Mother Monarch

Butterfly Tile Art

2011-11-20T11:24:00.000-05:00

Beautiful Butterfly Art Tiles at Affordable Prices! Last year I painted 12 butterflies/moth paintings in graphite and gouache. I started with a dead specimen and observed it under the microscope. In graphite I drew the background to show the wing/scale structure of each one and then painted the butterfly/moth on top of the enlargement. The response to them have been super so I decided to create

Monarch Butterfly Festival

2011-09-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce that I will be participating in the 1st Annual Florida Monarch Festival in Earleton, Florida on Saturday September 24, 2011. I discovered the GreatHouse Butterfly Farm just a few months ago when I was doing a search on google for butterfly farms. It turns out that I am within 30 minutes of 2 wonderful butterfly farmers; Greathouse Butterfly Farm and Shady Oak Butterfly

Fantastic Video by Ba Rae

2011-08-31T12:42:00.000-04:00

I love the internet! I have been using Facebook and Twitter and have found so many fabulous groups that are butterfly fans! Here is a list of those groups that I think you will enjoy: http://www.facebook.com/theloveofbutterflies http://www.facebook.com/ShadyOakButterflyFarm http://www.facebook.com/ButterflyPavilion http://www.facebook.com/butterflynature http://www.facebook.com/pages/

Monarch Butterflies can swim!

2011-08-01T15:21:00.001-04:00

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to visit Shady Oak Butterfly Farm in Brooker, Florida. Edith Ellen Lee Smith is the owner of the farm along with her husband, children and grandchildren. They raise and supply butterflies for weddings, funerals, but mostly for live educational exhibits. They ship butterfly chrysalises all over the country. I went on a tour of the farm. They had a green

Nature's Wisdom Oracle Cards

2011-04-06T22:31:00.001-04:00

I have the wonderful opportunity to announce that my Nature's wisdom Oracle cards from Schiffer Publisher is finally arrived. About a year ago my book, Mother Monarch was released and they offered me the opportunity to write and illustrate a deck of oracle cards. I had never embarked on a project of this kind so I needed to do some research. According to Wikipedia "Oracle card decks claim to

Bradley Beach Elementary School- 6th Grade Art Class

2010-12-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

Today I had the wonderful experience of going to the Bradley Beach Elementary School in Bradley Beach, NJ to teach 25 young artists how to draw a butterfly. I took my book, Mother Monarch with me. I read the book out loud to them and during the reading I had the original paintings and was able to hold them up for the children to see. I showed them how I drew the paintings and talked about

Mindy Lighthipe.m4v

2010-11-18T16:41:00.000-05:00

Museum boosts sales of Mother Monarch during Butterfly Fest

2010-11-17T20:51:00.001-05:00

I had the wonderful experience of participating in Butterfly Fest at the Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida in October. It was a blast. There were over 6,000 visitors. They were all ages and sizes and many were wearing their butterfly wings. My solo show opened at the museum in conjunction with Butterfly Fest. I was able to do a book signing of my new book, Mother Monarch.

2010-09-13T06:57:00.000-04:00

American Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis)Insect Art to promote insect growth and development The American Lady is a member of the Brushfoot family (Nymphalidae) and the True Brushfoot (Nymphalinae) subfamily. Its range includes most of the USA and parts of northern Mexico and southern Canada, migrating north from its winter home in Florida or Mexico. In summer it can be seen as far north as

2010-08-31T20:24:00.000-04:00

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) Insect Art to promote insect development. The Cabbage White is found in every part of North America, from Northern Canada to Mexico, and in many other parts of the world. Originally an African and Eurasian species, it was introduced into Quebec Province in 1860. In a matter of decades, the butterfly had spread across the continent. The larvae of Cabbage Whites feed

Common Buckeye Butterfly

2010-08-17T08:32:00.000-04:00

Common Buckeye (Junonia coeni)Insect art to promote insect growth and development. Named for it distinctive eye spots on its wings, the Common Buckeye has a wingspan of 2 - 2.5 inches. The Buckeye prefers open, sunny areas with some bare ground and low vegetation. It is shown here with Common Lantana (Lantana camara). During the day males perch to watch for females, flying periodically to

Tulip Tree Moth

2010-07-22T09:23:00.000-04:00

Tulip-tree Silkmoth (Callosamia angulifera) Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Tulip-tree Silkmoth, a member of the Giant Silkworm family (Saturniidae), is found in the woodlands and forests of eastern North America. Silkworm moths exist solely to mate. Having no mouths, they neither eat nor drink and live for only a week. They are nocturnal, with distant males responding to

American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)

