butterfly Archives - Lizzie Harper

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 Butterflies Workshop

Posted on 10th January 2020 in Painting workshops

Illustrating butterflies is wonderful, but has its challenges. I recently taught a two day workshop to Northamptonshire Botanical Artists’ Society which focused exclusively on painting these gorgeous insects. Introduction to Butterflies We began with handouts and an introduction to the variety of insect life. Touching on complete and incomplete life cycles, we also learnt their […] Read more

Illustrating a Coastal Hay Meadow Landscape

Posted on 27th September 201914th October 2019 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a Hay Meadow: The Commission A recent commission to illustrate a hay meadow landscape down on the coast of Devon was a wonderful job. The client is North Devon Area of Natural Beauty (NDAONB) and the illustration will be used on an interpretation board on site. Currently, the area is scrub land; it’s over-grazed […] 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

Illustrating a Water Meadow Landscape

Posted on 12th June 20179th January 2019 in Current projects and news

Getting started on a Water meadow landscape I was recently commissioned to complete a large natural history natural science watercolour illustration of a landscape. Woodstock is a water meadow habitat; the illustration would feature my wildlife and botanical illustrations of the species there. This illustration will be used on an interpretation panel, and was a […] Read more

Illustrating at the New Naturalist Symposium

Posted on 14th August 201514th December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Being a natural history illustrator means you need to draw wildlife, plants, and animals. You also need to market yourself. One of the less painful ways to do this is to attend events such as the biannual “New Naturalist Symposium“, this year held at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. What are the New Naturalist titles? […] Read more

Illustrating a Butterfly Bouquet

Posted on 6th March 20157th December 2018 in Zoological step by step

I’m often asked to combine botanical art with scientific illustration. This butterfly with bouquet wings took this to a new level! Begin by drawing your Butterfly The client sent me a rough visual, and asked me to combine features of a butterfly with a Victorian style bouquet. Species and details were up to me. Well, […] Read more

Illustrating the Amazing Blue Butterfly

Posted on 5th August 20141st December 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Scientific illustration involves learning about your subjects, as well as illustrating them. I’ve always been amazed by blue butterflies (family Lycaenidae). I love their vivid hues and their fascinating life-cycles. Their interactions with ants amaze me. Blue butterflies Most of the information in this blog comes from the website of Butterfly Conservation. This charity is concerned with recording […] Read more

Pembrokeshire coastal animals

Posted on 18th July 20141st December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Last week my blog was on flower and plant treats available on a weekend trip to Pembrokeshire. This week it’s the turn of the animals. Bosherston beach, Stackpole, Pembrokeshire Animals of the Coastal Path: Beetles The first treat, on a sandy path facing the sun, were Green tiger beetles. I love these fierce animals. They scuttle at high […] Read more

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Illustrating a Heath Fritillary Butterfly

Posted on 13th December 20133rd December 2018 in Zoological step by step

Illustrating a butterfly out of season: Challenges and solutions Illustrating a butterfly out of season is always a challenge as it’s hard to get good reference. This is true for the butterfly and the plants to be included in the image. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this private commission to illustrate two Heath fritillary butterflies […] Read more

Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Botanical Illustrations, a Sparrowhawk, and some Butterflies

Posted on 22nd November 201326th November 2018 in Current projects and news

Botanical illustrations Commission by Rodale I’ve just finished a whole set of botanical illustrations for “Rodale’s 21st century Herbal” by Michael Balick; a mix of full watercolours like this cross section of an Echinacea; pen and ink with colour wash, like this sheet of seeds and fruit; step-by-step gardening illustrations like this layering of marjoram, and a bundle […] Read more

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Illustration of Silver Washed Fritillary Butterfly

Posted on 3rd October 201326th November 2018 in Zoological step by step

I’ve been working on natural history watercolour illustrations for Buckinghamshire, Bedforshire & Oxon Wildlife Trust this month, and one of the species they wanted me to paint was the beautiful Silver washed fritillary butterfly, Argynnis paphia. This butterfly is instantly distinct from the other fritillaries because of the striking markings on its underwings; greens, golds, and some […] Read more

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Scientific Illustration: Life Cycles

Posted on 16th August 201321st November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Often, commissions come in calling for a natural history illustration of entire life cycles of an animal. Although these are challenging, they’re one of my favourite jobs as it’s vital to include all the stages asked for and to make the image work well in terms of composition; a perfect blend of zoological knowledge and […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: A Stag Beetle in Woodland

Posted on 31st March 201327th November 2018 in Current projects and news

I had a wonderful comission recently; to do a natural history illustration of a stag beetle to accompany a poem by Chris Meredith. Starting the job I began by reading the poem carefully (I’ve transcribed it at the end of this article) to get the atmosphere right, and to list what species I’d be […] 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