The Artist's Blog

I had just turned the soil of compost in a section of my veg garden, making preparations for a pumpkin patch,

when a most astonishing sight was revealed to me. Flying about gracefully in a small cloud over the patch, Osiris blue butterflies arrived to land on the freshly turned soil. 

 

Apparently this is called "mud-puddling"* and is the habit of mostly male butterflies to fortify themselves with nutrients in preparations for Butterfly Love Making. The turning of my little pile of compost had sent out an amorous aromatic signal to the Cupid Blues and they arrived en masse, pausing for more than a few moments to take in whatever delectable salts or amino acids were unique to my pile of dirt. 

 

I had never seen this before and have not seen it again to this day… it was a wondrous and magical moment of visitation from these exquisite little creatures. 

 

Cupido, the Roman god of Passion, and Osirus, the Egyptian god of rebirth… diminutive gods of the insect world, 

and I have been smitten. 

 

Cupido osiris  6x6  Oil on Panel

 

When I was from Cupid’s passions free, my Muse was mute and wrote no elegy. 

~Ovid

 

Cupido osiris is part of the new Insectarium Collection.

 

 

* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud-puddling