My purpose in painting Tiger Swallowtail was to combine a loose, expressive dark background with an accurate, detailed light foreground element using acrylic. For my research, I tested color combinations and selected a strong pink Buddleia as my nectar source for the swallowtail. I had the live branch of Buddleia and my own pinned specimen of Papilio glaucus, the tiger swallowtail. The flower and butterfly are painted about life size.
