Autumnal Cicadas

Autumn marks the end of those chirping, buzzing cicadas. But for people like myself, intrigued more by the sight than the sound of them, you can always keep a desiccated sample of one around for a while well after the cicada season is over. I had a dried specimen of a cicada that I kept for its golden ochre markings and its flash of iridescent green on its wings. In order to study it better I placed it on my computer scanner to scan and enlarge it.


When painting from my cicada scans I used many variations of greens, golds and violet hues. To make the creature a little more “lively” I also remembered to alter the legs as I painted - pulling them outwards and away from the folded corpse pose. These images I combined with a small wildflower that I had photographed earlier. The painting may become part of my small works exhibition in February if I don’t use it before then for a local wildlife exhibition. Or perhaps it will do double duty and be in both.