Beth Grobbelaar Talk: "Natural jewels and how to illustrate them" - April 2009

An illustration by Beth Grobbelaar. (Photo by Mary Lynn Kidd)

In April BAASA members were mesmerised by Beth's excellent presentation, and all the boxes of meticulously mounted beautiful "bug" specimens that she had brought with from the National Insect Collection in Pretoria. We were astounded by her facts and figures, and at the amazing diversity of insect life. Beth also discussed her illustration working methods in detail.

Some of the "natural jewels" from the National Insect Collection.

(Photos by Ann Harris)

(Photo by Mary Lynn Kidd)

Above is Beth's illustration of the African Rock Crawler, an insect from the new order Mantophasmotodea that was discovered in 2002! This illustration formed the basis of the logo that she developed for the 2008 International Congress of Entomology which was held in Durban.