Original mandala art created using a photograph taken by Linda S. Gribko. This is the fourth in my Butterfly Series of mandalas. The original photo that was used to create this work is of a queen butterfly on lavender blooms in the Butterfly House at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. The queen butterfly, like the monarch, is dependent upon milkweed as a caterpiller food source, but doesn’t get the attention showered on its migratory cousin. However, it is similarly orange and quite beautiful in its own right with spangles of white dots on its wings. Populations of queen butterflies will benefit from current efforts to “Save the Monarchs” and it should be remembered that they are uniquely special and deserve our attention, too.
