Beautiful Pest

Invasive species can be beautiful. One example: the butterfly moth (Paysandisia archon), a stowaway in shipments of palms going from its native Argentina to the European mainland. Now thousands of them are happily devouring palm trees from the inside out all along the Mediterranean. But despite their voracious appetite for trees, they are lovely to draw.

 

Pencil Overdrawing

On a steamy Alabama evening a few years ago, I saw something desperately flopping on the pavement in front of the local grocery store. At first I thought it was a small bird, but when it suddenly looped into the air I saw that it was an enormous moth. It struggled upward, scissoring the air with its wings, and then — to my surprise — it flew right in through my open truck window and landed awkwardly on the seat beside me.

This wondrous visitor was Antherea polyphemus, the largest moth in North America and one of a gorgeous retinue of silkworm moths whose beauty rivals that of any butterfly. With no functioning mouth parts, they live only about four days after emerging from their silken cocoons. My polyphemus moth friend appeared to be at the end of his short lifespan. He was missing a leg and a generous wedge of one wing, evidence of a harrowing escape from a hungry bird or the jaws of a gecko.

I let him rest on the seat during the drive home. He died somewhere along the miles of country road and so, after unloading the groceries, I placed the moth gently on my drawing table and sketched the graceful arc and lush patterns of those huge wings. A few weeks later, the sketch became the inspiration for a set of fairy wings:

Few artists use the technique, but pencil overdrawing (drawing the shading and details over a thin, flat layer of watercolor) is perfect for the subtle patterns and textures of a moth’s wing. You build the layers slowly and gradually, barely touching the paper with strokes as light as a moth, and the drawing becomes a deeply relaxing process.

We used pencil overdrawing in this week’s Draw Paint Letter email video lesson. If you like to draw, but are intimidated by realistic watercolor, it’s a good way to get your feet wet (so to speak).

Happy drawing,

Val

Tutorial: Tips on drawing animal eyes

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tutorial

Garden angels

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angels, art, gardening, illustration

Too rainy to garden today, so I painted garden angels instead…

 

 

From the studio: My 2008 Holiday Print

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angel, art, Christmas, fairy, illustration, inspiration, peace, print, Solstice, Val Webb, watercolor

Dear Illustrated Garden readers,

Wishing you peace, here’s my Holiday Print for 2008. She’s painted in watercolor and gouache, and will arrive nicely matted and backed with acid-free museum stock. This is an annual edition of 100, and each piece is numbered, signed and also bears a remarque (a tiny just-for-you original sketch, drawn on the print next to the signature). Matted dimensions are 10×12 inches.

In thanks for a year of friendship and good gardening advice, I’m making my holiday print available to my blog readers for $20 + $3 postage. (International postage will be based on location.)  Let me know if you would like a special message added with your remarque.

To request a print, email me:   studio@valwebb.com

Val

Breakfast at the Caterpillar Cafe

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butterflies, gardening, herbal medicine, illustration

Fennel — sweet or bronze — is a favorite swallowtail caterpillar delicacy, along with carrots and parsley. It’s worth growing a few plants just to attract these beautiful little creatures, with their vivid custom paint jobs and voracious appetites.

So graceful and leggy, fennel has always had a place in our family herb garden. A half-teaspoon of the aromatic seeds, steeped in a cup of hot spearmint tea, is a soothing and safe remedy for nausea. I bruise the spearmint leaves and fennel seeds alike (crushing under a wooden spoon will do the trick) before pouring boiling water over them. Steep for five to seven minutes, strain the liquid, and sweeten with honey if desired.

The stalks are a good substitute for celery in soups.

Children like fennel’s delicately licorice taste. When my girls were small, I’d find them in the garden on summer afternoons, nibbling the feathery leaves like a herd of two-legged deer. Even at three or four years old, they could instantly distinguish between fennel and dill. I had to shoo them out of the herb garden when their grazing got out of hand, or risk not having any fennel for the kitchen.

