September exhbition

After a summer break and then a lot of beetle carving it is time for a show - really excited to be part of an art exhibition called NATURAL HABITATS in Bristol at The Malago on North Street. 

It has been organised by TRIBE AISTHETICA and there rare three of us showing nature inspired work, so definitely worth popping in if you are in Bristol.

I have several pieces based on drawings of birds and beetles I have made in Bristol Museum, where I have been lucky enough to spend time in the stores with some of the amazing collections held there.  The beetles are mostly burying beetles and it has been fascinating studying them so closely.

The show runs 2nd September - 6th October if you fancy calling in.

Beetle lino prints

For the last couple of years I have been drawing in our local Museums Natural History department whenever I get the chance.   The collections there are huge, varied and really inspiring.  Drawing the birds is my usual habit, but recently the curator had beetles out and I couldn't resist spending an afternoon drawing those too.

I found them tricky, I am no expert on beetle anatomy and they have so many parts - legs, antennae, etc that have to be in the right place.  My drawings would never be any use as an identifying guide but I had so much fun making them and learnt a lot too.

I couldn't resist making some lino prints from the drawings - keeping the slightly misplaced legs and wobbly lines where they were in my original drawing and using the scientific labels as part of the design.

Carving the lino block was tricky as I couldn't mis-cut anything - all those letters and legs!  It worked though, all in place and so in this picture you can see me peeling back the paper from one of the first prints I burnished from the block - success.

Hopefully this will become part of a small series of lino prints as it was great to work on.