Meet the Beetles

I'm
not at all sure if I know how to put all these pictures onto one blog, so the only thing I can do is just try. Aside from that, I'm not really sure that I should, but, what the heck. Around the end of the summer last year, I got interested in beetles. So I committed myself (I heard that chuckle)...so I committed myself to do two dozen beetle 8 x 10's in a framework of one month. So I got some quarter round, a good miter box and saw and a roll of canvas and made thirty blanks. I selected 24 subjects, drew em out, blocked in the basic colors, and then set to detailing and finishing one a day, minus Sundays. It happened. And the above is the result.

Beetles are so intriguing. One out of every 5 living things on the planet is a beetle. There are more species of beetles than there are species of plants...well over 400,000 different....each of which, I think, have been crawling around my studio at one time or another. The scientific name is Coleoptera, and you can explore more by clicking the following: The Beetle Ring or Coleoptera.

I could go on for pages about beetles, but I won't because I'd probably go to sleep doing it, or you'd go somewhere else from sheer boredom. So I'll leave you with a thought...next time you go to step on a beetle, remember that they really, really outnumber you. And that beetle could be some other beetle's Momma. And they also make a yucky sound when
you do step on em.