I have always been passionate about nature and especially appreciate nature’s hidden or less noticed details. TimeTales is my drawing series focused on nuances of nature’s diminutive processes and transformations influenced by my close up nature photography. The drawings take an enormous span of time to execute because of the large amount of research on the subject performed prior to the drawing, the extensive and necessary photography of the developing subject matter as well as the numerous views of the subject illustrated in each drawing. While my creative process involves an intense drawing preparation sequence, the research is interesting and educational and arranging and implementing the stages of development into compositions is a fascinating journey. I wouldn’t approach this series of drawings in any other way because it would lead to an inaccurate portrayal of the subject. 

This drawing illustrates the Monarch butterfly in the eclosure process from the back view. It is illustrated in a poster type format with large titles and dates of the event to humorously refer to the insect transformation as a “show” that took place. In a sense it was. The drawing reads from left to right within a horizontal format with time increments noted between portrayals of eclosure activity. The time increments are comprised of vertical spaces labeled as weeks, hours, minutes and seconds. They are placed in between drawn boxes housing individual drawings of Monarch chrysalids in progressing stages of eclosure development.

Presently, the Monarch is the focus of many conservation efforts to increase its declining population. It has become a cultural icon to many people symbolizing wildlife species declining in numbers and needing safeguarding. My desire in depicting the beauty of its chrysalis colors and birth process emerging out of the chrysalis is to increase viewers’ aesthetic appreciation of this remarkable migrating insect and possibly initiate a viewer’s conservation effort.

This art work portraying a frontal view of a Monarch enclosure was intended to become an accompanying drawing to the depiction of the back view of a Monarch eclosure forming a diptych. Subsequently I changed my mind midway through the drawing and I have posted each separately. Many detail differences exist between the back and frontal view drawings for visual and expressive purposes. The most unique compositional aspect rests in the applied differences to express the overall concept of each drawing.

Drawn boxes house the chrysalid illustrations in both the back and frontal views. The boxes' width are portrayed inversely from beginning to end within the two drawings. Boxes begin wide in width in the depiction of the back view drawing to illustrate low activity levels and gradually increase into more narrow widths to indicate increasing activity levels of the butterfly. The compositional result is an end grouping showing slightly overlapping action depictions of a Monarch butterfly falling from its chrysalis and suggesting a flurry of activity.

In contrast, boxes begin narrow in width in the frontal view to correlate with less activity and gradually increase in width to indicate higher activity levels of the event. The compositional arrangement in the frontal view depicts positions of a Monarch butterfly falling from its chrysalis in a linear placement with depicted activity positions placed close together. The frontal view composition concept is an inquiry into the numerous individual butterfly positions as the butterfly falls out of its chrysalis in contrast to the concept of a sequence end of grouped activities as in the back view. 

My native plant garden serves as my source of inspiration and for most of my data collecting for this series of drawings. It is full of shapes, colors, patterns and textures of plants and plant parts that continually excite me artistically season after season. However, it is the visiting insects during the growing season that bring the garden to life. They generate a moving array of flying patterns and sounds, as well as a diversity of interesting shapes and colors of their own. The truth is many of the insect pollinators are the key factor in the continuum of life and they are disappearing. Without their visitation and pollination, plant populations would decrease or disappear including plants within our native flora species. Most flowering plants depend on pollinators for seed production which provides genetic diversity, a population defense for plants. Conversely many insects depend on flowering plants for food in the form of pollen and nectar and consequently pollinate plants in their food search. Theirs is a symbiotic relationship and I feel compelled to explore artistic possibilities for insect interactions with native flowering plants keeping the conservational issue in mind.      
                                                

My plant and pollinator series of drawings are composed of complex story telling compositions. Nature is in a perpetual frame of movement and change. In my drawings, I portray a complete plant life cycle transition from emergence through to full flower and finally to seed development in a composition of time sequenced seasonal changes. My drawings are arranged into a illustrated collage of patterns and shapes and illustrate different phases of the plant’s development with depictions of insects that visit or inhabit the plant during specific growth formations. Most of these insects act as pollinators during the flowering stage.

I suggest a native plant’s natural untamed habitat in my plant life drawings as well. To some, these undomesticated areas may seem untamed and “messy”. Yet I love the natural terrains as they have conservational attributes in creating habitat, water buffers and other beneficial aspects to both wildlife and humans. They are also aesthetically appealing to me in their variation of colors, textures and shapes forming interesting patterns. In my drawings, I draw reference from them and depict patterns of leaves, stems and flowers blending into one another and portray shapes overlapping each other in transparent colors to suggest the “messiness’ of natural plant arrangement. A plant's habitat is reflected in my seemingly random use of line and placement of shape, pattern and color to comprise a repetition of condensed details. My intention is not to make viewers feel claustrophobic when viewing my work, but rather have them delight in the details presented in my art based on natural, disappearing growing areas. 

In addition, my drawings frequently include a separate rectangular area located at the bottom of the composition I refer to as a “visual footnote". The "visual footnote" contains illustrated details of unique reproductive or visual attributes of the plant subject or something interesting about the pollinators such as their use of the depicted plant.

The drawing paper I used for these drawings is a beige color and it gives the drawings a warm undertone.

