Tag: lady beetle

Ladybug #2 – Almost Perfect Camouflage

ladybug on a flower painting

© Copyright 2016 – Present

Size: 6″ x 6″
Support: Gallery wrap stretched canvas
Description: A close-up painting of a red ladybug sitting on a red flower. This painting will not need a frame. Gallery wrap means the canvas wraps around the support. This allows the artist to paint around the edges of the painting.

Purchasing Information
$120 Plus S/H

Contact the artist to purchase this painting.

Artist Comments: This painting is of a lady bug sitting on a red flower and the ladybugs’ color is almost the perfect camouflage. I named it “Almost Perfect Camouflage” because the red color of the ladybug blends in so well with the flower he/she is sitting on. A natural predator would have to look very close to see it.

Where did they get their name? Are all ladybugs female? What do you call a ladybug that is a male? How can you tell them apart? All great questions!

The name ladybug is the common name for Coccinellidae, a Latin word meaning scarlet, and is the American name for the insect Europeans call the “lady beetle” or “ladybird beetle.” Whether you call them a ladybug, ladybird or lady beetle, the name is thought to have its origins in an old legend from Europe during the Middle ages.

Legend has it that the Europeans agricultural crops were being destroyed by pests, so Catholic farmers began praying to the Blessed Lady (the Virgin Mary) for help. Soon afterward they noticed tiny black and red beetles in their fields eating the unwanted pests. Their crops were miraculously spared the damage from the infestation. The farmers attributed their good fortune to the tiny insects which they called “the beetles of our Lady.” The red color of the beetle represents Mary’s cloak and the black spots her sorrows. Through the years they eventually came to be known as ladybugs.

Even though they are called lady bugs, they do come in both the male and female varieties, and both sexes are called the same thing… “ladybugs.” To the naked eye it is hard to distinguish the male from female ladybugs, although, females are larger than males. And that is hard to distinguish unless they are next to each other.

This painting is part of a series featuring a ladybug. The next ladybug painting in this series is Ladybug #1 — Hanging On Tight.

Ladybug #1 – Hanging On Tight

ladybug oil painting

© Copyright 2016 – Present

Size: 6″ x 6″
Support: Gallery wrap stretched canvas
Description: Close-up oil painting of a red ladybug hanging on tight to a leafy branch. This painting will not require a frame as the image extends around the edges of the canvas surface.

Purchasing Information
$120 Plus S/H

Contact artist to purchase.

Artist Comments: This painting is the first of two featuring a ladybug. I actually worked on both paintings at the same time, i.e. Ladybug #1 and Ladybug #2. I painted the ladybug series on six inch by six inch canvases. For such a small creature, I felt 6×6 was the perfect size. I love ladybugs and had been wanting to paint one (or more) for quite some time.

I came across a really good deal on some small canvases and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy 24 of them. When my shipment of 6×6 canvases arrived, I thought this was the perfect time to paint the ladybugs. Before these two particular paintings it had been quite some time since I last painted on such a small canvas. It was a lot of fun and it didn’t take any time at all to finish it.

Now About The Ladybugs!

Ladybugs are wondrous little creatures! They are sometimes called lady beetles or ladybird beetles. They most commonly come in the colors of red, yellow and orange which fades as the beetle gets older. Some species have black spots while others have black stripes and still others are a solid color with no markings at all. Their bright colors serve to warn birds they don’t taste good.

Surprisingly there are over 6,000 different species of this particular insect. They are beneficial insects because ladybugs eat other insects like aphids that often damage agricultural crops and garden plants. As such, ladybugs are often grown commercially and sold to farmers and gardeners.

The life cycle of a ladybug consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Depending on the species, female ladybugs may lay as many as 1,000 eggs from spring to early summer. It usually takes four days for their eggs to hatch.

The next painting in this series is Ladybug #2 — Almost Perfect Camouflage.