I am going to start with 'Tattered'.
This painting is smaller, only 7.5"x6.5". It was done on heavy bristol paper using Dr. PH Marten Dyes, a type of watercolor. The story behind it is that this is actually a painting done from a photograph that I took over a decade ago at the Cockerell Butterfly Exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX. It was taken on my old Canon Rebel 35mm camera.
I was wandering through this wonderful exhibit and taking many shots of the thousands of free flying butterflies when this little guy landed near me on a leaf. He sat there for a time, opening and closing his shredded wings and I managed to get a couple of shots of him before he picked up and fluttered towards the ceiling where I lost sight of him. I stood there watching for a few moments, humbled by the little tattered butterfly. They only live a few days to a few weeks maximum and this little fellow had obviously been through a lot, yet he flew about like nothing was wrong, ignorant of the fact that his wings were torn enough that flight should have been impossible.
