Dragonflies are the most mesmerising of insects. To me, they always seem too big, too beautiful and too alien to be real when seen flying or hovering nearby. I guess one of the reasons they look so alien to me is that I don't often see them, but we do have several species here on the Isle of Man, including a number of Hawker and Emperor dragonfly species. The Isle of Man Nature Journal was recently sent a photo of a Migrant Hawker dragonfly, so I asked the sender if I could draw it to include on the map. He kindly agreed and this blog post is the result!
At the end of September, I was very pleased to be sent a beautiful photo of a Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) dragonfly. It was taken at the Raggatt, along the River Neb, by Marc Logan. It was such a striking picture that I asked Marc if I could draw it so it could be included on the Isle of Man Nature Journal map. Marc agreed and it's taken me until now to get to it, but I've very much enjoyed the process.
The photo prompted me to find out about some of the dragonfly species that are found on the Isle of Man. If you'd also like to learn about the species of dragonfly that are found here then take a look at the Wikipedia page Biota of the Isle of Man or the Manx Wildife Trust Dragonflies page. If you're interested in helping to improve our understanding of the migration of dragonflies then the British Dragonfly Society has a page devoted to the Migrant Dragonfly Project where you can find details of how to record any sightings. The Migrant Hawker dragonfly was only a migrant species to British shores before the 1940's but now has a resident breeding population and it's distribution has gradually moved north, to now include the Isle of Man. Other dragonfly species are in decline, so observations from the general public are needed to help gauge the impact of climate and habitat changes.
I felt a bit experimental with this drawing. The confusion of grass made me want to create an abstract background that accentuated the arcs of the grass blades and the colourful pattern on the dragonfly led me to lay down blocks of colour that could show through in places. I started with a pencil sketch and then ink as I knew which bits I wanted black and wasn't quite sure what I was going to use for the background, so I wanted the dragonfly to be waterfast.
I decided to use my Neocolour II crayons to lay down the pops of colour. These are watersoluble and are very highly pigmented so they work well for quick additions of bright colour.
When I started to add some of the larger grass blades to the background with quick ink strokes, I realised that they were starting to form a lovely burst of arcs, stretching upwards from the bottom. I decided to add my own arcs where I thought they looked good and included them from a few directions. I then selected a few colours to add to the segments that were created by the intersecting arcs, so they would create an abstract base for the background. I added water with a water brush to smooth the Neocolour II and to make it easier to work on top of in the next stage.
I can't seem to get very far through a drawing before I reach for my Luminance pencils and this drawing was no exception. I found that some of the Luminance pencils worked better over the Neocolour II crayons than others and that the yellow and green colours of Neocolour II were harder to work over than the blue, browns and pink colours. Nevertheless, I kept working the pencils over the top of the bright colours below, adding extra blades of grass where needed, until I was happy with the overall balance of colours and composition of the background.
I then went back in with the fountain pen in a rather reckless manner. I honestly thought I would wreck the nip of the pen, but I was too engrossed in the artwork to listen to my own reason and carried on working ink over the layers below and often scratching up lower layers to reveal a lighter colour below. I loved the effect of this and the unpredictable nature of when I'd get ink and when I'd get scratches. You kind of lose yourself in the process at this point and just act and react. The doorbell went and I ignored it. The Evri man left the parcel in the shed.
Eventually, I was done and had to leave the piece for a while. It's always good to take a break and come back later with fresh eyes after being so engrossed.
When I came back to it, I added the veining on the wings with ink and more colour to the body of the dragonfly with Luminance pencil. I then coloured the stem that the dragonfly was sitting on and added ink shading over the top. Lastly, I added some colour to the wings of the dragonfly to indicate their delicate sheen and the grass and brown stem below.
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