Since I become bored with most all things so easily and quickly, I decided a fun thing to do with this page would be to periodically rotate portions from collections of my own artwork as headers/backgrounds (now that I've learned HOW -- I'm so proud of myself!).

Thus I introduce my first in this series, "Butterfly on Poop."

As a farm girl, I'm well acquainted with many varieties of poop, and of course DIRT (though our dirt here has spent more time this summer in the state of MUD instead of dirt). Though I do enjoy a good bath after a day of hard work on the farm, I must confess that I rather enjoy the process of getting dirty and becoming one with the earth from which I was formed. When the weather is nice, I'm hard pressed to remain indoors no matter how many tasks may be demanding my time and attention. Like my father, if there is no outdoor tasks beckoning (and THAT'S a rare moment around here), I will CREATE something to do.

Back to the butterfly on poop...have you noticed my tendency to become easily side-tracked? Looking at the picture, would you have ever guessed the interesting textural background upon which the lovely little butterfly is sitting is a mixture of coarse sand, dirt and an abundance of partially decomposed, partially somewhat fresh horse manure? The grains of soil/sand/manure have almost a jewel-like appearance, albeit in variations of the color of common earth. Just goes to show, that seeing beauty is all in your perspective. These butterflies are quite small, maybe a half inch or less at most, so I had to get SUPER close to get this shot. What was funny was that the butterfly was so utterly engrossed in his feeding (POOP?!) that he was totally oblivious to my presence, much less disturbed by it. (These creatures are very prevelant around this time of year here, and they seem to have a special affinity for horse manure.)

As an artist, I have a peculiar fascination with not only obvious beauty (such as the butterfly) but also with varying textures. I have a vast collection of photography, paintings and drawings of seemingly mundane subjects such as tree bark, roots, dead leaves and yes, poop.

And so today, and for an undetermined season forthcoming (until I get bored with it), I share one of my favorite studies of texture and color with my butterfly and poop. And my determination to keep a regular supply of images prepared for display here will be good incentive to stay busy with regular production of new works!