I have been persevering with the Codex embroidery, and am now about two-thirds of the way through the foliage. The end is in sight! Thank you, dear Judy Martin, for your words of encouragement. They came at just the right time.
But, since the embroidery doesn't look substantially different from the last posting, may I offer some wondrous bugs from my garden? Below is a fat bumble bee enjoying the centaura.
Pretty, huh? Now for something completely disgusting.
The tent caterpillars are out in full force. I assiduously picked all the egg patches off the apple trees during the winter, and all my smaller trees are free of caterpillars, but I couldn't reach the higher branches of this big old apple. Now it is totally encased in worms.
Hideous, I agree, but kind of a marvel all the same.
They have eaten all the leaves off the tree. The leaves will grow back, apparently, but I doubt there will be any apples.
And not in my garden, but in my neighbour's studio, are these spectacular critters.
Sean Goddard is a sculptor who makes entomyologically accurate metal and glass insects. He has a lovely little gallery next door to me, and also sells his work at Circle Craft in Vancouver, as well as shows up and down the West Coast. More about Sean and his work can be found here. Thanks, Damselfly, for reminding me to mention that Sean's bugs are BIG, ranging in size from on to two feet across. Perfect for a garden wall.
I have never seen such a quantity of caterpillars. You are right, it is fascinating. Being inspired for anothe embroidery?
ReplyDeleteOMG, are they called tent caterpillars because they weave a tent around the tree? looks like that on the photo. Do they attract lots of birds? We have certain shrubs that attract a small white moth, at this time of year the leaves are all eaten away, and it has a ghostlike appearance, but the plant survives and new leaves do grow back, it is both marvelous and disgusting. Good luck with the cloth.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite an infestation of tent caterpillars! We get them occasionally in our walnut tree but never that bad. I bet you can hear them crunching! Ick.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Sean's work and loved it. You forgot to mention how big his bugs are!
love Sean's bugs, big or small they're just my style. the caterpillars are just plain disgusting - I've never seen them so bad.
ReplyDeletethose caterpillars are extraordinary and reminded me of a Chinese artist i met in Latvia years ago...who allowed silkworms to crawl all over his body, spinning a silk shell while he remained immobile for 24 hours
ReplyDeletefantastic creepy images - especially the knot hole with the catepillars - perfect for another natural world embroidery project!
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