Yesterday I worked on two paintings. Both feature butterflies. One is made up of pen, paint, pastels, and charcoal on paper. The other combines oil paint with tiny collage paper details on a piece of PVC, cut from an old yoga mat.
When it was time for a break I turned my attention to a reading a novel. After a while, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something moving. It surprised me to see a caterpillar. It was one of those ‘life imitating art’ moments. I always associate caterpillars with butterflies, but of course they also turn into moths.
Photos of the brown, fuzzy caterpillar at ground level and near the apex of a roof.
‘Hairy mollies’ were common in my childhood: that’s what everyone called the fox moth caterpillar pictured above. Yesterday was my first time seeing one for many years.
The caterpillar crawled all over a cushion. I moved it a few times to get a better view of him, then stopped. Surely he would be discombobulated?
Fox moth caterpillar on a cushion.
He set off up the wall, and almost reached the roof before falling. I had returned to reading and heard the slap of his tiny body on the concrete behind me. I thought the caterpillar was dead, but ten or fifteen minutes later he began moving again! He crawled under a plantain leaf. Later, he scaled the wall again and disappeared.
I learned from Jenny Seagrave’s brilliant website that male moths fly by day, and females at night. They feed on heather, and there is an abundance of it up here on the hill.
Art ready to go
Completed artworks will be available in the shop soon. To get first views, sign up for private emails if you are not already getting my newsletters.