Let us dig our furrow in the fields of the commonplace.
Jean-Henri Fabre
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail hanging from Milkweed
Signal flies courting on a slender leaf
Yellow-striped army worm crawling into the center of a fading coneflower
Despite its hardworking (and destructive) reputation, the carpenter ant takes a moment to walk on the soft petals of Queen Anne’s Lace
Even the biting stable fly can be still in the presence of a pretty flower
A Banded Longhorn Beetle climbs over the Wild Yarrow - is he as surprised as I am to see the little flecks of violet there
a tiny grasshopper hugs a blade of grass with his sticky feet
A dragonfly lands on the sharp dry leaves of grass
Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord.
Thomas Eisner
Abundance
Things are hopping in the field-
hopping and flying
and crawling around
worming through
buzzing about
chewing and biting
slithering
darting back and forth
eating
gathering pollen
mating
laying eggs
waiting…
so many
little
beautiful
intricate
terrifying things…
flourishing
in one little field.
If you follow me on Instagram (@random_rho), you may have noticed me turning my eye to the very small recently: drops of water, blades of grass, bees, flowers and insects. This was partly because I broke a telephoto lens and am still figuring out how to replace or repair it and partly because I’ve been trying to grow some vegetables this year and have realized how much insects can either help or hinder my efforts. So I picked up my macro lens, which can pick up very small details, and started working on my skill with closer, smaller subjects. There’s a lot to learn.
Coincidentally, in the bookbinding group I belong to, The Handmade Book Club, we were creating a Spider Binding, which is a sewn and taped binding with an unusual folding pattern for the pages that makes the finished book look a little spider-like… so I thought it seemed appropriate to fill mine with pictures of insects. Little did I know how easy it would be to find subjects. I mean, I know there are a lot of insects out there, but when you start really looking on purpose, it’s shocking how many you can see in just a few minutes. They’re everywhere. They don’t stick around posing for the camera, of course. Big grasshoppers and most moths and butterflies flit around so much that it’s stressful to chase after them. But I found that if I stayed in one place in the field long enough, they would come to me. Sometimes this meant they would land on me. Some of them bite, so I had to be careful. I don’t love all of these creatures. Some are scary and some eat plants and trees that I would prefer they didn’t, but I am still so amazed by the variety and abundance existing in such a small area. It will be an ongoing project this summer. At the end, I’ll share pictures of the books I’ve made (There will have to be more than one!).
Also, I am still developing a bookbinding workshop for late September. I’ll send a special announcement when I have the date and time arranged.
Thank you so much for being here! I will see you next month!
P.S. The blog title is loosely taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau:
"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." ~ Henry David Thoreau
An Andrena Bee bathing itself in pollen on a wild chicory flower
