Four years ago I saw my first Zebra Longwing floating over the garden and was inspired to use it as the subject in a Japanese woodcut printing class I attended. Through the gruelling removal of wood with hand chisels to make the printing plates, I developed a sore wrist, an awesome appreciation of woodcut artists, and an obsession for this butterfly.
It doesn't seem to flap as much as other butterflies, but uses its long wingspan to glide around. Often when you see it, the thing is overhead and you are looking at the underside with the light coming through.
According to official lists it's not supposed to be seen in my county. I've come across one in my garden each year but as soon as I run for the camera it has disappeared. Except today! This one was so busy feeding on the Frostweed that I was able to get many good images. It made my day!
2 comments:
yes it is gorgeous! we saw some great wood cuts last week also. I wanted to bring one home from the Taos Invites Taos art show.
But I had spent nearly every penny the day before at the wool fest!
I've tried to catch up with a butterfly like that one before and they are very difficult to get a long enough chance to photograph on a plant like that! The host plant for ours is the pawpaw, so maybe you have some of those growing around? At this time of year they wouldn't be laying eggs, though, so maybe he was migrating?
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