After hearing the themes for 2019, I researched photos of amphibians and insects. I tend to be drawn to bright colors and shiny things, so after gathering about 50 photos, I realized that I kept returning to a close-up of dragonfly eyes. I chose that as my main inspiration. I began sketching, and knew I wanted to make a headpiece with the giant eyes on either side of it. Curiously, that was the last piece of the sculpture I finished!

 

I needed large hemispheres to make the eye effects, so I headed out to buy large plastic bowls. While shopping, I saw that they had three sizes of hula hoops for sale, as well as bubble wrap. It struck me that bubble wrap looked like the textured surface of an insect’s eyes, so I bought a small roll to try on the bowls. The hula hoops became the basis for the hoop skirt beneath the bowls, with purple fabric on top.

 

I wanted the bodice to look like the pointed body of a dragonfly with overlapping scales like a close up of butterfly wings. These were done with plastic spoons cut from the stems and painted in three variations of colors to get that insect iridescence I was hoping for.