MOON BEETLE is the last in the trio of pieces realized for the BUGS show. To learn more about this exhibit scroll down to the 3 previous posts.
While studying a borrowed book on the wonderful world of bugs and beetles my eyes fell upon a beetle that, in my vision, appeared to have moons within the patterns on its back. From there MOON BEETLE manifested when I followed my creative instinct to use that moon illusion I had pictured in my mind. I started with cutting out the beetle's body from masonite with a bit of carving and, of course, some sanding (personal note: my skin and eyes do not like the very fine dust that results.) Moving on . . . After 2 or 3 coats of black gesso the beetle birthed itself via acrylic paint and colored pencil. I had done a few doodles in my sketch book so there wasn't too much of a query as to how to apply this beetle, now in hand, to a piece. It felt only natural to follow through on my sketch and add a moon somewhere within the piece. Probing through my found object accumulations I placed my hand on a small sphere that was the perfect size to paint forming relief craters on its surface. It then took its place in a cut-out window on the back surface within a box fabricated to create depth beyond the background the beetle would rest. The legs of the beetle are emulated by using parts of dentist tools and the antennae are the tiniest of springs with alternating beads slipped onto a thin wire. Voila!
MOON BEETLE measures 9-1/8H X 8W X 3D. Click on photo for larger image.
