Last Monarch Released and Plans for Next Year

It's very important to introduce your young Monarchs to the arts before releasing them into the wild.

Well the summer is pretty much over and I was only able to raise 5 Monarchs from caterpillar to adult. Apparently I could have raised a lot more of them if I used a different method. Basically I was only going after the caterpillars who were a week to days away from forming a chrysalis. Apparently you can collect them as early as the egg stage, I didn't do that because I believed fresh milkweed would be better for them.

A friend of mine said they released at least 40 this year by collecting swatches of milkweed leaves that had eggs on them. The interruption of their flow of sap makes the milkweed safer for young caterpillars to eat starting out. But they said still 1 in 10 caterpillars die their first day, which is still better than out in the wild where 1 in 3 die their first day. Each generation needs to be kept in it's own container, adult caterpillars will eat Monarch eggs so there's no adding to the same container.

I don't know the details on how many leaves per caterpillar are needed each day but this method sounds like it's better than what I was trying. Out in the wild birds and spiders regularly make a meal out of the caterpillars, even if it means spitting them out shortly after. 

My Bluet Phase

Filling in the forest background.

Added the forest floor as well as some dogwood trees in the background.

Bluets, Hedyotis caerulea, bloom in mass to create a wonderful snow-like effect.

Assorted types of moss take over the ground.

Completion of the first Trillium grandiflorum, my favorite spring wildflower.

The other Trilliums are done. I only painted three as I'm not skilled enough to make the original cluster look correct.

Original Picture taken at the Mt. Cuba Center.

Talking About the Image

I think this pictures is going to be my next painting. The honeybee is just a hair out of focus for the size it's currently being viewed, but it's otherwise a strong piece I think. The lighting is even, there's a clear focus in the middle, and there's a depth of field from the flowers in the background.

This image doesn't have much of that. The harsh lighting almost turns the bee into a silhouette, there is a depth of field but it's introducing contrasting elements (Yellow and Purple are  Complementary Colors), and there's a lack of middle ground which farther separates the image.

Painting Finished

Found a Monarch on my wall. What do you all think?

Painting

Once upon a time I discovered New England Asters are a favorite food of Monarch butterflies, and the two go together very well. So well in fact, I decided to paint it.

I started by trying to line up everything. My picture though isn't the same size as the canvas so things had to be moved around and altered somewhat. 

Basic colors are put in just to establish a series of layers. The picture has two main focuses, the deck in the background and the Monarch on the flower in the foreground. I didn't understand this at the time though. Originally the blue patch was going to be a shed. I'd forgotten about it or assumed it would be a blurry patch.

As you can see the blue patch doesn't exactly work. I also made the mistake of putting to much detail in the deck. It could have been a series of smudges and looked just as nice because that's not really the focus.

I started adding flowers by using a strong hot pink color. The trouble though is it dries more as a strong red or cranberry.

These early flowers aren't important and were put in to establish a range of depth. Most of them will be covered up by the end.

A darker layer of green stems helps distinguish it from the green lawn behind.

I settled for a different color for the flowers. They were much to red for my liking. The new layer of green petals has blue and white mixed in to look more detailed. The flowers have also been touched up with colors.

Last night I finished the Monarch. It stands out more than anything for three reasons. It's the only source of Orange (it can be considered an accent now) and it's the only place we see Black and White. The darker colors under the deck is green and brown mixed to a dark color. I'm not 100% done though. A flower needs a stem to it, which I should have done before painting the flower. And the flowers could use a touch up.

Sure it looks different, but I feel the spirit of the image is still alive.