Collections are central to my work and although collecting butterflies is thankfully an outdated pastime, the concept of butterflies seen together or observed during a day out was the inspiration for this piece. All the butterflies are blue, some rare, some common and they can be found in places all over the world, a reference to hidden connections, diversity and shared purpose. The bright blues are optimistic and bold, and I hope the different species will be with us long into the future as we recognise the need for conservation and care for our precious environment. The names are listed like tracks on an album and ‘The Blues’ references a love of the music genre and a vintage tone to the piece evokes memories of music played on old gramophones on hot sunny days.I recorded the names of the species as a list in the top left corner of the piece and catalogued them by allocating numbers in the order I painted them. All were referenced from butterflies spotted in my garden and a butterfly book I found in a local antique shop.

Click on image to see full size