This is a reprint of my submission to Salad Magazine issue 2. Check out the other cool stuff people did too!
A gouache painting of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus). The butterfly is a bilateral gynandromorph: its left wing has the dark morph female pattern, and its right has the male pattern. It feeds on a white daisy with the dorsal sides of its wings facing the viewer. The flower is slightly out of focus and melts into the green background. The butterfly's wings extend out of the frame.
The painting was done using four paints: Prussian blue, cadmium red, yellow ochre, and white. A glitter gel pen was used to add iridescent glitter to the blue spots on the butterfly's hindwings. The photo of the painting was taken in a sunbeam.
I recently had a conversation where the topic of discussion was a giant house spider. One person had spent their night chasing it around and finally trapped it under a trash can, only for the spider to escape by morning. Lamentation about the spider becoming a permanent member of the household ensued.
Wait, the giant house spider has the word "house" in its name. That's weird...
It's nice to think our homes are sterile boxes distinct from "outside," with the exception of the occasional unwanted intruder. If you find something from the outside in your house, you're probably going to kill it. Maybe you'll take it outside because you think that's the more humane route. Both actions are missing the point. The point: There are lots of animals (most of them spineless) whose "natural" habitat is now human settlements.