2010-07-08T22:15:00.000-04:00

American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) Insect art to promote insect growth and development. American Copper is a common widespread little butterfly that ranges from Nova Scotia south to Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas; west across the Great Lakes to North Dakota. In the east it can be found in open or disturbed areas, including pastures, fields, and

Cecropia Moth - Insect Art

2010-06-28T19:31:00.010-04:00

Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) The adult Cecropia, a member of the Giant Silkworm family, do not have functioning mouthparts and do not feed. This characteristic has coevolved along with their pheromone mating system: the ability of females to attract distant males, and thus their characteristic feathery antennae. They range east of the Rocky Mountains and are found in a variety of open

MotherMonarchSlideShow.mov

2010-06-13T11:23:00.000-04:00

Atala Butterfly (Eumaeus atala)

2010-06-12T15:03:00.001-04:00

Atala Butterfly (Eumaeus atala) Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Atala Butterfly, once thought to be extinct, is native to Florida. The host plant is the Florida coontie (Zamia floridana), which is a cycad, a "living fossil," (a form of the primitive plant life from the dinosaur era). The Atala can tolerate the natural toxins in coonties and uses the accumulated toxins

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

2010-05-21T07:21:00.001-04:00

Insect art to promote insect growth and development. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)Two females are shown laying eggs on the leaves of Wild Black Cherry (Rosaceae prunus serotina), a preferred host plants. The branches are depicted as they appear in late spring (full blossom) and in late summer with ripe fruit.The Eastern tiger swallowtail reaches a wingspan of 4.8 to 5 inches. The

Mother Monarch makes a great gift for teachers

2010-05-11T18:03:00.002-04:00

Teachers will love it! Purchase the book $19.95 + $4.95 USPS The school year is coming to close. Just a few more weeks and the days will be warm and it will be Schools Out for the summer. Yippee! Do you have a special teacher that you would like to give a gift to? This wonderful book is a fantastic way to say, " Thanks Teacher! I appreciate you!" Here is what people are saying about

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

2010-05-03T17:19:00.001-04:00

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemeris thysbe)Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Hummingbird Clearwing moth is a small dayflying moth. Often mistaken for a hummingbird, the moth can be seen hovering over flowers, never landing on them, using its long proboscis to extract nectar. Butterfly bushes, red bee balm and Casa Blanca lilies are their favorites in my garden. Eggs are

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

2010-04-21T15:52:00.004-04:00

Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charitonius) Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Zebra Longwing is common to Central and South America but also resides in southern Florida. It begins mating right after it emerges from its chrysalis. The female lays five to fifteen eggs on the leaves of passion flower vines. The caterpillar (depicted twice the size) has a white body with long

Little Yellow

2010-04-19T19:48:00.006-04:00

Little Yellow (Eurema lisa)Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Little Yellow likes warm weather and can usually be seen on the eastern side of northern South America, the West Indies up to the Carolinas. In the last few decades, however, they have become more frequent visitors further north to the Great Lakes Regions and New England. The Little Yellow cannot survive cold

Great Spangled Fritillary

2010-04-09T09:47:00.002-04:00

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) Insect art to promote insect growth and development. The Great Spangled Fritillary, named for the silvery “spangles” on the undersurface, is found throughout most of the eastern United States, central California, New Mexico, and central Arkansas. The caterpillars (larvae) of all Greater Fritillaries feed on a single host plant, violets (Viola spp.

Queen butterfly

2010-04-01T13:06:00.001-04:00

Queen Butterfly - Monarch Butterfly MIMIC The Queen belongs to the family of the Danaidae. The Danaidae are known as "Milkweed Butterflies" since they not only feed on milkweed, but also lay their eggs on it. The Queen butterfly nectars on a wide variety of plants, one of which is the Lantana camara portrayed in this image. It survives on the energy it gets from the sugar that the nectar

Leonard's Skipper

2010-03-29T16:41:00.002-04:00

Leonard’s Skipper Insect art to promote insect growth and development. Leonard’s Skipper (Hesperia leonardis), found in southern Canada and most of the eastern United States, is identified by the sharply defined white to yellow spots on the hind wing. The yellow felt inside the male’s stigma is also distinctive. A member of the Skipper (Hesperiidae) family, this is the only single brooded,

Diane Frittilary & Viola pedata

2010-03-25T07:47:00.013-04:00

Diana Fritillary (Speyeria diana)Insect art to promote insect growth and development. Artist: Jane Guttman © 2008 The beautiful Diana fritillary is a dimorphic member of the Brushfoot (Nymphalidae) family. Females mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail and are black with blue and lighter patches near the margin of the wing; males are orange with black veins and spots on the outer margin and black on