Hermès Dragonflies Scarf

Leigh Cooke’s poetic, lighter-than-light touch conjures a flutter of dragonflies and damselflies, those most ethereal, fairy-like insects. The latter bear a close resemblance to their cousins, but their bodies are narrower, and they carry their wings folded upright above them when they alight on a surface. The artist’s studio stands beside a pond surrounded by flowers and reeds. The endless ballet of these fragile Odonota (their scientific name) was the inspiration for this composition, rippling gently like the water’s surface. Leigh Cooke began the watercolour after a dragonfly flew right into his studio. While he was at work on the picture, another – the biggest he has ever seen – settled on his windowsill as if to watch.