Cicada Killer - Laura Gillis

I have noticed several of these BIG wasps flying around here (North Central Texas) lately and I finally got one to draw! After I caught this one, I saw another one flying around with a big cicada in it’s grasp. She (or he) landed in a tree and proceeded to stun or kill the cicada before flying off again. (Or, maybe she was just getting a better grip on her cargo, I don’t know.)

The Cicada Killer is a big, heavy bodied wasp (the body is 1.125” long or 2.9 cm) and she makes quite an impression when she is flying around your head. I assume that she packs one heck of a sting but thankfully, I don’t have any first-hand information about that to share. (Not yet anyway.)

This wasp excavates her nest in the ground. You will see a mound of soil left by an entrance hole which is about .375” or 1 cm wide.

This was just a quick little sketch for now... a tighter sketch is planned for the “bug journal” soon. She really is a beautiful insect.

Bug hunting

“Everything in Africa bites, but the safari bug is worst of all.”
- Brian Jackman

Something I haven't done for a l-o-n-g time is to go bug hunting. There again, haven't needed to, as I haven't had anybody in my "animal hospital' recently that needs feeding bugs! But this morning I decided to specifically go and look for something to sketch. It was quite a job - thanks to my chickens, my garden seems to be devoid of insects! However, I did manage to find quite a selection at my pond, which is in a fenced area and rarely gets visited by the chickens.

One of my most exciting finds, was a Water Beetle or Diving Beetle in the pond. These insects only visit a healthy water system and I was ecstatic to see him. I let him be, because I know better than to try and catch him! - they deliver a VERY painful, stinging bite, which lingers for ages! So I did a quick sketch while he sat quietly next to a rock just under the water surface.

My next exciting find was a little thin-tailed scorpion as I over-turned one of the rocks. These little fellas are fairly harmless and non-venomous, but I definitely wasn't going to risk a sting, so he was also quickly sketched before I coaxed him to a new hiding place.

My third find, besides a grasshopper I managed to catch, was a dead wasp lying on the lawn. Her I could bring inside and sketch at leisure. It was a Mud Dauber, and one of my favourite wasps. I've never found them to sting, not even when caught, and I let them be in the house while they dart in and out collecting mud for wherever they're building their mud nest, usually in a corner up against the ceiling, and every now and then it's removal time when I haven't seen any activity near the nest for some time.

Wasps - Laura Gillis

I think there is a line in a John Wayne movie where it is said that everything in Texas would either “bite ‘ya, sting ‘ya or stick ‘ya.” (Or it could have been Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart that said that -- I don’t remember now.) Well, here are a couple of those things that might sting ‘ya...


First is the Scolid Wasp. This pretty black and brown wasp has a furry abdomen and the darkest black body and wings. She is a regular sized wasp (not quite an inch long).


This other brown wasp is quite a bit bigger (well over an inch if she wasn’t curled up). I think this is a Paper Wasp Polistes carolinus but I am not totally sure. I found her lying by the water faucet one day, dead as a door nail as they say. We do have lots of wasps around here and I think I will start paying more attention to them.

Ink & watercolor in the Moleskine Watercolor Journal

Old Bugs - Laura Gillis

When I was recently cleaning up my drawing table I found these bugs I had drawn... I can't remember how old they are but I still liked them. The Yellow Jacket and the butterfly are ink & watercolor, the mud dauber wasp is just ink. All were done on Arches 140# hot press watercolor paper that I had soaked in tea and dried for the color.

Bald-faced Hornet ( Wasp)

If there was a wasp that I could get along with, it would be this wasp. It does not take offense if I come too close, rooting in the fig tree. It does not get all cranky if I kneel practically on its head while it feeds on some fallen fig. It does not fly into the kitchen and then run repeatedly into the window, getting all huffy when I try to shoo it out. No. This wasp is a reliable fellow. A well-bred wasp. A wasp with cufflinks for all love. One knows where one is with such a wasp.
( I'll let you know when the inevitable sting happens.)