Access denied!!? Seriously????

 

 

 

 

"This is unprecedented!"  How many times did we say and hear that expression in 2021?  And as I try to post, the year is not yet over.

 

So here's the thing.  Some kind of on-line surveillance thing detected some spots in the image I tried to post. 

 

They're claiming that I'm claiming that it's part of the Beetlemania series – and that the Beetle Beings have not authorized its posting.  This is unprecedented!

 

Well, it isn't part of the series, and I never said it was.  And furthermore, the Beetle Beings are not authorized to direct traffic on this blog.  (Does this sound like the kind of intense but non-sensical communication that's happening at airline flight counters and border crossings these days?)

 

"Prove it," said the Cyber-guy.  "Fine," I said, and I showed him the results of that handy on-line security test:

 

"Not convinced," said Cyber.   (Hey, bet you didn't know that the prefix cyber- comes from ancient Greek and picks up some credentials along the way to the internet era):

"In ancient Greek kubernao meant "steer a ship" and kubernetes was a steersman. Homer tells how the gods smote Odysseus's ship, so that the toppling mast crushed the steersman's head (kuberneteo kephalen).

The normal Latin transliteration of kubernetes gives us "cybernetes" - though practical seafaring Romans worried less about the rules and turned kubernao into guberno, from which we get "govern".

Plato used "kubernetika" to mean skill in steering, and in the 1940s the American mathematician, Norbert Wiener, derived from it "cybernetics" to mean "control and communication theory, whether in the machine or in the animal".

Back to this Cyber-guy who's trying to steer my ship.  I put the image through a second verification test (that *maddening* grid that leads to teeth-grinding) and "checked all the boxes that did NOT contain a beetle image."

  

 

"Does not compute," he replied, reverting to 1990's lingo.  (Auld Lang Syne)

 

Enough of this.  I have important things to do on this New Year's Eve.  There's my careful ration of Christmas cake, and a tantalizing sample of "70% Cardamom Galiano Chocolate" – and a celebratory glass (or two) of Pernod.  OOOoooooh.  At least I know that the Cyber-guy was not ransomware, or he'd be headed for the good stuff!

 

I'll deal with this issue in 2022.  Meanwhile, rest assured that the Beetle Beings are safe and sound, with one more cohort to emerge in 2022.  Thanks to the Gramma of that sweet little girl in her Halloween ladybug cape, we can demonstrate that the Beetles have been many-times-quadruple-vacced – and they're good to go anywhere they please in the year ahead!

 

 

We have lift-off!

 

 

 

It's remarkable – no GPS needed!  No carbon credits required!  Better than Harbour Air taking off over Vancouver Harbour, with the Ferry Building Gallery somewhere on the other side of the Lions Gate Bridge!  Our Beetle Beings are in flight!!    

 

In various stages of readiness, they've been seen reviewing their flight plan --

 

 And doing a thorough pre-flight warm-up:--

  

 

There's been a lot of bustle and sometimes the schedule has needed some explaining, but they're up and away.   Leonard Bernstein nailed it when he said: 

"To achieve great things, you need two things:  A plan and not enough time."

And it all started with this early sketch of their flying formation:

  

 

The first colour lay-in:

 

 And full flying colours:

 

 

This is a good place to check the Flight Manifest to identify the members of this cohort.

 

Oh, dear.  Lennie B didn't say anything about scratchy annotated notes, but he must have had his share of those.  This looks more promising:

 

Here's the key (Remember:  Don't count the dots!):

 

1)      Thirteen-spotted Lady Beetle (Hippodamia tredecimpunctata)

2)     Ashy-grey Lady Beetle (Olla v-nigrum)

3)     14-spotted Ladybird (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata)

4)     18-spotted Ladybird (Myrrha octodecimguttata)

5)     Convergent Lady Beetle (Hippodamia convergens)

 

Did you notice?  We owe the design of bicycle helmets to the Convergent Lady Beetle!  Who knew?!

  

 

Enough of all this!  Here's the final version, "Lifting off" – Beetlemania series, copyright 2021.  They're rising above the clouds now.

 

The weather here changes so rapidly, it's hard to predict – so let's just assume clearing skies for the holiday season.  Or at least for tomorrow.

 

Someone has some explaining to do

 

 

 

And that someone would be me.  First, the title photo is not, of course, of a ladybug – but it shows how beetle-y bugs started showing up in my environment as I began to plan the Beetlemania series.  I'll call it the Capilano Beetle – it's a foot-long metal sculpture that shared the picnic area with me at Capilano Suspension Bridge in September.  I don't think we want to inquire about its own picnic menu (…something to do with deforestation…).