 

After watching the caterpillars dine for a while, I banished faithful garden dog Atticus to the house (he loves to chase flying insects) and brought the camera out. An adult black swallowtail posed for me — a female, judging from the iridescent blue patches on her hind wings. I hope her presence, lingering among the low-growing greenery, will result in a fresh crop of fat caterpillars in seven or eight days.

Atticus, meanwhile, thinks he should be allowed to participate in some up-close butterfly observation.

Cute rodents and crisp romaine

                                                            Alabama Beach Mouse  (c)2008 Val Webb

 

                  Sketch: Delmarva Fox Squirrel (c)2008 Val Webb

 

A few weeks ago, Terry Burger mentioned the dwindling fox squirrel population in his beautifully written — and unfailingly relevant — blog.  I had no idea what a fox squirrel looked like, so I did a little research. Here, I quickly realized, is a furry little creature with a cuteness quotient worthy of a Disney animated feature. Big, bright eyes and chubby cheeks.  An abundantly fluffy tail.  A perpetually cheery and inquisitive facial expression.  I remembered reading that funding for species protection has been found to heavily favor cuteness. Public support is strong for penguins, pandas and koalas… but most people find it difficult to get misty-eyed about critically endangered fish, moths or worms.

Nevertheless, the fox squirrel and the equally appealing Alabama beach mouse have been added to the growing collection of little paintings on postcards I’m creating for an upcoming show. Postcards from the Edge of Extinction will open May 9 at the Mobile Arts Council galleries. 

Last night, we dined on the first salads of spring. The leaf lettuces (buttercrunch, romaine, oak leaf and red oak leaf) are sweet and crisp. They taste like sunlight and promise. We picked the tender side leaves at dusk, after a day of soft rain.  Mmmmmm… eating the first harvest of the spring garden always feels like the height of luxury.

Mardi Garden

Here in the cradle of Mardi Gras, schools and businesses have shut down while the parades roll and the revelers dance in the streets downtown. Warm, damp, windy weather is blowing ashore from the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly it’s short-sleeve weather again. The garden is calling! We spent all of yesterday turning the patch of soil that will soon be planted with early potatoes, and after hauling and spreading five loads of compost I’m reminded of my unfulfilled resolution to exercise more. Ouch!

     

I’ve completed two more gouache paintings for my show, Postcards from the Edge of Extinction.  Meet the Thick-Billed Parrot (Mexico) and the Splendid Leaf Frog (Central America).  The patterns on the leaf frog’s skin truly ARE splendid… and fun to paint, too.

The Perfect Man gave me an early Valentines Day present this afternoon: a wonderfully intricate Andy English wood engraving, Two Turtle Doves. For Andy’s fascinating step-by-step post on how he created this lovely image — and a photo of the finished print — click here. Prepare to be amazed!

Garden pests, antifreeze and ice cream

Here in the deep South, our pleasantly cool winter weather is punctuated with the occasional three-or-four-day arctic blast of subfreezing temperatures. During these brief periods, much grumbling can be heard throughout the region. We don’t like the cold.

“That freeze last night killed off the rest of my winter vegetables,” we tell our friends at the local feed and seed store, the one place where such garden casualties are treated with sympathy and concern. “But at least the cold will kill off all the bugs.”

Alas, science is rapidly proving that it simply isn’t so. We now know that insect blood contains a protein that works very effectively as a natural antifreeze. The antifreeze protein prevents ice crystals from growing, so the bugs survive frigid weather and are still very much alive (and really, really hungry) when warm days return.

That’s the BAD news. The GOOD news is that the same handy antifreeze proteins are found in some fish blood, and their amazing properties offer hope for future technology that would allow transplant organs to be safely stored at low temperatures. (The antifreeze protein is already being replicated using yeast that contains a fish gene. And, um, guess where it’s being used? Let’s just say, if you’re eating a Breyers Light Double Churned chocolate ice cream bar right now, you might want to go ahead and finish it all up before you read any further…)

Hmmmm…