Art Frames

[trevor]

Welcome back stranger!. Excellent PE images, they have only recently started in Sussex.
I'm wooing them with tuna water, TESCO's of course !.
I'll tell Doug that you have resurfaced.

Great stuff, stay safe,
Trevor.

[Art Frames]

Hello Trevor,

I look forward to seeing your PEs I have been checking in, but as I had little to share I had let things go.

Say hi to Doug. Did he get his photo qualification before everything locked down?

My naturetrek to Spain was to have been last year, then this and now next year. Maybe it will be OK one year. But I have seen a lot more this year than last.

Peter
PS no bait in my shots

[Wurzel]

Great to see you back Peter/Art Frames And what I way to stage a comeback :shock:the four wing purple shot is a stunner

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Great way to announce your return, Peter.

Such a thrill to see an Emperor on the ground, but even better when you can capture the purple hue on all four wings.

Superb stuff!

[Art Frames]

As always I find myself knee deep in pictures and falling behind. But I wanted to include something which I had not been privileged to see before and found absolutely wonderful.

We were walking in a really nice mixed wood near to Silverstone. It can be very quiet but much of the walk was accompanied by the screaming sound of fast cars close by. The Grand Prix had finished a few days earlier so whether they were late finishers or what I don't know But it didn't seem to affect the butterflies.

We had seen a few Emperors on the walk, even been dive-bombed by one but had not taken many pictures when my wife spotted another at height. I said I thought it was a female and watched as for about 10 minutes she fluttered and landed briefly in and around the tops in the part shade. I found it hard to get focus and keep focus on her as she was weaving in and out of the leaves and small branches.

But she stopped in a better spot and I took 5-6 shots which were almost identical. When I got them on the computer I could see she was definitely egg laying. And checking my books corroborated all of my observations, including the position on the topside of the leaf alongside the midrib. So I feel confident enough to post it.



Other shots were not quite as interesting but this one shows her wing damage and was at least in focus



We also came across an emerging Purple Hairstreak with some apparent wing damage but otherwise seemed happy, so rather than have her walked upon I relocated her to a leaf away from the path. She gave me a glimpse of purple as a reward.




And we are watched by this resident, who seemed to approve.

[Wurzel]

I wouldn't worry about being behind Peter I know of at least one person on here that's still posting from June

Brilliant behaviour shots - that must have been something to witness

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Art Frames]

Thank you for your sympathy Wurzel. But you have more of an excuse, working and family life is a major disruption to a full and active hobby . But, in truth, I am not programmed for social media, all my life I have failed every time I started a diary, or a new filing system, or anything which needs me to get a grip. It is only when I get something really different (to me) do I remember to share it. So I have some to do later....

[MikeOxon]

............ I am not programmed for social media, ....It is only when I get something really different (to me) do I remember to share it.....

Nor am I! Much better to write when you have something interesting to say

[Art Frames]

Thank you Mike. Words of great wisdom...

Much better to write when you have something interesting to say

I have spent months in silence so that sounds about right,

But today, I thought I'd put some pictures up from another local wood which Mike Oxon has also visited. Each year it has a huge percentage of Valensina female SWFs. This year a new camera seems to pick up the colouration rather well. So I thought I'd share the 3 individuals I watched (about 50% of the females seen). I saw a coupling but was disappointed that it didn't involve a variant, something I continue to look for.

[Katrina]

Great photos. I have never seen a Valezina so I have to award you a

[MikeOxon]

I love the colours in that third, open-wing shot - it's really caught the essence of the Valesina variant. I see from the EXIF data that you are now using a Canon EOS90D - a return to DSLR after mirrorless. I'd be interested to know your reasons (PM if you prefer)

Mike

[Art Frames]

Hi Mike - I will try to answer.

I have not sold anything even though the Canon 90D gives me pretty much all I need. I am having more and more trouble with my eyesight. I really struggle with things I never did. The dslr just takes lovely pictures out of the box, no drama. I don’t need to constantly check I am using the ‘right’ settings. I love my Panasonic and Olympus for many things. But not for working without drama. I was finding The need to take lots of pictures to convince myself I would have what I hoped. Focus was harder with my eyesight and the viewfinder not being as clear as I want. Contrast focus is still not the best at selecting butterflies on a stem with grass behind!

