Lady Vanessa (September 2015, 4″ x 4″, linocut)
When I first moved to the Sierra, I wanted to clear out an oily, rangy looking bush that seemed unattractive to my citified sensibilities. Then, one day I realized that these bushes were attracting dozens of butterflies each! It turns out that Yerba Santa is a favorite of the butterfly, Vanessa Cardui or Painted Lady. The working title, though deemed too long, was Painted Lady on Sacred Herb. And so the Yerba Santa was saved with a renewed appreciation of the environment’s interconnectedness.
Red Tail Studios 