Ages ago, I told the story of how I looked up at my mounted beetle one day and thought, “I think I want to paint on that.”

I asked myself, “what would a beetle get, if it could customize it’s wings?”  The first one I did was “Bad to the Exoskeleton,” surrounded by dead leaves and insect exoskeletons, because no skulls, right?  I did another one: “Fear no boot.”  Just the thing for a badass beetle who’s not afraid of anything….even getting stepped on.

I eyeballed my mounted months, and decided a moth might want flames, like the old “moth to the flame” saying goes, to show people, “yeah, check ME out.  Got so close, I got FLAMES.”  (Side note:  moth wings are fuzzy and VERY hard to paint.)

And then I snuck a sneaky glance at my mounted dragonfly, and thought it might want wing art of its namesake:  a dragon, done tribal-style.  (Also: with all those tiny little cells, dragonfly wings are very hard to paint.)

But that was ages ago.  I’ve since ordered beetles and painted them as gifts for family…moving more from messages to symbolism.  This couple was for my parents: Bavarian-style decorations for mom, Egyptian-styled wings for my dad.

And one of my favorites–a steampunk-styled lovely for my sister.

Then I just had fun.  I started thinking of the insects that use camouflaged  wing patterns to look like eyed to ward off predators, like owls and hawks that might eat them.  Which made me think a beetle might want a set of angry eyes or multiple eyes to scare away a HUMAN predator.  Like, “hey, don’t touch me!  I’m a cranky human!”

Some I’ve just filled with lovely little patterns I’ve had fun with.  Human skulls with beetle legs, flower and mehndi-inspired patterns.  And even a leaf insect with William Morris wallpaper-inspired doodles to fit in a modern environment.

I even learned to spread and mount them myself, and let Myla do a few. And as much as she hates finding dead insects outside, she actually enjoyed the process of spreading and pin-mounting them on foam core, and then painting them once they’ve set.  Like she said when we painted on bones, “we can make something beautiful out of something that’s sad.”

People have asked, but for whatever reason, I’ve never sold them.  So I decided to put a couple in the shop, mounted and set in little shadow box frames.  I only have two, but as many as I’ve kept for myself, I decided I could dare to part with the two of them.  (The shop’s here, if you’re interested.)  If not, I’ll do my best to find them good homes!

There’s this lovely little black & white lady:

And this handsome little flowered fella:

If you’re interested, you could even find some insects to paint on your own!  If you do, I know Myla and I both would love to see what you come up with. 🙂