In the world of butterflies the colours, shapes and sizes are a wonder. I can’t even begin to express my fascination with the incredible variety of these small inspiring creatures. The precise patterns on their wings, their fragility, and yet the strength they possess to ride the currents of the wind for hundreds of miles and even survive a rainstorm. When I first discovered pastel crayons, I began to explore the world of these colourful insects, the flowers they pollinate and the miracle of their presence in our lives. There are as many shapes, sizes and colours as you can possibly imagine. In my butterfly book that Patrick gave me for Christmas was a world of wonder. It seems, in fact, as if our imagination is the key to the world around us providing as much diversity as we desire. My discovery of the pastels allowed me to better explore subjects like the butterfly, because the crayons lend a softness unobtainable with pen. I did not give up the use of my pens, as my need to have the detail was still important. Rather it is a perfect combination, and this opened up a whole new exciting and fulfilling world.
I call this Butterfly Spirit and I put it with one of my mats (the Lotus Mat) which I drew separately. Just something that popped into my head as I was looking at a real butterfly. I think it is wonderful to accept the possibility of spirits which come in many forms. Is it our imagination? Or reality? When we lived in Slocan, B.C. we ran each day up the mountain road. In the late summer when the roads were wet following a big rain, there were hundreds of swallowtail butterflies in the mud. We had to be so careful not to step on them – they covered the road. Of course butterflies have a short life span, so when I found one that had died, I brought it home intact. It was this butterfly that I drew, a very personal experience. Another image born of my imagination. I wondered at the possibility that the wings of a butterfly were connected to the color around us – in the plants and flowers. One feeding the other. In a way this is true if you consider pollination, the circle of life……Another drawing of a saved butterfly, this one was much darker than the first. I saved these butterflies for many years, as we moved from one place to another until finally, they began to disintegrate. They reminded me of the delicacy or fragility of life. Yet even so, there is great strength in the smallest of creatures.It was because of this butterfly that I came up with the idea of doing “mats” for some of my images. There was an ink stain on the paper of the butterfly original, one I could not hide or eliminate. This is the difficulty of working with technical pens. So I designed a mat drawn separately to be used with the butterfly, which then led to other mat combination ideas, like the Butterfly Spirit shown above. The mats and images could be interchangeable, or you could put photographs in the mats. It was a great time for me, new ideas being born every day and the time and studio which allowed me to explore them.
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