Speckled Wood Butterfly and Inspiration

Finished watercolour painting of
Speckled Wood Butterfly
http://www.lisatreadwell.co.uk/Painting%20pages/butterflypaintin.html

‘Speckled Wood Butterfly’ and inspiration

Initially it appears dancing lightly around, a papery being that wishes not to be other than a part of the background it inhabits. This is my first impression on spotting a speckled wood butterfly. They are as subtle as the sun dappled hedgerows and woodland they like to inhabit. It is however on closer inspection a more sturdier creature than first crossed my vision, with creamy yellow spotting that sits well on rich brown wings.

I am able to revisit these impressions in my mind and with the photographs I have taken of this butterfly I was able to work out a design that exemplifies this ephemeral being of woodland and hedgerow.

To begin with I make some sketches, small rough thumbnails just to get a feel of where I would like to place things. I wanted to show off the rich creamy speckles contrasted to the deep chocolate browns on the upper surface of the wing and also the subtle range of colouration on those under wings. The photographs had been taken in August and the butterflies where settled on blackberries, the dark colours of which added emphasis to the creamy spots on the butterflies wings. A darkened background would through the butterflies into greater relief.

I was most pleased with this painting once I had finished it and on 24 May this painting was commended in the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year Award 2012. All winning entries can be viewed at: http://www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/bbc-wildlife-artist-year-2012-winners?utm_source=Responsys&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=NLT_WILD_050712_GE

To find out more about the speckled wood butterfly or other uk butterfly species visit the website of Butterfly Conservation http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/

An initial rough sketch

A rough watercolour sketch

Design layed out on Arches Aquarelle
paper and masked ready to put down
the first section of background

Background applied

Masking removed

Second area of background applied
and painting progressing to final image

 www.lisatreadwell.co.uk

"Jeepers Creepers Where'd Ya Get Those Peepers"

Watercolour painting of Norfolk Hawkers.
© Lisa Treadwell
to view www.lisatreadwell.co.uk

How can I explain the surge of excitement I feel when I spot a dragonfly at rest and I have my camera in hand. It is made up of the anticipation of getting that definitive shot, a challenge of stealth in order to get close enough for the shot and the privileged spectacle of seeing these arial entomological jewels at close quarters.

Have you ever looked deep in to a pair of dragonfly eyes? I have and ‘gosh oh golly what a pair of eyes’. The photos are for reference for my paintings, and I like to get in close and reveal all that detail you would never see from a distance. Dragonflies are voracious aviators and whilst stationary not easy to approach when the sun is out, especially the group known as the Hawkers.

For some time I have been fooling myself that if I get out there early before the sun picks up I can get lucky and find some species at rest in the reeds before they stir from their torpor. For this reason there I was at 6.30am in the Bure Marshes NNR parting reeds and ‘waking’ to the realisation I was actually looking for a needle in a haystack.

My target quarry for the day was the Hairy Dragonfly and in particular the female. I had some reasonable pictures of the male from a previous visit. The females are often more difficult to photo in general, they don’t usually strut their stuff as do the males that like to hang out and patrol a territory over a stretch of water and their colouration is not so spectacular. I would guess for the purpose of camouflage during the vulnerable time when they are ovipositing (egg laying). They show up at the water-body in their own good time when they are ready to mate.

The 29 June may be considered a little late for this early season species. On a previous visit at the respectable time of 10am I had observed a dozen or so males patrolling a stretch of dyke, with their typical habit of flying about a foot or so over the water and zig-zagging in and out of the emergent reeds. This time at 6.30am only the keen Black tailed Skimmers were responding to my intrusions.

Close up of the Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense).
© Lisa Treadwell

Female Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isoceles)
with identifying green eyes and yellow
isoceles triangle at the top of the abdomen.
© Lisa Treadwell

As I strolled around Mr. Pratense (scientific name Brachytron pratense) made an appearance at 9.45am landing once to taunt me and on a second time obliging for a minute or so while I got those all valuable shots. Observing through my Sigma 105mm macro lens I can see all that detail of colour in the eyes, rich cobalt blue, cerulean and burnt umber to complement, not just two eyes but a composite of 1000s all interpreting a segment of the world from behind a spherical glaze.

There were few dragonflies on the wing but in a precious moment aided by serendipity, one and then a second Norfolk Hawker landed a few feet away on the edge of the ride and very close to the floor. I did manage to acquaint the camera to this species last year and have made a painting from the results. Yet when this species presented itself to me so boldly this morning I felt nothing other than the delight of a child in a sweet shop. Which one to photo? No time for decision the choice was made for me, one took off and the other must have gone into sensory shut down. I was on the ground soaking up the wetness of the marsh through the seat of my trousers. The eyes of the rare Norfolk Hawker are renowned for being apple green and yet this particular individual on close inspection had a pure spot of cerulean on each eye, I was absolutely stunned.

I may not have got that shot of the female Hairy Dragonfly I wanted but I did not come away empty handed and I just want to say it again, Louis Armstrong had it right ‘Gosh oh golly what a pair of eyes’.

www.lisatreadwell.co.uk