Graveyard Garden | Hazel Fricke

working on the first of probably five or six velvet ant mini prints and I forgot how much I hate doing backgrounds. I could definitely use some opinions!!!

I finally have a market on the calendar so if you're in or near Chicago, you can come check out these new buggies in a few weeks on August 16th! I'll hopefully have a poster with all the info to share soon.

In hops Tylopelta gibbera, a small and sometimes deceptively complicated-patterned treehopper! It's hard to paint some of these insects because they have such variation in their coloration but I had go with the lighter, more visible patterns for this species because it's just so beautiful when you look closely. It's now up in my shop along with some restocks of two of the tiny lady beetle species!

Banana for scale.

A little bit more personal post on this Sunday. I put this up on my Instagram but I wanted to share it here too because I feel like it's important for people to hear it and maybe relate to it. I haven't been making as many sculptures or going to any art sales since February since my mental health has taken a dive.

I've been pretty much housebound for the last few months because of my severe agoraphobia, which I've struggled with on and off for years but was exacerbated by worsening chronic illnesses. I couldn't and oftentimes still can't leave the house without panicking and abandoning plans. That obviously worsened my depression and made it way harder to get anything done, especially artistically. It's been a struggle.

Thankfully I got restarted in therapy and on medication (many thoughts on that which I can elaborate on lol -- also finally getting treated for ADHD!) and have been slowly going outside more! It sounds silly but my big milestones have been walking to the park to take photos of sculptures and riding the bus for the first time since February. My first day of work back at the museum was on Thursday and it went really well; in case my followers here don't already know, I work for a conservation foundation surveying prairies by collecting, preparing, and identifying insects in reclaimed prairies here in Illinois and do that work at the Field Museum (where I've also done some grant work photographing horse and deerflies). The next big steps are physical therapy (EDS gang woooo) and in-person art sales! Slowly but surely, I'm getting there.

A tiny jewel made not so tiny, Eudiagogus pulcher, also known as the beautiful clown weevil, was one of the many insects on my most-wanted list. I finally caught one on my trip to Houston last summer and was surprised at how small they are in person! These have been finished for a while but it took me forever to get photos of them. I'm hoping that my sculpture output will be ramping back up now too!

Just in time for Weevil Wednesday, these guys are up on my website :^)

Banana for scale.

The flowers are finally blooming so I was able to take some photos with the Sphaerocoris annulus sculptures outside! These beautiful shield bugs are also known as Picasso bugs, and yes, they really do have these colors and that pattern in real life. I hope I get to see one in person someday 🤩 until then, have this extremely belated, cherry-picked participation in the FeBUGuary event!

These sculptures are available on my website too!

Banana for scale.

The Cephalotes varians (aka the northern Caribbean turtle ant) sculptures have finally been photographed! It was tough because their lovely little door heads reflect the sunlight a bit too much for my liking but we made it work. This is one leg of my suuuuuper late attempt at a partial FeBUGuary challenge. They're now listed on my website!

Banana for scale.

The second half of the big isopod restock is here! Cherry blossoms, dairy cows, cappuccinos, dwarf gators, papayas, and pineapple spikies have all hit the website. I've left the remaining older versions up for now but eventually I'll take those down if they just don't sell. These new and improved (see: bigger and better painted!) versions will be the new norm so if you have a soft spot for the original size and paint style, grab 'em while you can!

Not gonna add every single scale photo so here are the cherry blossoms with banana for scale.