aterToday for #MarshMadness I've painted a salt marsh tiger beetle, Cicindela marginata (or possibly Ellipsoptera marginata - taxonomy is hard!). Tiger beetles are aggressive predators at all life stages. The larvae wait at the entrance of their burrow for an unsuspecting prey to come within reach of their strong, hooked mandibles. Adults chase down their prey at preternatural speeds. They are capable of running faster than their visual system can process, so they frequently have to stop and reorient themselves.
I have come to recognize that there is a temporal component to vision as my eyesight has been slowly but steadily decaying over the past couple decades. I'm often asked how I can be a blind artist and the answer is: I can see okay, as long as I have the time to look at something closely enough - and the world moves much too quickly for that. I paint insects because I studied them and their anatomy for several years in grad school, but I need to stare at a still image for an increasingly long time if I want to get any of the details right.
