I am sure Paul Lindsay will not mind my sharing public information relating to his arms and their "back story".  The attachment is an image he sent me at the time we discussed the commission.  This document was provided as part of the package Paul received after he asked Prof. Ljubodrag Grujic to emblazon his arms.

As I mentioned earlier, Paul has been involved in Vexillology for many years and the flag of an association he belongs to uses their particular version of a sheet bend which appears in chief. The checky pattern is indeed what Michael suggests—a Clan reference—and the Queensland Stag Beetle represents Paul’s work as an entomologist.  The black dog on the cushion refers to Paul’s battle with depression and the gold guitar represents his love of country music.

Thanks, everyone for your interest.

I am sure Paul Lindsay won’t mind my sharing the blazon and rationale for his arms that he has publicly posted elsewhere.  I rewrote this to meet the peculiar attachment requirements of our forum.

I’ve enjoyed doing this work for him and it has been a challenge to view all the earlier emblazons and try to do a distinctively different but valid version of my own.  I am happy to say that he is happy, too.

Kathy—Thanks!  When the dust settles on some family health issues…

David—Thanks!  I’d missed that the fess was elevated a bit, which nicely avoids excess space around the horizontally oriented knot in chief and allows adequate space for the vertically oriented stag beetle in base.  Very well balanced result!

I agree entirely about the fess enhanced.  The lone beetle needing to be palewise does result in some empty space, regardless of the different approaches taken by the various artists to adjust the legs of the bug.

On a square banner or a shield that is fairly wide in base, there will of course still be some excess space on either side of the vertical beetle; but the enhanced fess, which allows for a larger bug, helps minimize the excess space.  If the shield is more triangular (pointy) most of the extra space on either side of the bug disappears.

As always, an artistic balancing act depending on the size & shape of the particular charge(s), especially in base.  With a single base charge taller than wide, or more than one stacked vertically (which I don’t recall seeing, but who knows?), the enhanced fess greatly helps if the charge(s) in chief allow.  If the base charge were wider than tall, or if there are more than one charge in base arranged side by side, the enhanced fess likely wouldn’t be helpful.

All of which should be obvious to a good heraldic artist.  IMO a slight enhancement or the fess, even if not specified in the blazon, would be OK as artistic license; but specifying it in the blazon in this case is helpful in case the artist missed it.

Nicely done