My Art Inspiration in Nature - Part 2: Butterflies and Bees

This is a continuation of my musings about things in nature that inspire my artwork and will be a part of a series. If you haven’t read Part 1 of this series, you can read it here.

For Part 2, I’m looking at various butterflies and bees seen around my garden. On bright sunny days, I often walk outside to my backyard to take a breather, mostly from the administrative side of my art business, and view various creatures visiting my yard. I often come out with my camera in hand, ready to snap pictures. Often, various butterflies of a variety of colors, visit the many Hibiscus trees in my yard. I also have day lilies, tiger lilies, irises, daffodils, snap dragons and daisies.

My favorites are the bumble bees. I mean the big fat black and yellow ones that buzz slowly around the flowers with their legs full of pollens. 

The Red-Spotted Purple butterfly is one of the common butterflies visiting my garden, with its velvety black and blue color, and a touch of red on the tip.

Another common butterfly around here is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, with its bright yellow wings with touches of light blue and orange. On a bright sunny day it really shines.

The common swallowtail is just neat looking.

I love the bold blacks of the Black Swallowtail butterfly. 

The big fat black and yellow bumble bee is always fun to watch

This one, fluttering near some snap dragons, has definitely made it into one of my artworks. 

I almost want to reach out and pet the little furry creatures!

Together, butterflies and bees definitely do make a buzz!

Stay tuned for more articles in the series.

News for October 2022

October will be very busy for me. Already the first event, the Old Bowie Festival, was canceled due to severe weather conditions from tropical storm Ian. Hopefully the rest of October will be fruitful for me. 

From 7-9 October, I will be at Oglebay Fest in Wheeling, WV. I will be at Booth M19.There are a lot of interesting things going on there, to include music, lots of good food, a county fair, an Octoberfest style celebration, and even fireworks on 8 October at 8:30 pm. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I just recently finished a triptych and the artwork will be in an exhibit at the District Arts contemporary art gallery in Frederick, MD. The exhibit is called “Food for Thought” and you can read more about it here. I finally finished this triptych that I started in 2020. It took a long time but all three pieces came out the way I wanted. The triptych represent that moment when you just need to stop and take a breath, slowly, deeply, Breathe In, Breathe Out, take a moment to Just Breathe and Just Let It Flow. The exhibit will be open from 5 - 30 October. The artist reception for this event is on 8 October, 5-7pm. I will not be there since I will be in Wheeling, WV. 

This first one is “Let It Flow: Breathe In”

The second one is “Let It Flow: Breathe Out”

The last in the series is “Let It Flow: Just Breathe”

At the end of the month, 28 - 30 October, I will be at Baltimore Comic-Con. I will be in the Artist Alley at Table F41. 

If you’re going to attend any of events, stop by and say Hi.