My native plant garden serves as my source of inspiration and for most of my data collecting for this series of drawings. It is full of shapes, colors, patterns and textures of plants and plant parts that continually excite me artistically season after season. However, it is the visiting insects during the growing season that bring the garden to life. They generate a moving array of flying patterns and sounds, as well as a diversity of interesting shapes and colors of their own. The truth is many of the insect pollinators are the key factor in the continuum of life and they are disappearing. Without their visitation and pollination, plant diversity would decrease including plants within our native flora species. I feel compelled to explore their artistic possibilities and insect relationships with native flowering plants keeping the conservational issue in mind.

My plant and pollinator series of drawings are composed of complex story telling compositions. Nature is in a perpetual frame of movement and change. In my drawings, I portray a complete plant life cycle transition from emergence to full flower and finally seed development in a composition of time sequenced seasonal changes. My drawings are arranged into a illustrated collage of different phases of the plant’s development with depictions of insects that visit or inhabit the plant during specific growth formations. Most of these insects act as pollinators during the flowering stage. In addition, my drawings frequently include a separate rectangular area located at the bottom of the composition I refer to as a “visual footnote". The "visual footnote" contains illustration details of unique reproductive or visual attributes of the plant subject or something interesting about the pollinators.

The drawing paper I used is a beige color that gives the drawings a warm undertone.

Alongside each drawing there are three detail photographs taken from that artwork. My drawings are very complex and detail photographs allow you, the viewer, to be able to immediately experience the compositions up close and intimately within a digital environment. There are several plant growth stages depicted and a lot of illustrated bugs to be seen within my native plant and pollinator drawings!

The robes referred to in the title are, of course, butterfly wings. After emergence from the chrysalis, the wings descend downward slowly and eloquently from the body of the butterfly revealing their beauty as they are drying out. The latter part of this process, when longer portions of the wings are descending, reminds me of robes made of shimmering thick brocade fabrics that royalty may have worn in years past. Their robes are frequently shown in art draped loosely off their shoulders and falling around their body in thick folds onto the floor, much like a butterfly’s expanding wings. After a butterfly has finished the wing expanding process, it will hang on the chrysalis or a nearby stick or stem waiting for its delicate wings to dry. At this point the wings are flat, have stiffened and the folds have been removed. Scales and veins are easily seen. Up close each scale is reminiscent of a tiny sequin that has been sewn on fabric. Some are dull, some are bright and some are iridescent in color. They are arranged spatially into rows and combined into patterns of color essentially forming the “brocade fabric” of the wings. The lower edges of the wings have a slight hairy appearance which look like they have had loose thread ends protruding beyond them which have been neatly trimmed off with scissors.

I take photographs of butterflies I have raised from eggs both as a conservation endeavor and as research for my drawings. The eggs are collected from my garden. The featured photos were taken during the summer of 2019. Raising and photographing butterflies has resulted into an unexpected photo portfolio project full of enjoyment and discovery. It is also rewarding to know that I am helping to populate the world with beautiful butterflies many which are proficient pollinators. In the future, I plan and look forward to researching and raising other butterfly species to photograph their development and eclosure processes.

I have seen the emergence of a butterfly many times and each time I witness the process I feel moved and in awe. A butterfly birth experience, like many insects, is intriguing because the butterfly quickly changes after emerging from a physical formation which developed inside the chrysalis with a fat abdomen and short wrinkled wings to a final adult form with an elongated abdomen and longer straightened wings. The entire physical transformation usually only takes several minutes. Of course, butterflies dry their wings after they are extended and that may take hours.

Butterfly chrysalids are varied in shape and butterflies exit them differently. Some butterflies slowly climb out of a horizontal or vertical chrysalis while others, like the Monarch, are more visually dramatic and fall straight out the bottom clutching the chrysalis as they emerge. The varied techniques are one reason eclosure is so interesting to photograph.

This collection of photos focuses on the initial act of eclosure or the seconds and minutes just after. They were taken with a Nikon close up 200 mm lens, frequently during early morning hours, during the summer of 2019. I shoot using white backgrounds that contrast with the shapes, colors and movements of the butterfly to enhance those visual elements.

When I first saw the transformation of a Monarch caterpillar change into a chrysalis I was so excited. It is truly a marvel to watch. I have raised several generations of Monarch butterflies since, both in a screened in porch and out in my garden growing milkweed. I have taken many photographs of the process and use them to create drawing compositions on the subject.

Many of these photographs were taken while I was laying down on the ground looking up into a flower hoping that an insect would land. I spent many hours waiting ... and ... waiting ... and ... waiting.

I love photographing nature on a cloudy day when the light is subdued. The forms of flowers and insects are softly delineated without interference from distracting shadows. This type of lighting makes it easier to catch the smaller, less obvious aspects of nature which so interest me. Details are easily captured and there is a sense of calmness that emulates from the photos.

Most of the flowers comprising this collection are spring ephemerals. Spring ephemerals are woodland plants that produce flowers that bloom in the spring before leaves develop in the understory and overhead canopy. They provide pollen and nectar to insects when other warmer weather flowering plants have not opened. After the tree leaves fully emerge, many of the spring ephemerals disappear completely because their flowers and leaves are not shade tolerant. Some, though, loose their flowers but have shade tolerant leaves and keep them through the growing season. Because their of their fleeting floral beauty and function as nectar and pollen providers, spring ephemerals inspire me to capture them photographically.

The only non ephemeral plant within these photographs is Angelica triquinata and it is considered a cool weather perennial.

I have always cohabited with animals and have enjoyed drawing them throughout my lifetime. I love their spirit and attempt to capture their personalities through composition, line accents and subtle mark making. They are a relaxing change of subject matter for me from my more complicated nature compositions. I do pet portraits upon request but regardless if asked to or not, drawings of my own cats will always be part of my portfolio. The mediums of these pet portraits are charcoal or a mixed media of charcoal, colored pencils and pastels.

In addition to pet portraits, I also draw children upon request. Kids are fun to draw and, like pets, give me a diversion from time to time from plant life and insects.