Art & Culture
Moths and Moon Flowers at the Field Museum
Nov
Last month I took Lauren Levato’s second workshop: “Moths and Moon Flowers.”We ended it at the Field Museum, which was a blast. This time, we were treated to a field trip within the museum to visit a live Peregrine Falcon, Molly, who was there to educate a group of Audubon Society members.
She was surrounded by museum specimens, but didn’t seem to mind the dead and un-dead audience.
We also got to visit Peggy MacNamara’s studio, of Illinois Insects and Spiders fame.
Then we set out to draw.
I started with a small moth, and learned more about proportion, and color-matching. In a multi-week session I would have started over, but for a first draft I am happy with this drawing.
Rory Coyne accompanied us and picked out beetles.
Another student selected the wasp that is tattooed on Lauren’s arm.
After lunch I was told to go big or go home, so I had to pick a larger butterfly. The reason I pick lepidoptera for now is because one day of spontaneous drawing still takes a lot of brain-space for me. Knowing the anatomy of your model helps in that regard.
I got a picture of the day-flying moths for you-which I missed last time.
We also discovered new drawers, like these blues.
My big butterfly, the Ornithoptera goliath (a birdwing), came from this box.
I was instructed to block it out and then focus on one wing. My eyes had trouble concentrating on the actual scallops of the wing vs. the brown scallopped pattern. It was an exercise in concentration and erasing.
I will try to work from photoreferences to see if I can complete this one on my own.
If not, there is always the next session, which will start after Lauren’s January show at Packer Schopf. Speaking of her show, it will showcase some of the lovely portraits I mentioned last week. Today is the last day to donate to the Wunderkammer project. Hop on over to the USAProjects site and see if she could use another $3, $5, $10 or more. Every bit helps!
Eyespot notes by Lauren Levato
Here is the Tarantula Hawk completed:
And Rory added some flair to his beetle:
