This project was completed in a quick time period for the Waunakee Butterflies on Main project in the summer of 2020. The idea was to highlight the community’s passion for providing habitats for and protecting butterflies. Since 2020 was such a difficult year for many people, I decided to create a whimsical image with a play on words. I thought it would be funny to have sticks of butter with butterfly wings. The piece was entitled “Ever Seen Butter Fly?”. It resided on a street pole on Waunakee’s Main Street near Fred’s Meat Market store.
The piece I created was done primarily with acrylic paints. I use acrylics because the colors dry fast and hold up under being exposed to weather and sunlight when covered with a UV varnish on the steel cutout. I primed the steel object with several coats of a white spray-on primer first. I primed it after lightly sanding the surface with a light grit sandpaper and then giving is a wash down with warm soapy water and drying it off immediately. I chose to do monarch wings on the front as they are the most recognizable butterfly that is native to southern Wisconsin. The bottom portion was an attempt at a abstract representation of the many houses and rooftops I see in the growing neighborhoods that have consumed what used to be sprawling cornfields behind my parents house that was at one point, what I considered, the edge of town.
The butterfly wings on the backside were representations of other butterflies native to the area. I put monarchs on there again, but, I also painted swallowtails, a harvester, and red-spotted purple admiral as well. I have the web site https://wisconsinbutterflies.org/ to thank for the images for reference.
