Simple start in progress. 4 x 4 mixed media on arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
Think I might have botched it. Debated about adding a soft wash to the petals. But I think it will just get messy. Used Inktense watercolor pencils this round. Made additions to the other two starts, will share soon.
Do you remember my spider snafus from about a month ago? They have started again. (Links for the curious. No photos here, because I don’t want to see them in my media gallery every time I write a post.) I had just stopped checking my bed each night. And Bam. No, not in the bed. Under it. I spotted it on the floor mat by my chair. A huge dark spot. A wolf spider. Turned to get a shoe to kill it with, looked again, and it was gone. Matches the carpet perfectly. Camo Turbo Spider. Spent 30 minutes literally tearing the bed apart. Needed help to lift the mattress and the box spring.
There it was. So I am standing there, holding the box spring, stretching a foot to mash it. Because it just ain’t over until there are spider guts on your shoe. It was slower by this time. It had popped out from under the bed at one point, and I spritzed it with hair spray. You can laugh, but it works. Slows them so they are easier to catch.
Wolf spiders vary in size from small species with only ½ inch leg spans to large ones whose legs may stretch out 5 inches. This one was at least two inches long. That was two days ago, and since then, there has been a spider by my window, and desk and art supplies. A cricket on my closet door, and a spider in the bath next to my room. Enough!
There are 200 types of wolf spider!!!! 40,000 in world, that we know of. Far too many if you ask me. I know, I know, they are beneficial. And I am just fine with them existing, as long as I don’t have to see them. Or worry about finding them in my bed.
I ventured outside today, to take some photos of the flower pots. Saw a HUMONGOUS grasshopper. Must have been five inches at least. I only about half of it. I was leaning in close to some pink flowers… and then backed away slowly.
I walked around the back of the house, and saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in person. No, take that back. I did meet up with a tarantula near Miramar once. This Garden Spider. was actually almost attractive. Follow the link and you will see how colorful and dramatic it is. It was a female. Females can lay more than one egg sac, sometimes three or four. Each sac can contain almost 1,000 yellowish eggs. Spiders “hatch” from their eggs mid-winter but do not emerge from the safety of the egg sac until the following spring. Three or four thousand could be hatching??!!!!
Yuck!
OK, one more gross bug story. A few months after we moved in, friends came to visit. As they were leaving one day, I opened the front door and this fell on the door jamb. Right in front of me. I was looking at my friends, so I heard it first. A very solid thud. That thing was quick! It made it about six feet into the house before Mark carefully kicked it out the door.
Maybe that is why they call it the wild west.
I don’t think you botched the piece. If you’re not happy with it, it means it needs more work. Paint until you love it!!
We have wolf spiders and centipedes here, also. I don’t mind the wolfies so much..I’m kinda under the impression they don’t bite, but I could be wrong. We also have little tiny ones that make webs around the edge of the walls, and ceiling..not recluse, but we have those, too. These blend in, and are hard to see. Those suckers get in my bed all the time, and in my laundry. They’re extra light on their feet..never feel them on me until it’s too late. :/ I’m highly allergic to them..the bites swell up the size of a whale, and some won’t go away. I’ve had one on the back of my neck since May. It keeps flaring up, and itches like mad when it does. HATE them. ugh.
OMG Katie!!!! I did not need to know this. I mean I DO. And thank you. That sounds horrible, WOW. I had no idea a bite could last that long!! I am going to have to do some serious searching. Hope I can find sites WITHOUT photos. LOL.
Good to know about the wolfs. But they are fast. Harder to catch. Ugh is right!
I have the heebie-jeebies soooo bad right now! I knew better than to look at the links before bed???? I couldn’t live there. Always thought I could. Give me bear, coyotes, deer and the like any day! *shiver*
I know what you mean, big things I can handle. Even snakes don’t creep me out. Now you know why I did not want to see them in my media files. LOL have a great weekend Kat 🙂
No botching here!! Like your post title says a “WIP”. I sometimes like what happens when I add paint to the Inktense pencil. Keep going and don’t second guess yourself! Now, as for the other – I don’t know what possessed me but I ‘clicked’ on both links and saw both bugs….Yikes!! Those pics just confirm why I like having that winter weather – nothing like a good frost and subzero temperatures to put a lot of ‘things’ to rest! Always enjoy your posts!!
Hahahaha That is true Janet 😉 Thanks for the positive confirmation, that helps! I love what you posted!
Sheila, my granddaughter and I are getting a good laugh out of your critter stories from our spiderless perch thousands of miles away : )
I think you need to get some abstract arachnids into your recent starts …
Nooooo thank you Dotty. LOL. I will not be painting spiders in any way shape or form. LOL 🙂 How awesome, so glad you are spending the day with one of your favorite people!! (Or more, likely.) Happy weekend to you both 🙂
You need to get some sticky traps. We get ours at Lowe’s. I put one under my bed, one by the front and back doors and one under the couch in the living room. I am amazed at how many spiders, rolly-pollies, centipedes, even a scorpion or two, etc. will get stuck on these traps. I love them!!!
WOW really!!???? I was going to start looking today for something. Thanks Karin!!! I was just thinking Raid. Nice to know it even works for scorpions!! I am so surprised, they are installing the rocks, groundcover in the back. You would think that lots of crawlies would be finding their way in from the back of the house too. Happy weekend to you Karin 🙂
And what else is wonderful about the sticky traps is they are non-toxic! 🙂
Thanks Karin, yeah, that is what is bad about Raid ;/
Yuck! I don’t like bugs and after following the links I now feel that I have things crawling on me – lol. BTW I like what you did with the start.
LOL, Sorry Val!!! I had the heebie jeebies all night, and at one point the laptop chord moved and from the corner of my eye I thought it was something crawling!! Brave woman to follow the links. 😉 LOL thanks Val, about the start. Enjoy your weekend 🙂
Don’t you just love ink intense pencils? Oh your story of bugs! Are those spiders dangerous?
I do, I do Carol!! I want every color!!! LOL. I guess the wolf spiders are poisonous, the bite is painful but not lethal. The garden spider no. But that was has me so worried about these bugs… we don’t know which are dangerous and which are not. ;/
Sheila, my eyes keep catching the four large spots of red near the corners. This conflicts with the dark edged yellow shapes. Wonder if these have anything to do with the messy feel??
The two on the bottom were bothering me. They look contrived, but they were just part of the splatter. They are too large I think…
And now I am noticing the “square” they all create. Thanks Larry for your input 🙂 Something to think about as I continue. 🙂 Have an awesome So. Cal. Weekend 🙂