Insects & Spiders

As far as I can tell, this is some kind of katydid/bush-cricket. It sat in my Japanese maple, where the whole camouflage deal did not work so well.

Another unfortunately unidentified insect.

I was following a butterfly hoping it would sit still long enough for a photo. It didn't, but this critter did.

Some kind of moth (can anyone identify it for me?) I found in the garden. It was a nice model, that is, completely lethargic... But then, a thick pelt in summer is bound to sap one's energy.

Another male stag beetle I rescued... this one had fallen on its back and from what I saw couldn't get up anymore.

It was sitting on the street and held still for me to get a nice shot.

Postwork: cropping, slight contrast adjustment, horizontal flip.

Not sure what it was, poor ragged-winged thing.

That is, a stag beetle (lucanus cervus), a female one for a change.

The Wikipedia article on the species mentions that they are good subjects for photographs, because they tend to hold still. This one certainly did... Since I had no camera on me when I found it, I walked from the garden through the yard and all through the house to get it, and back, with the critter sitting on my hand.

I designed this butterfly by giving Celtic knotwork a playful treatment. Its colour was inspired by the adonis blue, one of my favourite kinds of butterflies.

ACEO (3.5 by 2.5 inches, or ca 8.9 by 6.4 cm), black ink, Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, and white ink on 160g/m²

Original sold; you can contact me if you're interested in open edition prints.

Mommy-to-be spider watching over her eggs... They had been in a better protected place before I pruned the bush a bit. ^^?

Postwork: Removing noise, cropping, minimal darkening of shadows, resizing