequently several dragonflies visit our flower garden so I decided to depict one as my August challenge.

The background is a piece of painted muslin. I try to recycle silk flowers so I used some tiny pink blossoms, then created the leaves from the petals of a silk daisy. The stems are strips of green fabric stitched to the canvas. The dragonfly body was painted on paper and the wings are dried florals from my garden. He is glued into place. The music is from a vintage duet booklet that I purchased this weekend at a local flea market. The vintage lace was also a weekend find. All is fastened to a piece of canvas board using Steam-A-Seam2 sold by the Warm Co.

I will be placing this is a black frame for display.


Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Marylin Huskamp

Entomology 8x8 Fossils

The texture in this piece is hard to capture with scanner or camera. I bought some plastic insects at Party City and embedded them in plaster of Paris. Then I removed the insects and painted with acylics using some stencils and texture stamps. The large beetle is one of my drawings. I printed it, the scarabs and the word "Entomology" on tissue paper and used matte medium to adhere them to the plaster.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Paula McNamee

Cicada

As a child growing up in the Midwest, the droning buzz of the cicada brought anticipation of summers to be and memories of summers past to mind. So this composition came together as tribute to those hot and humid summers, catching tadpoles in the creek, swimming in the lake, riding in the car with the window down for air conditioning, dreaming on the lawn in the evening and the flight of the fireflies at night. I used Golden Liquid acrylics, mixed with their new line, Open Acrylics (they stay wet much longer, allowing more painterly affects). The design was free-handed based on a textbook photo of a cicada and memories from my childhood. Enjoy.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Jan Harris

Crab

I loved the theme this month!

I couldn't stop with just one and actually have also created a bee, beetle, lobster, and another owl in the same format. Those can be viewed soon at www.sixthstreetgallery.com.

To answer a few questions on my work-I begin each piece with a sketch on graph paper, I then transfer that image onto board and add all of the details with pencil. I use a gouache/acrylic paint because it is very opaque and solid in color. And to complete the piece I outline everything with a technical pen.

Thank you for all of the positive comments on my owl! I was very nervous to show the piece since it was so different from the other entered pieces.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Traci Donahue

Dearest

I have always been enamored with butterflies. When the entomology theme was introduced, it was an easy choice for the subject.

The work is painted on fabric using acrylic washes, along with stitching, beading, and additional washes applied of an iridescent paint and liquid gold leafing. There is only a small bit of collage incorporated into the piece.

The exploration of pattern continues with a play on the idea of a garden through the interpretation of an antique Victorian floral wallpaper design.

Again, I pose the question to the viewer of whether the butterfly is real or part of the wallpaper. He casts a patterned shadow of stars to aid in this transition from tabletop to wall.

An additional note, the butterfly is actually 3 dimensional. Although difficult to see in the posted image, the body is sewn to the background allowing the wings to lift just like in real life.

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Tracie Huskamp

Forest Spider

Hello Everybody!
I just had to get arting up lately, so here is my August canvas. I used a transparency for the background for my spider. (I wonder of this is going to be a trend for me throughout this challenge.) It is a picture of a vine maple on my property. Then I found a small branch, cut to size and attached with two wires. Threaded the "spider web" and added my spider. Somewhat simple, but quite effective I think. I hope it doesn't scare the spider-phobes too much.

Since I only get to this blog about once a week it makes it difficult to comment on each separate piece put up. I would like to say now, that all the artwork to date is FABULOUS! I'm very honored to be in the company of such wonderful artists!

Art and image copyrighted 2008 by Z'Anne Bakke