The Deathwatch Beetle

The Deathwatch Beetle. To attract mates these beetles create a tapping or ticking sound that can be heard in the rafters of old buildings on quiet nights. They are associated with quiet, sleepless nights and are named for the vigil kept beside the dying or dead, and by extension the superstitious have seen the deathwatch beetle as an omen of impending death. Deathwatch beetles have a famous mention in Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. I combined this with the Victorian love of fairies and their artworks that seem obsessed with turning insects into little cherubs. Original 8" x 10" Acrylic on acid free paper.

 See the finished The Deathwatch Beetle Painting at My Good Babushka.

The Deathwatch Beetle

Painting in progress. You can see the finished work The Deathwatch Beetle at My Good Babushka.

And it's my birthday, happy birthday to me. The big four-oh.

The Deathwatch Beetle

The set-up: The deathwatch beetle is a woodboring insect. To attract mates, they create a tapping or ticking sound that can be heard in old buildings on quiet summer nights. They are therefore associated with quiet, sleepless nights and are named for the vigil kept beside the dying or dead, and by extension the superstitious have seen the death watch as an omen of impending death.
I wanted to take that idea and fold it into the Victorian artistic penchant for all things fairy-related. Often moths and insects were anthropomorphized and given cherubic faces in fairy-themed artworks.

I'm laying in a lot of green and yellows. I spent a good deal of time working on the green curtain, but it's not yet quite there.

The Deathwatch Beetle

I've settled on this composition. There is a little cherubic deathwatch beetle overseeing an elderly man. The nurse introduces the scene.

The Deathwatch Beetle

The deathwatch beetle is a woodboring insect. To attract mates, they create a tapping or ticking sound that can be heard in old buildings on quiet summer nights. They are therefore associated with quiet, sleepless nights and are named for the vigil kept beside the dying or dead, and by extension the superstitious have seen the death watch as an omen of impending death.
I wanted to take that idea and fold it into the Victorian artistic penchant for all things fairy-related. Often moths and insects were anthropomorphized and given cherubic faces in fairy-themed artworks.
Here are some sketches, working it out.