My interest is the insects, not making the camera work as well as they all can do. Nowadays I imagine someone with good eyesight and steady hands can take a picture with anything. People do wonderful things with phones and small compact cameras. I realise that I no longer have the desire to keep trying to make the camera focus on the butterfly, but I do still want the sharpness and ‘look’ of a good lens.

I had a Canon 70D which I loved for birds but it wasn’t as good in the summer for insects but it showed me why Canon is so popular. They just work. The 90D is dramatically better. The sensor is massive and you can crop a lot out of a 32mp apsc frame. I like the colours and the smoothness of the noise. I took some shots which were lovely, I then found they were at 5000 iso. With the micro four thirds I am reluctant to use 1000 iso.

But tomorrow I will take out my best microfourthirds kit and see how I get on. My interest is only getting a memory and maybe turning elements of that into paintings. Which is why I have the ‘funny’ forum name. I trained as an illustrator and started photography to supplement what I can draw and paint from life.

If that is an interest I can put a few paintings up…

[Art Frames]

As I have a minute I can add a couple of recent paintings of mine. I am in the process of framing them (hence part 2 of the forum name)

Brimstones in the sunshine by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

There is no more wonderful colour than the light shining through a brimstone's wing in the sunshine. That appeals to me as an artist and I have tried to paint that here. I have placed three butterflies together just as I often see them, but this is creative artistic licence. There is no photograph of this in existence.

For the painters amongst us - the materials are mixed - watercolour, gouache and casein on illustration board it is about 8 inches tall, I paint about life size, usually.

And the second image means a lot to me as it symbolises 'lockdown' each day for many weeks my wife and I just walked from our house. I collected leaves and memories from the hedgerow and over a month or so created a hedge that doesn't exist (except in my head)

Hedgerow in 2020 by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

If you click through to Flickr you can see it a lot larger.

The painting was completed in late 2020 over a few weeks. It was constructed from drawing, photographs and my imagination using specimens from my local hedgerows seen on our 'lockdown' walks.

It is in mixed water media (watercolour, gouache and casein) and presents a version of late autumn natural history beauty. It is 750mm by 300mm, painted on watercolour board.

It means a lot to me as it was similar to images I created at the start of my journey as an artist in my late teens. I was pleased that given the encouragement of lockdown I could still create to a similar standard - I just need to force myself to do some more...

So I hope this explains that photos are only a part of my way of recording nature and the world.

[MikeOxon]

Hi Peter, thank you for responding so fully to my question. The best thing is that it led you into showing some of your beautiful artworks - a lovely way to bring together the characteristics of the butterflies and dragonflies that you see. I hope that you will treat us to some more in the future

Mike

[Pauline]

Hi Peter

As someone with no artistic ability whatsoever I think your paintings are lovely. I, for one, would like to see more of them, as time allows

[Wurzel]

Those paintings are absolutely brilliant Peter, I especially like the second one, it reminds me of a Peter Cross painting minus the Trumpets and Grumpets of course You did really well with the Valesina bringing out the blue colour is really tricky

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

I often wondered why your username was 'Art Frames'. Now we all know. Lovely creations, Peter.

[Art Frames]

Thank you everyone. I must scan in a few more paintings. I had this one already. It goes back a number of years (1975) to my days at Art School in Exeter. You may well see my interests have not changed from today. However at that time I had no camera, so this was entirely from inside my head. You will see in those days the pound (£ sterling) was a paper banknote. I had one and that was how this started. I just drew what I imagined. The butterfly is based around a peacock (but obviously not the caterpillar which looks like a moth).

I think it came out of my early experiences as a teenager. I had reared peacocks and small torts in the garden in netting bags. My dad worked in the rag trade and helped me to make cages and nets . Picture is around ten inches and was made using a dip-pen and ink.



I did another which involved flies, maggots and batteries. I think that must be in an old portfolio somewhere.

[Pauline]

Hi Peter

I definitely don't fancy flies, maggots and batteries but I certainly would like to see more of your paintings before I disappear for the winter (and you have a pm).