The Garden Tiger moths, Scarlet Tiger moth, Buff Ermine moths and Jersey Tiger moth have taken all day to paint on this tile, each one is painted to scale. There was something on radio 4 about a Scarlet Tiger moth being spotted in Sussex for the first time in decades so I thought I would get my big girls book of moths out and see what it looked like. Basically it was love at first sight.
The Scarlet feeds on comfrey, nettle, bramble and meadow sweet, it loves the sunshine and water banks. The Garden Tiger is more common, as it the Jersey Tiger and the Buff Ermine, but non the less on the decline. The big girls book of moths is in fact the out of print book by Bernard Skinner, Colour Identification Guide to Moths and was given to me by my lovely daughter Jess.
I found this lovely quote on Aurelian Books web site-
Over 300 years ago the renowned English naturalist John Ray wrote: “You enquire, what is the use of butterflies? I reply to adorn the world and delight the eyes of men: to brighten the countryside like so many golden jewels. To contemplate their exquisite beauty and variety is to experience the truest pleasure. To gaze enquiringly at such elegance of colour and form designed by the ingenuity of nature and painted by the artist’s pencil, is to acknowledge and adore the imprint of the art of God.” (translated from Latin by Charles E Raven).