When Squash Fly 9x12"

9 x 12 inches

An original egg tempera and oil painting (with gold mica on butterfly wings) on linen laid on wood, of a Mourning Cloak butterfly and winter squash. Includes frame (made of 100% solid American pine from renewable forests) and shipping.

I was inspired to paint this by a butterfly I found (already dead) in my garden, and a winter squash that seemed to have an unusual ability to keep for quite a long time. At first, I was drawn to these two things visually, but then I began to think about how one is exquisitely beautiful and lives a delicate, yet important brief life as a pollinator while the other, though it possesses its own beauty, seems rather mundane, but lives a long life in the garden and then in winter and spring storage and both ultimately provide sustenance for humans. Every time the setup of these objects in my studio caught my eye, it would appear to me that the squash had wings and was about to take flight.