Paintings of Panther, Quadricornis and Dart frog!

Twitchet

Twitchet

Chameleon Enthusiast
So some of you know I'm obsessed about painting Chameleons and beetles- I love my beetles! , I've painted quite a few but never one in Acrylics of my most treasured and loved Panther Mr Jolly, which I felt guilty about and had to address.
I love all my chams but he is special, one in a million for me I think,
Anyway, enjoyed painting him -8x12" size- with his gentle expression then I decided to paint a quadricornis-9x12" another one of my Pygmy- not photographed and one of my Patricia form Dendrobates Tinctorius 8x6" - all in acrylics, on gesso board and very enjoyable to study.





Just sneak a beetle in! lol
 
Thanks Tiff- Painted Rosie the Spider too! how'd of thought I'd ever be able to look at a photo of a spider that close!!!:LOL::LOL:
Hoping you are well.
 
Tattersb said:
That beetle is amazing! How long does a painting take you on average?
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Thanks, I am lucky to of had some nice commissions for the beetles- they are wonderful to do and really gave me an appreciation for them, such amazing textures and patterns, they are on A3 paper so they are a nice large size- they take about 12-16 hours to paint- over a few days though(y):)
 
Goliathus rock! I'd love some but they are just so slow, parson slow, is it 2 or 3 years as a larva?
What amazed me when I was painting the beetles is how hairy they are, I didn't realise until you really study them.
Glad you liked him, painted a few now but never get tired of admiring their striking patterns.
 
Twitchet said:
Goliathus rock! I'd love some but they are just so slow, parson slow, is it 2 or 3 years as a larva?
What amazed me when I was painting the beetles is how hairy they are, I didn't realise until you really study them.
Glad you liked him, painted a few now but never get tired of admiring their striking patterns.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure on the larva but you're right it takes a very long time!! And that's after they pupate. I've heard growing the larva to full size has its challenges as well!

Did you paint the Goliathus from an actual specimen or a photo? Have you painted any of the Mecynorrhina beetles such as ugandensis or torquata? I think they are one of the most beautiful beetles in the world - fantastic form and colors. Probably the most variable beetle in the world when it comes to color variation. And then there are the jewel beetles. I have to stop - could go on and on!!! I've just never seen a painting of a Goliathus look so much like a photo! Amazing work - all of them.
 
Goliaths usually take around 2-3 years as a larvae and can live to 1 year if you are lucky as a beetle. Makes me sad, since I love beetles but they have such a short life span compared to larvae. I used to raised scarab and flower beetles. I have never had enough space for me to comfortably raise any of the giant species of beetles. I know some people raise them in stuff like 10 or 20 gallon aquariums but I would never feel right doing that. Goliaths and other species of beetle larvae do best when raised on kinshi and soil/leaf litter mixtures.

Sometimes I really wish I had the patience for school .____.
 
There's a man on youtube called Daniel Ambuehl- He is brilliant, he raises huge numbers of Dynastes, stags and goliathus, but as you say Andee you need space, he keeps his in a very large garage and the whole unit is set up for beetle raising, I tried a tub and some larvae- but you wait so long for so few- Having a large number means they are always emerging etc, he makes Kinshi too, I think I would have to be totally committed to beetle raising or not at all- doing a few didn't work for me really.
@AZChamFan i did raise 4 out of 4 Ugandensis, They were great and I bought some oak storage boxes from a beetle collector- he had everything from yellow to dark purple forms. I have one dried Goliathus and did use that but others have to be photo ref. as I'm aware of the trade in invertebrate species so try not to buy specimens. Just for you- one of my adults and larva.


and an Aristobia femorata painting too:)
 
That Aristobia is fantastic - once again looks like a photo only better actually!!! I don't know how you capture the pores/dimples, textures and reflections so realistically! Very neat that you have raised some! That larva is really something - definitely not one we could feed to a cham - look at those chompers!!! I am a collector of dried insects and it's hard to refrain from posting a bunch of photos which I think would make wonderful paintings but I won't derail your thread that much - I'm afraid I probably have done that enough already!!!! However if you are ever looking for any particular photos let me know. I am going to go ahead and post just two photos of specimens which might make amazing paintings. Then I won't post any more I promise! The Megasoma would of course have to be photographed better but what a neat painting it would make with the wings out!!!
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What the heck do you mean, there's no such thing as too many beetle pictures :D:LOL:
MORE! I demand it, those are incredible, stunning, I see why you liked the paintings now, I'd love to see more, pm if you want but post here for sure.
I've painted a chalcosoma which was fun but wouldn't mind a go at a megasoma. Thanks for the amking photos, I'd love to see more, I'll see if I still have the picture of the mecs the collector here sent me. He had a super good collection of goliathus variations too.
 
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