Ladybug love: artist Charley Harper loves ladybugs in a big way! - an artist that depicts ladybugs exclusively

Ranger Rick, Dec, 1996 by Deborah Churchman

See the picture of a male and female ladybug at left? It's called "Ladybug Lovers," and it was made by Charley Harper. He did it to show that "not all ladybugs are ladies--some of them are gentlemen." Ha, ha.

Charley made that picture in his studio (right), along with hundreds of others. They don't all show ladybugs. But they're all as clever as this one.

This wildlife artist loves playing with pictures and with words. He has since he was a kid. In fourth grade, he figured out that he could draw better than anyone else in his class.

Then in high school, he noticed that when he drew pictures to go with his English papers, he got better grades. "It was art for fun and profit," he says with a soft chuckle.

WILD CHILDHOOD

Growing up on a farm, the artist spent a lot of time outdoors. That's when he started loving--and drawing--wildlife.

But the artist fell in love with ladybugs much later. "I had to put together a collection of my pictures for a display. I needed something red in one of the pictures

to make the whole collection look good together," he recalls. "So I drew ladybugs."

He became enchanted by the little beetles, he says. The insects are tiny and bright. And they help people by eating aphids and other garden pests.

So Charley, his wife, Edie, and their son, Brett, decided to make ladybugs their family symbol!

LADYBUG BOUNTY

People who know Charley know that he loves ladybugs. So over the years, they have sent the artist lots of ladybug look-alikes (right). Ladybug magnets. Stuffed ladybug toys. A ladybug clock. Tick tack toe on a ladybug. A ladybug pocket knife. In fact, everything you see in this picture is a ladybug--except Charley.

MERRY LADYBUG CHRISTMAS

Every year at Christmas, the Harper family sends out a ladybug card. Brett drew almost all of the family's cards when he was little. That's him today with his mom and dad (left), holding the ladybug popcorn card.

Some cards make funny puns with ladybugs, like the one that says "Bah! Hum(bug)!" Get it? And all the cards use ladybugs in unusual ways--as buttons for a snowman, lights for a tree, or the letter O in HO, HO, HO. Where else can you see ladybugs?

(LADY)BIRD HOUSE

One day Charley decided to paint a bird house. He made it into a ladybird house! (right) (Ladybird beetle is another name for ladybug.) Do birds mind the ladybug look? "It doesn't bug them," Charley says with a laugh.

LADYBUG MOVE

When Charley and his family built a new house, he sent his friends a ladybug card. In one of the dark circles on the ladybug's back, the card said the Har- pers were moving to a new spot!

After they moved in, Charley decided to paint a ladybug on the side of their house (right). It made the house really easy to find. "My neighbors called it the Bug House," Charley says.

THREE TWO-SPOTS

Here's the Harper family in their ladybug shirts (right). Sometimes Charley wears the two-spot shirt when he talks to groups about the friendly ladybugs. He tells them about all the good that ladybugs do in the garden. He mentions how people around the world love ladybugs. He shows ladybug slides.

Then, when he's finished, he takes off his jacket and turns around--to show the shirt's back view. Surprise!

Let's face it: The Harper family just loves ladybugs--coming and going.

Rangers: See the back cover for one of Charley's bird drawings. And watch for more of his art in an upcoming issue.