The Eyes Have It

A medium-sized brown butterfly called a Little Wood-Satyr seems to show up everywhere, at least in the eastern US. It is just about as common as the Common Wood-Nymph, and I would consistently confuse the two as they fluttered across our fields in Pennsylvania. So when a brown butterfly with eye spots showed up in our tiny yard in Massachusetts, it was time to figure out what distinguishes the two--and it seems to be the eye spots. The Little Wood-Satyr (which was the visitor I saw)

has two large eye spots on each forewing and hindwing, and so I focused on those eye spots in my weekly block:

But those two tiny white dots in the center of each eye are intriguing as well, although they don't seem to figure in the identifying process. And then there are the lines on butterfly wings that zig and zig and arc and curve--and that I love to add to my design.

It is satisfying to reach clarity on something in this confusing world, even if it is as insignificant as a brown butterfly.

And, if you are still reading, thanks for the company!

Linking with Nina's Off the Wall Friday!

My Favorite Color

Just had to celebrate the success of the few plants I transplanted last year. Turtleheads always make me smile because they are so aptly named. And this is just one patch. They love this shady, very damp place, where it looked like only jewel weed (and its companion plant that will not be named) would grow. 

And if an art lesson is to be learned, aside from just the beauty of these flowers, it is that, if you keep trying, you will find what works, whether it's a piece you are getting frustrated with--or your life. Don't give up on the difficult places.

Flies That You Don't Want to Swat

I have had even more reason not to be keeping up with my insect journey since I have been on a different journey--to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where I renewed my spirit with scenes like these:

But I did manage to put the finishing touches on a few insect squares. The first was inspired by a Longlegged Fly that caught my eye on the bottom of Tom's kayak:

This guy gleams iridescent green with even more gold highlights than the camera picked up. There are many, many species of these flies that survive by eating other smaller insects (yay!) so I couldn't identify it more specifically, but the wing patterns are distinctive. So I took the opportunity to put some gilt foil on some fabric, something I haven't done in a while, and then tried to capture that rather Celtic-looking pattern on the wings.

 

And then another fly showed up serendipitously as we were eating breakfast on our deck one morning. It was unsuccessfully trying to hide under the top of the railing--a Summer Fishfly. These are quite common around ponds but I had never seen one before because they are nocturnal and usually more successful in finding a good spot big enough to accommodate their three inches during the day.

The larvae of these guys live several years in the water eating little bugs and even tadpoles. But look at the patterning on the veins of the wings. I thought at first its antennae were feathered but that would have meant it was a moth of some kind. Instead on closer inspection I discovered the antennae were pectinate (a new word for me, and obviously for my spell checker, since it is objecting)--like the teeth of a comb.

And now back to unpacking and catching up on things in Massachusetts.

I am linking to Off the Wall Friday.

Under Milkweed

I was searching the milkweed plants in front of the Joppa Flats Mass Audubon Education Center for any critters to show families on a Meet the Insects event when I happened upon this guy, who has a lot of visual impact, as they say in the art world.

This is a Red Milkweed Beetle so he was definitely in the right place. He belongs to the family of long-horned beetles, for obvious reasons. I was fascinated by those antennae and by the patterning those matching legs created.

I had to add that bright orangy-red color (which is actually closer to his true color than my photo) that advertises to potential predators that this guy has been feeding on the same thing that monarch do and might not taste so good.

And I am linking, while it is still Friday, to Off the Wall Friday.