Sunday 15 April 2018

Insects

1972: Insects (Design - Pierrette Lambert)
 This little dragonfly can be seen all over sub-Saharan Africa in swampy habitats, its common name is piedspot. The artist is the multi award winning Pierrette Lambert (b1928) who designed bank notes and stamps for countries in Europe and Francophone Africa.  She produced an amazing number of stamps (1300), her last commission being in 1997 after which she retired to concentrate on painting.
1994-1998 Definitives Flora and Fauna (Design - Wendy Bramall)
One of our most common damselfly's Latin name happily starts with the letter I - Ischnura elegans (Blue tailed damselfly) and despite its name can be found around inelegant surrounds such as brackish ditch water as the artist shows with the plants that also inhabit these places of shallow still water.  For insects with less ethereal wings I turn to the sturdy moth
1994: Moths (Design - I Loe)
Left to right there is the Tiger Moth whose hairy 'woolly bear' caterpillar was always a favourite of mine as a child. In the middle is the Elephant Hawkmoth and on the right, the Emperor ruling the air.
Although this moth is found in Europe it is not present in the British Isles apart from one place in County Clare, Ireland.  This is the Burren Green named after the area in County Clare where it was first found in 1949. The Burren National Park is a special place for both flora and fauna.
2012: Roald Dahl PHQ Card
Lastly some giant talking insects who James Trotter discovers in an enchanted giant peach and in whose company after many adventures around the world ends up in a mansion in Central Park, New York. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl  as shown was illustrated by Quentin Blake.







The Sunday Stamps II prompt of the Letter I - for Ireland and Insects - See It On A Postcard

5 comments:

Mail Adventures said...

Dragonflies are always wonderful to see, in person and on stamps. When I was a child, we used to call them "helicopters" :D

That book is one of my Dahl's favourites!

Bob Scotney said...

What a surprise to see the moth stamps from Ireland.

FinnBadger said...

For some reason, that is my favorite Dahl book, too. And it's my favorite stamp of the week :)

agi said...

dragonflies are gorgeous, as are the stamp designs depicting them

violet s said...

I always thought of moths as the ugly sisters of the much prettier butterflies. I was wrong.