Tag: sbsdrawwithme

national moth week

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It’s National Moth Week again, so we sketched moths (and their larvae) on Draw With Me.

Halysidota tessellaris, the banded tussock moth, is found in North America from southern Canada south through Texas and central Florida. Adult moths are attracted to decaying plants with pyrrolizidine alkaloids. They regurgitate on them, then drink the fluids, and thus acquire defensive chemicals that offer protection from predators.

Megalopyge crispata, the black-waved flannel moth, is found along the east coast of the United States, and as far inland as Oklahoma. The caterpillars produce a venom, delivered through hollow hairs that penetrate the skin, that can cause pain, headache, inflamed lymph glands and dermatitis. They may look cute and furry, but don’t go petting them!

Nephropidae vs Palinuridae

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The theme for this week’s Draw with Me was lobsters, both “true” and “spiny”.

Although they superficially resemble each other in terms of overall shape and having a hard carapace and exoskeleton, the two groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae family) can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae and by the lack of claws. True lobsters (Nephropidae family) have much thinner antennae, and claws on the first three pairs of legs, with the first being particularly enlarged.

Spiny lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, but are particularly common in Australasia (where they are usually referred to as crayfish or sea crayfish) and in South Africa.

On the other hand, the American lobster (Homarus americanus)—also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, northern lobster or Maine lobster—thrives in cold, shallow waters. I wonder if the claw growth is an adaptation more useful in colder oceans. If so, why?

diametric opposite

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I rarely sketch on toned paper, but thought I’d give it a go this time. It’s fun to use white charcoal.

In India, on January 26, they commemorate the day in 1950 that their constitution went into effect, turning the nation into a republic separate from the British raj.

January 26 is also the anniversary of the raising of the British flag in Sydney Cove in 1788, marking the start of New Holland’s colonisation. Officially known as Australia Day, it has become the biggest annual civic event in Australia, though it is often referred to as Invasion Day or Survival Day by Indigenous Australians and others.

So while one country is celebrating the removal of British shackles, the other is remembering the diametric opposite.

(January 26 is also my youngest’s birthday, and that’s a celebration I care about. Has it really been 35 years? Amazing.)

horse anatomy

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I was not one of those kids who could draw horses. Ilona Pochwyt in Grade 2, on the other hand, drew them obsessively. It was while watching her effortlessly sketch a ‘colt’ (I had never even heard the word before, they were all horsies to me) that I decided that drawing was a talent, and I definitely didn’t have it. I wonder if my life’s trajectory would have been different if, instead of shutting down the artist within at age 7, I’d asked Ilona to teach me how to draw a horse.

Fast forward several decades and I finally understood that drawing is a skill, not a talent. But I still, until today, had never drawn a horse. My thanks go to John Muir Laws for the equine anatomy lesson, and to Danny Gregory for the prompt. A hurdle has been leapt, a monster vanquished. I see many more sketched horses in my future.