“Inner Development”

Here artistic intent and unexpected influences merge. This work, originally intended as a print of a bare foot in dried and cracked paint, took a fascinating turn.

A vibrant palette of green and yellow tones, infused with traces of nature. It wasn't my hand, but beetles that found their way unnoticed that left their mark here. The original vision has been reinterpreted by nature, and the beetles' damage is now a powerful symbol of change and unpredictability.

In this unexpected collaboration I find an organic metaphor for metamorphosis and change. The traces of the beetle metamorphosis, as unintentional symbolism, tells a story of transformation and the unstoppable passage of time. Art and nature merge into a unique aesthetic fusion of planned creativity and spontaneous influences.

I consciously decided against the original footprint in order to preserve the traces of the beetles. This was not a defeat, but a choice that intensified the dialogue between art and chance. The work thus becomes a timeless testimony to the beauty that arises from the symbiosis of human creativity and the power of nature.

In ‘Inner Development’ we see, how the creative process goes beyond the boundaries of intention. The unintended elements are not mistakes but sources of inspiration. This work invites you to discover the beauty in the unexpected and experience the transformative power of art.

The painting is a 20cm x 20cm egg tempera on canvas. The beetles are drugstore beetles (Stegobium paniceum). These have gone through all stages of development inside the dried paint. I collected them and cleaned the painting. It was then disinfected in the oven and prepared with linseed oil varnish. What remains is a detailed landscape that tells a colorful story of life.

While people argue...✨💛🖤✨

Sun beetle (Pachnoda marginata peregrina) and Zophobas (Zophobas morio).

When I see them like this, I wonder what's going on in their heads.

How do others perceive the world? You never know. This applies to other people as well as to animals. The more egocentric you are, the more inclined you are to draw conclusions about others. But consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries. The fact that you cannot immerse yourself in the world of experiences of others is called qualia.

Qualia refer to the subjective, individual experiences of sensory perceptions and consciousness.

Qualia are inherently personal and cannot be fully communicated or understood by others.

This means there is no way of knowing what exactly is going on inside these cuties.

I suspect these beetles are trying to understand each other. At least their intentions. That's why they touch each other with their feelers.

But maybe it feels especially good when they do that. Similar to when people touch each other tenderly.

Biting Ladybug! Yes, I got bitten on the arm by a ladybug and it pinched a little! 🐞🤕

I last had a similar experience when I was six years old, when a ladybug bit me painfully in my best part.😅🤭

Until now I wasn't sure if the ladybug bit me or if its defensive secretion caused the pain. But it was definitely a bite both times.

🔍 So I did some research and it is actually known that the Asian ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) bites people from time to time. They do this from a lack of food or fluids. Allergic reactions are possible but very rare. It's very dry here at the moment because it's very warm and it rarely rains.

However, when I was bitten in 1992, the Asian ladybug had not yet been documented in the wild in Germany. The first record of free-ranging Asian ladybugs in Europe was in Belgium in 2001.

In the meantime, one finds almost exclusively Asian ladybugs (images 1 and 2).

⚠️ Two-spot ladybugs (images 3 and 4) and other native ladybug species are now classified as highly endangered.

This two-spot ladybug (Adalia bipunctata) got lost in my room yesterday. It is a rare color variant, found in 15 percent of the species. Two-spotted ladybugs are usually red with a black spot on each elytra. The black variant is black, with two to three red spots per elytra.

🐞🌿 A ladybug nymph fell on my hand and clung to it tightly. 😅🤷‍♂️ I let it climb into a bush. Baby saved! 🤗

There is only one Summer of Love for European june beetles (Amphimallon solstitiale) and about two-thirds are males. 😄

This species of scarab is often found on oak trees. Rhizotrogus aestivus flies at twilight from April to June and provides a significant food source during this time - especially for pregnant greater horseshoe bats after their hibernation. But there are no greater horseshoe bats in Hesse. The last sighting was in 1924. There are still a few in Rhineland-Palatinate. The bat species is threatened with extinction because it is running out of food and there is less and less habitat available, e.g. old attics.

Yesterday I met this beautiful oak splendour beetle (Agrilus biguttatus) in the ruins of the Falkenstein Castle.🌞🏰🌳

Sun beetles and their cocoons 🌞
Pachnoda marginata peregrina

I have a larva for you!🤗

Sun beetle 🌞,
Pachnoda marginata peregrina

It's a species of flower chafers 🌸 (a group of scarabs) from west and central Africa. The larvae are called grubs.
I sometimes feed them to my animals.
Very rich food! 😋

My buddy C-7 (Coccinella septempunctata) 🐞🌞