Alongside each drawing there are three detail photographs taken from that artwork. Since my drawings are very complex detail photographs allow you, the viewer, to be able to immediately experience the compositions up close and intimately within a digital environment. There are several plant growth stages depicted as well as closeups of pollinators.

The robes referred to in the title are, of course, butterfly wings. After emergence from the chrysalis, the wings descend downward slowly and eloquently from the body of the butterfly revealing their beauty as they are drying out. The latter part of this process, when longer portions of the wings are descending, reminds me of robes made of shimmering thick brocade fabrics that royalty may have worn in years past. Their robes are frequently shown in art draped loosely off their shoulders and falling around their body in thick folds onto the floor, much like a butterfly’s expanding wings. After a butterfly has finished the wing expanding process, it will hang on the chrysalis or a nearby stick or stem waiting for its delicate wings to dry. When dry, the wings are flat, have stiffened and the folds have been removed. Scales and veins are easily seen. Up close each scale is reminiscent of a tiny sequin that has been sewn on fabric. Some are dull, some are bright and some are iridescent in color. They are arranged spatially into rows and combined into patterns of color essentially forming the “brocade fabric” of the wings. The lower edges of the wings also denote fabric in that they have a slight hairy appearance which look like they have had loose thread ends protruding beyond neatly trimmed off with scissors.

I take photographs of butterflies I have raised from eggs both as a conservation endeavor and as research for my drawings. The eggs are collected from my garden. The featured photos were taken during the summer and fall of 2019. Raising and photographing butterflies has resulted into an unexpected photo portfolio project full of enjoyment and discovery. Each butterfly quickly develops its own procedure to allow its wings to lengthen and dry resulting in photo shoots that are unique and fascinating to watch and document. It is also rewarding to know that I am helping to populate the world with beautiful butterflies many which are proficient pollinators. In the future, I plan and look forward to researching and raising other butterfly species to photograph their development and eclosure processes as well.

I have seen the emergence of a butterfly many times and each time I witness the process I feel emotionally moved. A butterfly birth experience is intriguing because the butterfly quickly changes after emerging from a physical formation which developed inside the chrysalis, with a fat abdomen and short wrinkled wings, to a final adult form that is completely different, with an elongated abdomen and longer straightened wings. The entire physical transformation usually only takes several minutes. Of course, butterflies hang dry their wings after they are extended and it may take hours before they can fly.

Butterfly chrysalids are varied in shape and butterflies exit them differently. Some butterflies slowly climb out of a horizontal or vertical chrysalis while others, like the Monarch, are more visually dramatic and fall straight out the bottom clutching the chrysalis as they emerge. The varied techniques are one reason eclosure is so interesting to photograph.

I use a Nikon close up 200 mm lens to take my butterfly photographs. I shoot using white backgrounds that contrast with the shapes, colors and movements of the butterfly to enhance those visual elements. The photographs are frequently taken during very early morning hours many times before daylight.

When I first saw the transformation of a Monarch caterpillar change into a chrysalis I was very surprised. The process is truly a marvel to watch. Colors change, shapes evolve and there is a lot of action involved in the transformation. Another surprise was the color transitions that occur between a newly formed Monarch chrysalis and the chrysalis just prior to a butterfly emergence. The color sequence begins with pastels of green and transitions to vivid orange and black with beautiful shades of greens and grays in between. The time span between chrysalis formation and eclosure of my Monarch butterflies was usually about eight days. The Monarch butterfly may decide to emerge at anytime of day. My Monarch butterflies typically emerged between 5::30 am to around noon. Photographing caterpillar and butterfly behaviors are very time consuming and requires a lot of patience but the resulting photographs are well worth the time investment in terms of obtaining an interesting photo portfolio as well as acquiring an education of the process. I have raised several generations of Monarch butterflies both in a screened in side porch and out in my garden where milkweed grows. I have taken many photographs of the Monarch transition process from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly and use them to create drawing compositions on the subject.

Many of these photographs were taken while I was laying down on the ground looking up into a flower hoping that an insect would land. I spent an exuberant amount of time waiting ... and ... waiting ... and ... waiting. It is the smaller parts of nature; the overlooked details that are of interest to me. Parts of nature that are not typically seen unless you stop, get down close to the subject and inspect. Sometimes this may necessitate the use of magnifying lenses in order to detect what is in front of you. This type of viewing opens up a totally new world of forms and insect life that otherwise would be totally missed. 

Generally insect and spider pollinators are small consisting of butterflies, bees, flies and crab spiders which are found in an array of all shapes and colors. Each pollinator species has its own behavior and technique for spreading pollen. Most spread pollen from plant to plant while performing necessary exercises of hunting for prey, searching for mates or collecting nectar and pollen for food. Some insect pollinators are robust movers or flyers and pollinate a large area and are considered proficient pollinators while others stay put and only pollinate a small population of flowering plants and may be labeled less significant pollinators. 

Cute, humorous, ugly or beautiful these proficient or less significant pollinators add a personality to my photographs. I can’t imagine enjoying a natural or garden area without their presence, not only for the necessary process of pollination, but also for the interesting appearances and behaviors they display. Outdoors when their behaviors of agility or hunting techniques can be observed, they become a living testament to how truly diverse and intriguing nature’s pollinators really are.