{"id":1732,"date":"2024-03-27T14:16:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-inordinate-fondness-for-beetles\/"},"modified":"2024-03-27T14:16:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:16:01","slug":"sketchbook-inordinate-fondness-for-beetles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-inordinate-fondness-for-beetles\/","title":{"rendered":"Sketchbook \/\/ Inordinate Fondness for Beetles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beetlelady.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beetlelady<\/a> gave a presentation less about illustrating insects and more about the absolutely <em>astonishing<\/em> diversity of them. No, really. More than that! Still more!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <em>Half<\/em> of all described animal species are insects (about 900,000 insects described)<\/li>\n<li>We think we&#8217;ve described close to all the mammal species&#8230; but perhaps only 1\/5th or 1\/10th or&#8230;  of insects (estimates vary widely!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Insect_biodiversity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Insect_biodiversity <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/spotlight\/buginfo\/bugnos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.si.edu\/spotlight\/buginfo\/bugnos<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>You<\/em> could discover new species!<\/p>\n<p>She did encourage her watchers to also draw some. I paused the video recording long enough to practice with these two: a desert beetle of some kind (sharpie fine line and watercolor) and a scavenger beetle (a hide beetle? For its wingcover texture?) (graphite and watercolor).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-media-id=\"287117848\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/115dae908361d91ed1f86c72b1abec1e.jpg?fit=820%2C649&amp;ssl=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-media-id=\"287117906\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&amp;ssl=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-media-id=\"287117937\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/e3815bcfbde42903da4566b029e1d96c.jpg?fit=820%2C645&amp;ssl=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Part of me feels I could draw &amp; paint beetles all day. <\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/johnmuirlaws.com\/product\/the-laws-sketchbook-for-nature-journaling\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sketchbook<\/a> by the way is wonderful.  Ive taken it to Greenland and Iceland, Florida, Svalbard. It&#8217;s my travel-nature-practice journal , and has unfinished pictures and entries. It&#8217;s hardbound, has white and toned paper, some guidance in the back (that I forgot was there until recently). My pencil marks have smudged over time (no fixative applied!).<\/p>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stillmanandbirn.com\/products_beta_softcover.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">several<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/md.midori-japan.co.jp\/en\/products\/mdnote-cotton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">other<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stillmanandbirn.com\/products_zeta_softcover.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sketchbooks<\/a> I&#8217;d like to try &#8212; recommended in different lectures &#8212; but I&#8217;m pretty well stocked at the moment. Later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Beetlelady gave a presentation less about illustrating insects and more about the absolutely astonishing diversity of them. No, really. More than that! Still more! Half of all described animal species are insects (about 900,000 insects described) We think we&#8217;ve described close to all the mammal species&#8230; but perhaps only&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phmexg-rW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1733,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-inordinate-fondness-for-beetles-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":0},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ Inordinate Fondness for Beetles","author":"Kir","date":"27 March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Beetlelady gave a presentation less about illustrating insects and more about the absolutely astonishing diversity of them. No, really. More than that! Still more! Half of all described animal species are insects (about 900,000 insects described)We think we've described close to all the mammal species... but perhaps only 1\/5th\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/729df07c15413a2edb74bedd79a30275.jpg?fit=820%2C1020&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":989,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/progress-on-a-project-the-letter-o\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":1},"title":"Progress on a project! The letter O","author":"Kir","date":"3 February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"You may recall that I have, since October 2016, been working on an alphabet of odd and exotic animals. The letters are distributed more or less in accordance to biodiversity distributions, which means I got to have one mammal (and that was really pushing it), but 7 insects and 2\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2044,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/coloring-talks-to-butterflies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":2},"title":"Coloring \/\/ Talks to Butterflies","author":"Kir","date":"22 February 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Talks-to-Butterflies is not, of course, their Real Name. One doesn't tell one's Real Name. You knew that!One does, however, learn much from talking to butterflies. Insects in general, while quick-minded and full of small ideas, each carry multiple perspectives and sparks of wisdom. Try talking to them yourself, sometime\u2014or more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1023,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/painting-heliconia-dragon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":3},"title":"Painting \/\/ Heliconia dragon","author":"Kir","date":"22 June 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The second of a series of dragons based on Costa Rican flowers.Red was Etlingera. Now Orange!\u00a0Heliconias have a bunch of different species ...and names! As for the painting: as always, practice practice practice! There's a lot I like about this one. Some parts I just don't have the skill\/knowledge yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":254,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/my-sisters-kickstarter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":4},"title":"my sister&#8217;s kickstarter","author":"Kir","date":"5 December 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My sister is a REAL artist. As such she doesn't fritter around with a gazillion mini-online shops. Nope, she goes for a kickstarter, and gets attention from famous climate activists and real organizations and other amazing awesome stuff. So go see: she's only $20 away from halfway! http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1112121841\/we-are-all-in-this-together","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1252,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-tree-dragon-hemlock\/","url_meta":{"origin":1732,"position":5},"title":"Sketchbook  \/\/ tree dragon hemlock","author":"Kir","date":"22 August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, at least this one is a little more finished?? I dunno --follow the inspiration such as it is or work on existing series? Really, the latter is the skill-habit I need more. But but but! What other species of trees are on my wee bit of land, anyway? Couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pencil drawing of a dragon perched on a hemlock spray with hemlock twigs for wings","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_8070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_8070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_8070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_8070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_8070.jpg?fit=1200%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}