Greg, of the Midnight Garden's recent entry of his lantern picture, reminded me of this painting by Edward Robert Hughes, 1851-1914 entitled, Midsummer's Eve. I thought it would tie in nicely with the Transparent Butterfly at the advent of the Summer Solstice on June 21st.
Are not butterflies like the wee faeries? ;-)
I received these beautiful pictures of this amazing transparent butterfly this morning and had to share them with you. Isn't nature truly amazing? Enjoy!!
(Click on photographs to enlarge.)
Transparent Butterfly (Absolutely gorgeous! )
It comes from Central America and is found from Mexico to Panama. It is quite common in its zone, but it not easy to find because of its transparent wings, which is a natural camouflage mechanism.
A butterfly with transparent wings is rare and beautiful. As delicate as finely blown glass, the presence of this rare tropical gem is used by rain forest ecologists as an indication of high habitat quality and its demise alerts them of ecological change. Rivaling the refined beauty of a stained glass window, the translucent wings of the Glasswing butterfly shimmer in the sunlight like polished panes of turquoise, orange, green, and red. All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to be noticed: in life that which is unnoticed has the most power.
25 comments:
Mother Nature, she is astounding in her infinite capacity to captivate and amaze.
These glasswing butterflies are truly exquisite. Talk about having a window onto the garden...wow, now there's a cool idea...imagine a big picture window designed after one of these beauties.
Greg: Can you imagine having these beauties flying around your garden? I was floored this morning when I received these pictures in an email. What a beautiful wee animal.
Absolutely stunning! Beautiful pictures, and an amazing species. Thank you for sharing!
Tater: Thanks. I keep coming back to look at them myself.
the wings are beautiful almost mystical
wow those are fantastic. Little works of art flitting about.
Beyond beautiful. How often nature seems to go beyond necessity all the way into artistic flourish.
A friend of mine visited the amazon rain forest and said the butterflies he saw there were unbelievable.
Wonder Man: I know what you mean. I am in awe of Mother Nature.
Tornwordo: Welcome back and how true. There is still so much man could learn from nature if we don't cut down all her forest first.
Joe: I can only imagine what still lies in store for us in those rain forests. Unfortunately, man's greed is destroying them faster than we can save them.
I have always been fascinated with the butterfly and their design for reaching the nectar of those flowers that are shaped like a trumpet. "When there's a will; there's a way."
As a stained glass artist (of sorts), my mind is racing with ideas. Those wings are amazing. Did you assemble that collage? I love those but keep wondering how they are made???
Lacey: I didn't make the collage, it came that way via email from a friend. I haven't a clue what program allows one to do that.
The butterfly motif would be an interesting project working with stained glass. It seems one would need to work with two tiers of stained glass to create the "see-through" illusion of the wing portion with a background underneath it. If you attempt this, keep me in the loop, I would love to see your end result.
What a delightful addition to this post is that wonderful painting!! That's exactly the sort of fairy congress I'd hoped to encourage with my garden and my lanterns to light the way!!!!
Blessed Midsummer to you, Butch!!
Two tiers. Ah. I hadn't thought of that. If I made a butterfly with clear wings, and hung it in the window, you would be able to see whatever is out there...thru the wings. No?
Although, to tell you the truth, I did a piece where I sandwiched two pieces of glass together...I used to do a lot. Lately, not so much. but there is some glass they sell now that would be perfect for the clear part of the wings. It's called water glass. Not sure if I have any at the moment. I don't usually do realistic subject matter...officially, I was a graphic artist at Kodak, and most of my designs have a fairly "graphic" look to them. gosh, all this talk of glass, and design makes me want to go down to the basement and see what glass supplies I have...one more week til retirement..less than one, actually, six days. OMG!!
Lacey: That's true. I was thinking along the lines of the last butterfly picture where one could see the flower underneath. I don't think it has ever been done before but would be an interesting visual concept.
Hang in there, you're almost a free man! ;-)
Greg: Thanks! It was your picture that reminded me of this setting and I hope that light in your garden draws and welcomes all sorts of night time visitors who ever they may be.
... and a joyous and blessed Midsummer's Eve to you and yours as well!
Oh...regarding the mystery plant...I found it.
http://www.discoverlifeinamerica.org/atbi/species/Plantae/Magnoliophyta/Magnoliopsida/Rosales/Saxifragaceae/Saxifraga_careyana.shtml
Lacey: That plant looks very close, the flowers are virtually the same but the leaves of the plant in the picture you sent seem more random on the ground and come to a point where as mine has each plant similar to a dandelion where there is the plant with the leaves going around the centre where the shoot comes out with the flower and the leaves are more round toward the ends of them. I think the information you sent may be a very close cousin of the plants I have. I also think we are very close thanks to your observation. thank you!
Butch, I have that exact picture on a Minton china mug. It is enchanting ... glorious. I love all things faerie ... go figure, eh? :)
Those lovely wee butterflies look like tiny living stained glass windows. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Happy Summer Solstice to you and Steve!
Cooper: Ha! As you can tell, so do I. That is a coincidence, I have always loved that painting since the first time I lay my eyes upon it. Enchanting.
Those butterflies do look like stained glass and it appears to have Lacey, looking into possibly making one. I wish I were talented in that area of the arts. Who knows, I may take up glass cutting in my spare time as well. ;-)
Cooper: I forgot to add this to the last comment:
Thank you and a happy Summer Solstice to you and the boys! May you always enjoy the "charms of nature."
Wow! That is a beautiful butterfly! I've never seen one with transparent wings like that.
Java: I know what you mean. When I first saw these pictures I was totally amazed. It has to be one of the more clever disguises Mother Nature as devised.
Butch, I think you and Lacey are thinking to small--while stained glass butterflies to hang in a window sound delightful...I'm picturing a really large, butterfly-shaped window right in the wall!!!
But then, this time of year always makes me a little crazy...
Greg: Actually, I'm thinking of a much larger butterfly in stained glass in a rectangular, wooden frame.
We have a friend who, for an house-warming gift back in Chicago, had a stained glass window made and fit in a rectangular frame that fit a front hallway window. We brought it West with us and it hangs on two brass chains in our living room window. (I'll take a picture of it one of these days ) I would like to see that butterfly superimposed over the yellow flower ( like the last picture ) in stained glass art. I'm thinking that there could be two layers in the section under the butterfly to give it the see through depth effect or it could just be left with the clear sections of the wing as if one would be looking through the wing.
It is still in the planning stages but, just might work. We have some other stained glass windows that need to be framed and we'll get to it one of these days. I would like to see what you come up with if you plan on going further with the butterfly design.
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