 

Second – and this requires a little math – if a wannabe artist plans to do two paintings a month and is already behind schedule at mid-month, is  it likely she'll complete a second painting in another month of 30 days (the second in a row)?   No explanation required – the answer is "No."

 

So this month-end post is dedicated to a Beetle Backgrounder – or as they call it these days, an "Explainer."  Ready for some fun facts and digressions?  Here we go.

 

Fact #1:  Ladybugs/beetles, all the Coccinellidae, can be found all over the world.

 

Here's one in my own Vancouver yard:

 

And here are two glorious denizens of a lovingly tended garden some miles west of Budapest.

  

 

Fact #2:  When it comes to Ladybug Love, it's best to focus on the positives.

 

I feel the same about my ladybug fixation as I do about horoscopes.  I'll believe all the good stuff and ignore the dubious.  Horoscope example:  Geminis (like me) are youthful, creative, quick-witted.  (Negatives to ignore: They are lying thieves.)  Ladybug example:  Ladybugs are treasures to entice to your garden. (Negatives to ignore: Some of them bite, and some invade your house in the winter).

 

Because my readers can be trusted to keep secrets, here's a preview of the "Beneficial Insect Habitat" that I'm giving my next-door neighbours for Xmas.  It's beautiful in itself, isn't it?  I'm soooooo excited.

 

Actually, my camera lens went a bit cross-eyed with all the circles and indentations.

 

Fact #3:  Ladybugs inspire artists, as well as small children and their grandmothers.

 

 

This shows how ladybugs and other insects have enthralled UK ceramic artist Anna Collette Hunt.  For more of her inspired insect jewelery, click here.

 

And I'll leave to your imagination – because just too precious for the airwaves – the image of an angelic 5-year-old, glowing with happiness in her Halloween ladybug cape and antennae.  She's about four times that age now, but every bit as precious.  And that's a fact – direct testimony from her Gramma.

 

Fact #4:  You can have a lot of fun with entomological etymology.

 

Hit that link and you'll see an insect that camouflages itself as a leaf!  And while it's fun to put those two words in the same sentence, I should really refer to taxonomy  – as the classification of things into groups and sub-categories – in this case, scientific nomenclature.

 

Whew!  Well, I love words, but I'll be brief.  While these words themselves – entomology, etymology, taxonomy – have Greek roots, the beetle names have Latin as their base.  For example, the Seven Spot Ladybird is Coccinella septempunctata.  The 22-spotted Ladybug is Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata.

 

Get the point?  Think punctuation.  "Punct" is even the word for the grammatical period (or full stop) in German. 

 

I even found an example in anatomy, though I don't think you'll see many of these "puncta" in works of portrait art.

 

 

 

It's just as well that Greek is not the base – otherwise, with the 15-spotted ladybug (Anatis labiculata), we might be faced with the Omicron variant.  (I'm not being flippant – I held my breath when I looked it up).

 

Fact #5:  Insects have feelings.

 

With thanks to our European correspondent, I'll note a recent BBC article, "Why insects are more sensitive than they seem."   It's a fascinating long read with remarkable close-up photos and research findings like these:  

"In fact, there's mounting evidence that insects can experience a remarkable range of feelings. They can be literally buzzing with delight at pleasant surprises, or sink into depression when bad things happen that are out of their control. They can be optimistic, cynical, or frightened, and respond to pain just like any mammal would. And though no one has yet identified a nostalgic mosquito, mortified ant, or sardonic cockroach, the apparent complexity of their feelings is growing every year."

Can you see this one's smile?

 

Fact #6:  The collective noun for a group of ladybugs is "a loveliness."

 

Can this be true?!?  I'm inclined to accept it because my source is an unknown writer on the Gulf Islands, and in my experience, Islanders are pretty attuned to nature's loveliness.

 

Now how about this group as they beetle along:

  

 

Oh! What?! How did they slip in here?  You might have guessed they're from my favourite boutique bakery-café  in Upper Westside Manhattan where I regularly view the plat du jour. 

 

I think this means that this edition of the Beetle Chronicles has gone on long enough.  So sit back and imagine a tasty delicacy in all its loveliness, along with your own beverage of choice….and you're bound to see beetles everywhere.  I can't really explain it.

 

 

Connecting the dots (just don't try to count them)

 

If you read on to Beetlemania Part 2 and find yourself asking, "What's going on here?!", it all makes total sense in this artist's oeuvre.  You might remember some periods of high seriousness over the past year or so – the Zodiac Café series (portraits showing the physical characteristics of the Zodiac signs); the Emulation Series (copying or emulating the style of artists I admire) – and finally the recent decision to say to myself, "What the heck; I'll just have fun doing what I please."

