White Spotted Pinion moth II is one of four White Spotted Pinion moth prints created as part of a project of small works titled "The Irreplaceable".

The Irreplaceable is a collection of small artworks celebrating the irreplaceable priority species associated with hedgerows, presented on irreplaceable vintage handmade paper.

The rarest of the four British Cosmia species, the White-spotted Pinion underwent a rapid decline as a result of Dutch elm disease during the 1970s and is now scarcely distributed in parts of southern England.
The green caterpillars have pale stripes, and feed on English elm (Ulmus procera) and wych elm (U. glabra), seemingly preferring the suckers growing from the trunks, known as epicormic growth.

The moth is a drypoint print tinted with watercolour, and the hedgerow plants are monoprint - printed directly from the actual plants.

To make this collection especially precious, I am using irreplaceable vintage handmade paper from the historic Barchan Green papermill. Handmade in 1980 for the Royal Watercolour Society the paper needed extra soaking to make it printable with drypoint plates on the etching press at Double Elephant Print Workshop. The hedgerow plant accompanying the drypoint insects are printed in tones of gold and silver to highlight preciousness. Using gold and silver ink was completely out of my comfort zone – but this treasured paper and the importance of these insects needed to be honoured in a special way.

Paper size: 14cm x 19cm / 4 ½ x 7 ½ inches

THIS particular print is sold unframed and is easy to post anywhere.
Other prints in the collection are available in an Ash wood frames. These are small enough to post safely to addresses in the UK only.