Dominique Vassie
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niqvassie.bsky.social
Dominique Vassie
@niqvassie.bsky.social
510 followers 82 following 48 posts
𓆧 artist, biologist and bug-fan 🌱
𓃵 yorkshire ⇒ tokyo
𓃦 https://linktr.ee/niqvassie
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niqvassie.bsky.social
pencil drawing of a group of 7 weaver ants attacking a smaller ant of a different species.
September 16, 2025 at 6:46 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
been caring for some little silkworms for a friend - they're all cocooned up now.
coloured pastel drawing in blues and oranges of a silkworm curled to one side spinning a thread of silk from it's mouth.
September 5, 2025 at 1:52 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
My online shop is open until April 28th if anyone wanted to order a copy of my little artbook about the Lower Derwent Valley NNR @ldvnnr.bsky.social 🌱

Option to have an original pencil drawing on the front page 🌸🌼🌱

niqvassieshop.bigcartel.com
April 21, 2025 at 10:32 PM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Laila after lunch.
pencil drawing from above of a long-haired black cat lying ontop of a big cardboard box. she is in the sunlight and using one of her back paws to scratch her cheek.
March 18, 2025 at 7:57 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
drawing outside in 森町 in december.
loose coloured pastel drawing of a line of tall golden/light green bamboo silhouetted against some dark pine trees behind. loose coloured pastel drawing of a river running down from mountains in the distance. The closer mountains have red autumn leaves and there is a group of reeds growing from the stones of the river bank.
March 10, 2025 at 6:43 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
A caterpillar i rescued from the floor a station twice within 20 minutes. Glad they didn't get trampled!
Three pencil drawings of a big hawkmoth caterpillar. It's dark brown with yellow and red eye-like spots running along the body, and a little white-tipped tail spike which is waving.
March 8, 2025 at 6:23 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Study of Laila in the sun.
Digital painting of a long-haired black cat lying in sunlight on a wooden floor. Where the sun is touching her fur it is a rich brown.
January 27, 2025 at 7:54 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
beastie
Digital sketch of a long bodied mammalian-dragon-like creature. Its body is curled around to fit inside a square and it has short glossy brown fur and large tusks.
January 3, 2025 at 3:47 PM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Longhorn cow from @ldvnnr.bsky.social 🌱
Pencil drawing of an english longhorn cow. They have long horns which are curving down and forwards in front of their eyes and almost meeting in the middle.
December 6, 2024 at 1:49 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Taking on a handful of pet commissions to work on next week for anyone interested!

Details at my online shop: niqvassieshop.bigcartel.com 🌱
Pastel drawing of an orange/gold coloured labrador dog curled up asleep.
November 29, 2024 at 3:28 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Collared pratincole in June on Wheldrake Ings, Yorkshire. Painted for the upcoming book 'Birds of the Lower Derwent Valley'.

I grew up next to this nature reserve and do miss the smell of meadowsweet underfoot and skies full of noisy swifts. ☀️
Digital painting of a collared pratincole bird flying. In the background are swallows, swifts and sand martins flying too. Behind them are dark clouds and a pale bird-hide lit by the evening sun besides a pool surrounded by lush plants such as bulrush, willow and meadowsweet.
November 28, 2024 at 2:24 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
a yorkshire hare 🌱
Digital sketch (dark green on white background) of a brown hare walking towards the right. Their head is held low and ears back.
November 26, 2024 at 5:50 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
a conker fairy 🌱
A gouache painting of a small, four-legged creature whose body resembles the seed cases of a horse chestnut/conker/buckeye tree.
November 25, 2024 at 5:09 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Male fig wasps generally look entirely different to the females with most having no wings, vestigial/no eyes and tiny antennae. They cannot survive long outside the fig - their only role being to mate and then chew an exit for the winged females. 🌱
Pencil drawings of male fig wasps. Two are drawn from above - they have wedge-shaped heads, short chunky legs, tiny/no eyes and long fleshy abdomens. In the bottom right corner there is a drawing of one with his abdomen curled beneath his legs.
November 22, 2024 at 3:20 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Drawings of female fig wasps done for my masters thesis. The intricate interdependence between fig trees and fig wasps is so so amazing! ✨
Pencil drawing of a female Ceratosolen solmsi fig wasp. She has a wedge-shaped head, large eyes and chunky antennae. Pencil drawings of female Ceratosolen fusciceps fig wasps. The upper wasp has wings, chunky antennae and a relatively large abdomen. The lower wasp has lost her wings and half her antennae and her abdomen is tucked beneath her laying eggs. Pencil drawings of female Ceratosolen solmsi fig wasps. The left drawing is in profile and the right shows the head from below detailing the mouthparts.
November 20, 2024 at 2:17 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
A Sandworm of Dune - based on real beautiful marine polychaetes ☀️
Digital painting of a giant sandworm from the novel Dune. It has grey scales down its back and rows of pale-red bristly parapodia along the sides. It has a sharp beak and short tentacles around the mouth. It's ventral side is purple. At the top left of the image are simple sketches of the animal's mouth open and closed.
November 19, 2024 at 7:09 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
Conkers painted from life in gouache (seeds of European horse-chestnut 𝘈𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘮) 🌱

The name is a bit misleading as this tree is poisonous and not related to typical edible chestnuts. Horse-chestnuts are actually in the same family as trees such as maples, lychees and ackee.
Gouache painting of conkers/seeds of a horse-chestnut tree. On the left is a shiny brown seed within its fleshy spiked green case which is half-open. On the left is a seed without a case and beside them both is a small golden leaf from the same tree.
November 18, 2024 at 3:30 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
fireflies and oarfish ✨
Digital painting of the grassy bank of a stream set against a wall of leafy trees at night. Two children stand on the bank and are looking at a row of giant oarfish rising out of the stream. Fireflies are flying around them.
November 17, 2024 at 1:27 PM
niqvassie.bsky.social
laila in the straw. 🌾
Pencil drawing of a long-haired black cat sitting on the edge of a box filled with rice straw.
November 14, 2024 at 3:04 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
rough initial sketch of same little hare 🌱
November 13, 2024 at 8:01 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
a little hare 🌾
November 13, 2024 at 8:00 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
nightjar studies
sketchy pencil drawing of a nightjar bird in profile with a big round eye and and open beak. sketchy pencil drawing of a nightjar bird sitting on a tree branch looking alert. sketchy pencil drawing of a nightjar bird sitting on a fence post looking sleepy and hunched up.
November 13, 2024 at 3:13 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
microscope life drawings.
November 12, 2024 at 8:38 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
looking forward, looking back.
November 12, 2024 at 8:33 AM
niqvassie.bsky.social
orphaned badger cub I met shortly after they were acquired by a local wildlife rehabilitator 🌱
November 12, 2024 at 8:31 AM