Butterflies and doodles

Because I prefer to not kill or capture butterflies but only photograph them, I realize that often I can only identify what I see in the field when I am home and reviewing photographs. I fear birds are the same for me, unless I have previously identified the bird and recognize it. But butterflies are even harder to field ID than birds are, so many are really very small and fly so quickly that the small indicators that are often used to identify them can be hard to see.

The butterfly that I drew in pen and ink above is an exception, this large black and yellow butterfly is very recognizable as a Tiger Swallowtail. The drawing was made from a reference photograph I made a couple of years ago. I don't usually try to draw the butterflies I photograph, but I really loved this photo so made an exception. For this drawing I used only my technical pens with no pencil drawing, so things may not be entirely accurate, but I think you can still recognize this beauty if you see one in the garden.

I have been spending a lot of time outside making photographs and not inside doing serious drawing so my next two images are just more of my pen "exercises" and really nothing more than doodles. Still I have fun exploring shapes, textures and fills when working on these. They are done because I need to use the pens and not let them sit, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with them.

Both were done in one of my smaller sketchbooks using the 5 technical pens that I keep filled. For the one above I made the doodle on top first, them it seemed to me to be some kind of hat, so I drew the face in afterward. A bit of whimsy that I don't often post to the blog.

Speaking of butterflies that can only be identified when I review photographs the one above is of that type. This is an Eastern Pine Elfin, and is about 1 inch in size so the photograph shows it larger than it really is. You have to be very aware of what is flying around you to see and photograph one of these little guys. I am getting better at "seeing" the small ones though it has taken me a while to get to this point. This one was photographed on one of the paths at Borderland State Park in Easton, MA last week. They are actually considered fairly common though I had never photographed one before. Aren't its markings beautiful, while not as colorful as the Tiger Swallowtail I think it is just as pretty.

I don't usually post two close up photographs in the same update, but I really love this photo of a blooming wood anemone that I made at Daniel Webster on Sunday. The oak wood stand in the sanctuary had many pockets of these lovely spring wild flowers. White flowers can be hard to capture in a photograph, I feel this one is particularly good.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.