Recent Jar Creatures...

Smile.

Eye of the Beholder

Fine line pen on card. A4
Inspired by the patterns found on species of Goliath Beetles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/insectopolis/6261331252/

Saturn

Pigeon Skull, dead,dried and set Beetles and Flies, Amethyst, Acrylic paint - inside old Nautical brass porthole frame.  - 11cm across

Skull and Beetles - before setting in frame.

Purbeck Mason Wasp

Pseudepipona herrichii -  The Purbeck Mason Wasp, a scarce and localised species in the UK. 
drawn as a commission, to go along side my earlier Urocerus gigas illustration.

permanent markers, fine line pen, acrylics on A4 cartridge paper

Something prickly

Eudejeania diabolis, an imagined Giant Tachinid fly, based on the real Eudejeania melanax. Tachinids are parasitic in their larval stage, developing inside the bodies of caterpillars and other insects, usually each Tachinid species has a specific host, or range of hosts. This one is giant, around 60mm long, and develops inside the bodies of small mammals.

permanent markers, fine line pen on A4 cartridge paper.

for this drawing I used some of Chris Raper's fantastic photos of tachinid specimens as reference.

Recent work- uni project and more...

Recently I have been working on a project called 'This is Your Life' and I was given the man Robert Newton Ford, to base the work on. He is the the who shot Jesse James, back in April 3rd 1882. I decided to base the work around this one particular moment in his life because it was the moment that defined him, in my eyes, particularly because he spent his younger days in awe of Jesse James, and admired everything he did. I looked into the reasons for the assassination, and found that Ford was under extreme mental conflict, from the side of him that wanted to make a name and be remembered in legend as he knew Jesse James would be, and the opposing side which admired and loved Jesse James, and almost wanted to become him.

Marker pens, fine line ink pen, coloured pencil and acrylic on white card.

I have also just finished making 2 miniature insect taxidermy domes, in the style of the old Victorian style taxidermy displays. These domes are the small plastic domes with bases that are designed to display gem stones or thimble collections etc. They are around 40mm tall, so the insects inside are quite small. One dome holds three Nomad bees, collected in the UK, and the other holds 2 bright metallic green Chrysomelid beetles.

Ancient