"Early Evening, Alate Evening: Pacific Dampwood Termites".

 

12x16 acrylic painting.  SOLD

One of the hallmarks of the last weeks of August and the first weeks of September here on the south coast of BC is the evening flight of flying termites at dusk.  As a child, we called these "Oh no bugs" because their appearance on an August evening meant that there were only two weeks left of summer holidays and we would be soon going back to school.   The  mass eruption of these fatty, slow-flying insects just before dusk means a bonanza for insect-eating animals and it meant for great bird and bat watching opportunities.   The winged males and females, called alates emerge en masse to swamp the appetites of the numerous predators that come out to eat them.   My intent in this painting is to depict the jewel-like fluttering flight of the termites as they leave their colonies and head out to mate.