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Blackbird in Blackberries

Blackbird in Blackberries

Handmade papercut, 2015. 40cm x 40cm

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STORIES IN PAPER ON INSTAGRAM

The life cycle of the Emperor Moth, papercut on to screenprinted gold paper. I’m really excited about this new place I’ve discovered in my work, finding a way to bring together all my favourite things - art, natural history and antiquarian books. This piece is inspired by Maria Sybilla Merian, a female entomologist from the early 18th century who dedicated her life’s work to studying metamorphosis 📚🦋🖋

Apparently it’s #publishersbindingthursday today which is perfect considering I’ve stayed up burning the midnight oil making these giant gold moths inspired by ‘Butterflies and Moths of the United Kingdom’ by W.E.Kirkby. I can’t find a publication date, but it has a name written inside from 1929, so it’s been sharing it’s Lepidoptera knowledge for quite some time 🦋

EMPEROR MOTH | Saturnia pavonia A large, furry moth with four recognisable 'eye' spots on each wing, the Emperor Moth is widespread but often not very plentiful in numbers. The male is slightly smaller and more of an oragne shade, with feathered antennae, while the larger female is a grey shade. They are found on heathland, sand dunes and fens from late March to May, and their caterpillars over winter as chrysalides. The females are particularly difficult to see as they lay low in garssland, and are only found by the males due to the scent they release as pheremones which the males pick up with their antennae. Males have been know to travel up to five miles to find a female! #mothscount #mothsmatter #mothmonth

NETTED CARPET MOTH | Eustroma reticulatum The Netted Carpet Moth is one of the UK's most endangered moths and its main breeding area is in the Lake District (where I live). Its very beautiful, although I have yet to see one in it’s natural habitat. A member of the Geometridae family, research has shown that it’s caterpillars feed only on the delicate Touch-me-not balsam, which is also at risk.

ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH | Deilephila elpenor This spectacular pink and green/yellow night flying moth is a fan of plants such as Honeysuckle (Lonicera) and Rosebay Willowherbs (Chamaenerion angustifolium) which is one of the caterpillar foodplants. Their amazing caterpillars - which people sometimes confuse as small, short snakes - also like to eat gooseberry and are known for being found on fuschias in people's gardens.

NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH | Hemaris tityus . One of my first moth fascinations, I fell in love with the way these stripey yellow and black moths look like bumblebees, including their delicate black lined, transparent wings. Nationally scare, the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moth larval food plants include Devil's-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) and Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) which can be found on wild grasslands. . They look very similar to the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth whose wings are outlined in a browner/red colour, and who caterpillars' feed on Wild Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum).

LIME HAWK-MOTH | Mimas tiliae The Lime Hawk-moth is one of the larger macro moths, with a wingspan of 55 – 70mm. Their name comes from the fact that their caterpillars feed on Lime trees, but they also consume Alder, Elm and Birch. They are recognisable by their bright green colour with yellow stripes, and their blue horn which darkens as they get ready to pupate. The pupa spend the winter in loose natural litter, and the adults fly between May and early July, having only one generation each year. In the UK they are most common in the South of the country, although they have been reported as far North as Yorkshire. Sadly they aren't common in Cumbria though!

MOTH MONTH | Today marks the start of Moth Night - a three day celebration of moths from 26th - 28th September to share the fascination of moths through public events and encourage people to submit their records to aid with moth research. You can learn more at www.mothnight.info Being a huge moth fan three nights just isn't long enough for me so I have decided to do Moth Month - a month (and a bit) of sharing moth related artwork culminating in an installation of papercut moths at Ulverston's Candlelit Walk on Thursday 31st October. For Moth Month I am planning to... . * Create 20 pieces of moth inspired artwork as illustrations, prints, papercuts and paper sculptures to celebrate 20 years of Moth Night . * Share information and facts about moths from my own research and pages such as Butterfly Conservation . * Post photographs of the moths I find during this period, and facts about these species . * Blog about key species, moth conservation issues, and scientists and artists who have been inspired by moths . * Offer people the chance to create their own paper sculpture of a moth at the free Of Moths & Magic, Candlelit Walk workshop on Saturday 13th August to be displayed at Ulverston's Candlelit Walk I will also be offering the artwork I make during this period for sale at very reasonable prices! I am hoping to put 30% of any sales made towards a project sharing the diversity of these beautiful creatures in creative workshops and an exhibition next year. I hope some of you are as enthusiastic about moths as I am and this idea has you all aflutter too! #mothnight #mothmonth #mothlove

ULVERSTON WORKSHOP | I’m excited to tell you I’m running a free workshop making paper sculpture moths to display in a collaborative installation at this years Ulverston Candlelit Walk! Learn about moth biodiversity while making your first insect sculptures, and you’ll be able to take one home with you to keep. Join me from 2pm - 5pm on Sunday 13th October at the Red Rose Club. You’ll also have the opportunity to make silhouettes of toadstools and toads for the community shadow screen...so much creative fun to be had! Donations appreciated towards covering costs ☺️

A new collection of small papercut insects are on their way to be framed today 🦋

I’m starting a new sea creature papercut tonight. I got overexcited while I was sketching and now have about 20 ideas...it’s difficult to choose! What would you like to see?

Here’s a little snippet of one of the projects I’ve been working on recently. I’m really looking forward to sharing it all later in the year. Drawn on the i-Pad using Procreate...those little feathers took quite some time!

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