Creature Encounters

I had a holiday in the Mountains of La Manche in Italy. Didn't take my camera as I had decided to have a complete break. Then I regretted that decision. However, I took some images on an i-phone.
I documented my encounters with the many and varied creatures of this wild and fecund region and made images to illustrate them. I thought this would be useful research for the next stage of my Major Study as  I was facing my own fear and repulsion and then turning the result into something more palatable.

Encounter 1 Butterflies
These were giant rusty orange coloured with brown edges. They were so big it seemed an effort for them to flap their wings and stay in the air. They drunkenly lurched from plant to plant on a zig-zag path. I was fine with them from a distance, but they were alarmingly large as seemed out of control!

Encounter 2 Crickets

I encountered these as I walked across the grass in the garden. Crickets, much bigger than our little green grasshoppers, pinged off the ground from left to right of my feet. I was quite alarmed by this sudden fast movement. But was then fascinated to see that they also opened bright red, green or yellow WINGS which was why they pinged so high and far. I didn't even know these creatures had wings. On closer inspection, the little flashes on their sides told you what colour their wings would be.
Unfortunately, they moved far too fast for me to capture an image with the beautiful wings spread. The only time I was able to take a photo was when I fished a drowned one out of the pool. It was a bit bloated and I didn't want to examine it too closely-to see the wings.

Encounter 3 Lizards

These were of many different colours and sizes. I felt a bit uncomfortable as their heads were too much like snake's. The baby ones looked like broaches and they waddled about quite stiffly as if they had not got used to their little bodies yet. The adults posed motionless in the sun holding up their snake-like heads as if the get a tan. As soon as they sensed my movement they darted into the dry leaves under the bushes. If they had just stayed still I probably wouldn't have seen them, as it was they gave themselves away with their loud crunching and rustling in the leaves. One got quite brave and tried to show off by climbing straight up the wall behind our table, but he ran over the shutter, lost his grip and landed on a plate of tomato salad!  His panic made me panic!    
I like the print-like starkness of this image. Usually I would create about 22 separate sections to make one image, but with this one, I stopped at 4 as I liked the stark simplicity of it.

Encounter 4 Praying Mantis

This encounter was quite spectacular. I was in the pool doing my 30 minutes exercise, using the chicken egg-timer when this bright green insect launched himself from the tiles at the edge. I watched as it tried to get across to the other side, but seemed to be dragged down by the blue surface of the pool.
His wings stuck open on the surface, like a sailing boat that had semi-capsized. He was waving his scary leaf/claw/arms frantically. I wanted to rescue him , but was quite scared of him. So  got the football and used it to lift him out of the water. He stayed perched on the ball wiping his eyes and recovering before he hopped off and hobbled away using his praying arms  like an old man with two knarled, knobbly old walking sticks to help him.

Encounter 5 Giant Ants
Also quite alarming as they were so much bigger than I am used to and sometimes the grass under our sunbeds was undulating with hundreds of these creatures. One morning, after a windy night, there seemed to be new little leafy plants swaying in the short grass. On closer inspection I saw that the giant ants were each holding a seed pod from the trees like a widsurfing sail.

 www.dailymail.com

They tilted and bobbed in the breeze-I am amazed they were able to hang on to them as the pods were twice the size of the ants. They manipulated the pods to the entrance of their home hole and dumped them to go and get more. At the entrance to the hole there was just one ant who was trying to turn, fold, squeeze the pods down the narrow entrance. It reminded me of putting away the Christmas decorations which seem to get bulkier and more awkward every year!

 Interestingly, the ants did not walk into the pool like many other creatures. I rescued lots of bugs, ladybirds, bees, moths, crickets some of which were clinging on to seed pods or petals that were floating on the surface. They got rescued first as a reward for ingenuity.
Some seemed dead, but as soon as they hit dry land they walked off, sorted out their wings, wiped their eyes and flew off.

Below is a leaf beetle who I scooped out of the pool. He dried out for a bit then walked off.

I like the way this image has become quite painterly and soft through the  process of enlargement and

multiplication. 

Encounter 6 Dead Beetle?

I emptied the pool filter most days which was not a fun job as you never knew what you might look  down at as you hooked off the lid. One day there was a large black beetle with a blue sheen on its shiny back floating in the chlorinated container. I used a stick to catch on to one of its spiky legs and laid it on the outdoor table to examine and document it with the phone. The underside of its body was like Batman's suit, but more shiny. It was sealed like a black fibreglass dingy hull. The antennae were droopy and crooked and it was waterlogged.

This image seems to represent my dislike of big black beetles! The shadows created by the legs are sinister and add a 3D quality making the viewer imagine that it could scuttle off the page. The impression of depth is also enhanced by the pale kite-shaped section in the centre of each beetle shape.

After I had taken photos, I left it on the table and went for a swim. When I came back, I saw that a large pool of inky black water had formed round the head end of the beetle's body. As I watched it started to move... one leg, another leg, in a sort of trembly wiggle. I called Phil to witness this miracle. 

The beetle had been floating under the surface of the water, then lying lifeless for about an hour and now it was coming back to life!

I picked a flowering sprig and got the beetle onto it, then carried it onto the grass. (I still did not want to touch the thing as it had little spikes all down its black spindly legs.) As we watched, it straightened its antennae and tested out its legs some more. But I am afraid to say that it did not move away. The next day flies were laying eggs in its body.