A Few Kentucky Butterflies

by Kathy Garvey

On my third day at my month long retreat at Furnace Mountain Zen Center, after a heavy thunderstorm (that also zapped my car), I found a beautiful little butterfly drowned in a mud puddle. I pulled it out, dried it off and then photographed and sketched it. 

I had never seen a butterfly like this one and went on-line to discover its actual name is "red spotted purple." (Someone must have run out of imaginative names.)

Red Spotted Purple - Under wing has all the red!

Red Spotted Purple - Upper wing is a shimmery blue!

He was the first I found on my walks, but not the last. The abundant plants including milkweed and mountain laurel attracted many butterflies…among them tiger, zebra and spice bush swallowtails, fritillaries and monarchs.

I like to experiment with Photoshop. So, even though I have plenty of unmodified photos of butterflies that I am happy to share, here are a few of my "photoshopped" butterfly images from the trip. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

Spice Bush Swallowtail on Milkweed

Fritillary (I don't know which kind) on Wild Hydrangea

Tiger Swallowtail and Spice Bush Swallowtail on Milkweed

Zebra Swallowtail on Clover

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey

Ginkgo vs. Sycamore

By Kathy Garvey

On my third day at my month long retreat at Furnace MountainZen Center, I realized that the spindly little tree near the Tea House was a Ginkgo Biloba. The leaves have such a fascinating shape that I first decided to paint them and then to play with one of my photos of them in Photoshop.

Watercolor 9x12 Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo Biloba, Photoshop (I like to use the shapes of leaves to make brushes in Photoshop. I'm building quite a nice set of them from this trip. The small pale purple ginkgo leaves in the image above are from a brush used as a mask to the layers below.)

On the fourth day's walk, a pretty little leaf with very obvious fuzzy veins on its backside dropped right into my path. I think it's a sycamore leaf. It inspired another watercolor which I enjoyed painting out on the front porch of my cabin.

The cabin sported a shady open porch with room for a table and four chairs.
Squirrels, skinks, deer and birds checked in on me every now and then. 

 And, naturally, the same leaf had to take a few trips through Photoshop.

The woods of Kentucky are awesome. So many trees - a lot of them ones I knew growing up in Maryland. The hillsides are covered with every size and shape and every shade of green imaginable. I'm still working through my collection. More to come.

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey

Red Maple Inspiration

By Kathy Garvey

I recently spent time at Furnace Mountain Zen Center in Kentucky where I had a month in a wonderful cabin surrounded by wooded mountains and fields. I got to walk every day with my camera and it inspired several paintings and digital works.

On my first walk on my first day I discovered a beautiful but tiny Red Maple down by the barn. (Yes, there is a huge barn, many cabins, a Tea House, a permaculture garden, paths, caves, rock formations, etc. Amazing place!)

The leaves looked blazing in the afternoon sun. I made a point to walk to its location nearly every day to get photos at different times and in different light. Below are a few of my untouched photos of the maple.

The branch from above.

The same branch from below with the sun on it.

So beautiful, I visited it every day! 

Below is one of the paintings I completed while on the retreat. It's acrylic on a beautiful piece of 22"x34"rice paper I bought at Ralph's Art Supply before I left.

Below are digital works inspired by the red maple completed while on my retreat.

This is a digital plan for a future painting on the rice paper.

Maple by the Temple

The Temple is constructed of beautiful wood inside and out and it has a gorgeous blue tile roof. The back of the Temple faces woods and rock formations. The front has a long series of steps down to a pond and the hillside along the steps is covered with milk weed in bloom now, and soon zinnias and cosmos.  (However, the maple is actually located by the barn, quite a distance away. Artistic License!)

More posts to come on my fun artist's retreat and the amazing Furnace Mountain Zen Center!

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey