Artwork Description:

Title: Green Scarab Beetle

This beautiful green beetle, is part of the Hope Entomology collection at The University of Oxford Museum of Natural History. I used a combination of watercolour and gouache paint to build up the layers of greens, recreating the depth of colour and shine of the original specimen.

The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. Egyptian amulets representing sacred scarab beetles were traded throughout the Mediterranean world.

Watercolour and gouache on board

Artist Bio:

I am a Derbyshire-based, artist/illustrator and art tutor.

I have a degree in textile design, and a masters from Central St Martins in Communication Design/Illustration.

My inspirations include natural history, explorers and naturalists, Hitchcock films, kitchen sink dramas, ghosts & haunted houses  and Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier novels.

I am currently working on a series of Shackleton illustrations which evoke the foreboding atmosphere and historic accounts of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, as well as developing an idea for a graphic novel inspired by Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.