butterflies Archives - Lizzie Harper

Good Garden: A wildlife Haven

Posted on 14th February 202324th March 2023 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a wildlife garden is always a challenge, but something I embrace. Not only is it an opportunity to show, visually, good practice; it also gives me the chance to learn new hints and tips on how to make my own garden more friendly to wildlife. The twist on this commission is that this good […] Read more

Bird’s-foot Trefoil: An Excellent Plant

Posted on 4th January 2023 in Botany: Telling species apart, Current projects and news

Bird’s-foot Trefoil: Where to find it? This blog is in praise of a small, common wildflower which grows in grasslands. It spreads across the ground, and is low growing (rarely higher than 20cm). It favours sandy soils, but is tough and grows in a wide selection of substrates, and is able to grow in […] Read more

Hay Festival Mug Design

Posted on 3rd June 2022 in Current projects and news

Hay Festival approached me early in the year, to see if I could come up with a design for the Hay Festival 2022 commemorative mug. I knew it was a big ask – a landscape full of local flowers and animals with Hay bluff behind, and plenty of references to the festival. I also knew […] Read more

Paintbrushes: Exploring synthetics Part 2

Posted on 29th March 20228th May 2023 in Illustration Equipment, Testing Synthetic Watercolour brushes

This blog is a follow up to one I wrote a while ago on Paintbrushes, and accompanies the series I’ve done on art equipment. There’s an accompanying Youtube film showing me trialling these four synthetic brushes. In my last blog (and accompanying Youtube film review of brushes ), I ended up recommending Rosemary and Co. […] Read more

Chequered Skipper Butterfly Illustration

Posted on 6th May 202111th January 2023 in Zoological step by step

Chequered skipper butterflies used to be comparatively common in England, but became extinct here over 40 years ago. There’s still a population in Scotland, but nothing in England. However, the good people at Butterfly Conservation and Back to the brink teamed up with other conservation partners and set about changing that. The result is the […] Read more

Butterflies of Bentham Sand dunes

Posted on 13th November 2020 in Current projects and news

Several butterflies are included in the recent landscape illustration completed for South Devon Area of Natural Beauty. This blog will discuss each species, and links to my earlier blog on the wildlife and plants of Bentham bay sand dunes. Clouded Yellow The Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus, travels to Britain every year from southern Europe and Africa. […] Read more

Illustrating a Wild Welsh Meadow of Butterflies

Posted on 16th July 202016th July 2020 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a wild Welsh meadow complete with clouds of butterflies was a wonderful commission. Not only do I know the location well, but the landscape was a leaving present for the director of Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, who is a good friend. He’s obsessed by butterflies, so including a whole ton of these seemed sensible. Working […] Read more

Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus and meadow brown aniola jurtina butterfly natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Save our Butterflies: Gardening for butterflies (2 of 2)

Posted on 28th June 201911th August 2019 in Current projects and news

This is a Guest blog by DIY Garden. Illustrations by Lizzie Harper. How Butterflies help in the Garden Butterflies and moths are not only beautiful garden viditors, they are vital pollinators. Whereas bees get covered in pollen, butterflies take a smaller amount on their slender legs. They travel greater distances than bees, flitting around like nomads instead of […] Read more

butterfly, insect, lepidoptera, butterflies,

Natural History Illustration: Butterflies gallery

Posted on 30th August 201321st November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Before they disappear for another year, I thought it might be worth putting up a collection of my illustrations of some of the more common British butterfly species. These have mostly been commissioned privately, or by the Wildlife Trusts. For a really good guide to the commoner British butterfly species, you should get The Butterflies of Britian […] Read more

Save our Butterflies: Biology and threats (1 of 2)

Posted on 14th June 200014th June 2019 in Current projects and news

This is a Guest blog by DIY Garden. Illustrations by Lizzie Harper. Wildlife Butterflies and moths have been around for millions of years. They used to be a common sight in gardens and countryside, but numbers have declined since the 1940s along with our other native wildlife species such as bees and hedgehogs. It will come […] Read more