 

I've mentioned before my fascination with the surrealist artist Georgio de Chirico and -- guess what – I'm totally in synch with the revered Metropolitan Museum of Art!  Their surrealism exhibit is on now – scroll down a bit in this link to view a brief video that gives a glimpse of it all.

 

Well, that's all I needed to feel confident in establishing my own new art movement, based on the dot at the middle of my own artistic centre:-- Colour!!  I've dubbed it "Chromo-surrealism" and everyone is welcome to bring their paints and crayons and join in the fun.

 

The Beetle Beings have a built-in rapport with this movement, and I found some of them in the fitness room, preparing for their imminent journey.  As I tried to capture them, I thought I'd build on an aspect of composition that often intrigues me:-- the pattern made by the spaces between objects.

 

This should have been simple but, even as I tried different sizes and poses, I couldn't quite pull it together.  It's all a game, you know.  The greater game in the "Beetlemania" series is to answer the question: "Can I make a coherent composition from all these disparate patterned parts?"

 

All right.  Back to Square One – trying fewer movable parts, more closely spaced.

 

Continuing to vary some of the poses, I decided to go with this layout.

 

With the plan finalized, this is a good place to introduce the fitness freaks.  Remember the rules:  No counting the dots; no chanting the  "Ladybird, Ladybird" chant – or singing the song.  (Confidential to Anne-with-an-E – check out the song and see where the ladybird daughter hid herself!)

 

 

And they are:  (1) Steel-blue Ladybird; (2) Twenty-spot Ladybird; (3) Ten-spotted Ladybird; (4) Seven-spot Ladybird; (5) Mealybug Ladybird.

 

This might also be the place to answer everyone's burning question:  Are there male ladybirds?  See here for the answer – and for the history back to the Middle Ages of "The Beetle of Our Lady."

 

Onward now to the beginnings of the colour lay-in:

 

And now…something entirely unprecedented:  I'm going to post a not quite finished painting that still needs some adjustments.  So what?   I'll be like Matisse and tiptoe back into the gallery and make my corrections after the exhibit is hung.

 

Oops!  That was Matisse.   Here's my own "Beetlemania - Pre-flight Warm-up (Semi-final version)" (copyright 2021).

  

And now – after all the commotion – the sun rises on a new day here in Vancouver, November 17^th, 2021.  We'll see where Chromo-surrealism takes us next.

 

On schedule for All Hallows Eve -- WILD creatures!

  

One doesn't want to delve toooo deeply into old-time Halloween lore -- some of it is downright creepy.  But I came across these playful (?) wodewose guys and thought they'd suit my purpose as I launch a new series based on wild beings that enchant us.

 

It started when my friend Y – she of Budapest fame and the "Anonymus" statue – sent me an image of this poster, which delighted both of us.

 

 

 

It's only been in recent years that I've given thought to whether any of the ladybugs I find in the garden have the same number of spots.  (Answer: Not necessarily)  Now, I could not get out of my head the variety of these Coccinellidae.  Where etymology meets entomology, that's their family name – and there are 5000 varieties of them worldwide.

 

And thus was born my Beetlemania Series.  Before we go any further, you need to understand that there are some discussions that are off-limits for this first painting and any that follow.  First, no counting the actual number of spots!  Second, no objections on geographic grounds – as to whether the Beetle Beings would actually be found in the same location.  Third, no reference to cochineal even though it can be a fascinating subject for artists.  The cochineal insect is not even in the ladybug family but still – ordinary human, or insect, decency would leave it out of the conversation.  Fourth, and most important, NO reference to that tacky song that made me wince in childhood, "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home……"  If you can't resist, check here, but no singing out loud, please.

 

Now, to begin.  And the first thing is for three team leaders to review the flight plan.  Here they are, in three trial runs – the third trial, I decided, the most promising.

 

 

It took me an inordinate amount of time to get that far – and farther to this scaled-up starting point:

 

 And then on to laying-in the colours.

 

 

 Maybe it's time now to introduce the Dramatis Personae.  Clockwise from the left standing figure:  The Eyed Ladybug, the 15-Spotted Lady Beetle, and the Yellow-Shouldered Lady Bird.  (Remember: No counting, no singing).

 

Here's the final version, first in the Beetlemania Series:  "Reviewing the Flight Plan" (copyright 2021).

 

 I'm going to give the last word this time to surrealist Giorgio de Chirico: 

"It is essential that the revelation we receive, the conception of an image which embraces a certain thing, which has no sense of itself, which has no subject, which means absolutely nothing from the logical point of view...should speak so strongly in us...that we feel compelled to paint..."

 Look closely and see if you can figure out where the flight plan will take us next.