Yesterday was day 7 of the challenge and the prompt was orange. I knew right away that I wanted to paint this monarch butterfly perched on a flower. I started it last night, but after a long evening with a cello lesson followed by a basket weaving class I couldn’t keep myself from dozing off. Painting around all the white spots is a task you don’t want to fall asleep doing. At some point I looked ahead at the next prompt and it was butterfly. It was as if the prompt was giving me permission to go to bed and finish it today.

And boy today was a doozy. My husband was rear ended on his drive to work. Fortunately he was uninjured. But our poor car was not so fortunate- the collision shop fixed it up for us to get it home, but it is not a permanent fix. We are now in the market for a new car. I am having an art sale to raise funds to get a good reliable vehicle with good gas mileage as my husband drives rather far to work every day. If any of my artworks I’ve posted have struck your fancy feel free to make me an offer. I take cash, Venmo, cashapp and will deliver free if you are local, or can arrange shipping if needed.

I haven’t seen a monarch butterfly yet this season- they must still be en route from Mexico. They are wonderfully photogenic, often posing for the camera. And they are fun to paint, even if painting around all those spots gets tedious.

When do your favorite butterflies arrive in your area?