Yellow mum mandala card with a monarch butterfly gracefully perching is digitally printed using archival pigment inks on silky, bright white, acid-free paper. Folded card is 5.25″ by 5.25″ and comes with a beautifully made, bright white envelope. The photograph I used to create the mum mandala is printed on the back of the card with the photo location. Interior of the card is blank and the paper is super smooth, not slick, and takes gel, ballpoint, and other inks well. Perfect birthday or any-day card for someone who loves monarch butterflies, tends or visits gardens, or is interested in sustainability. Also makes a wonderful autumnal greeting card.

About the Art. I created this yellow mum mandala art, titled Lemon Fantasy with Monarch Butterfly, using a layering technique. First, I created the flower mandala using a photo of a lemon yellow spider chrysanthemum I took in one of the glasshouses at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The flower was a disbud mum, which was carefully groomed to produce a single large bloom on a stiff, upright stem. The process seems to me very relaxing, along the lines of training bonsai, and the results are amazing, producing flowers straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.

The monarch butterfly I added to the piece came from a photo series I shot on the Gettysburg National Battlefield in an impressive stand of native sunflowers. A single female monarch butterfly moved flower to flower in the sunlight as I took pictures. Quick tip: you can tell the male monarch butterflies from the females by the presence (male) or lack (female) of distinct black dots on the upper surface of the hindwings (which are the lower wings).

An Important Note Regarding Shipping: orders of up to three cards are shipped USPS First Class without tracking. Larger orders are shipped via the most economical means, which usually, but not always, includes tracking. Most orders are printed and shipped within three days.