During the pandemic of 2020, I started fostering the Monarch caterpillars that showed up on our milkweed plants because we noticed that none of our babies actually ended up as butterflies...fostering might give them a better chance... we lost more than half of our fosters to tachinid flies, but were able to successfully raise 11 caterpillars to butterflies. Xena the caterpillar showed signs of tachinid infection as a caterpillar, but made it to the chrysalis stage and through the 2 weeks of incubation. However, when she emerged, there was a parasite on her hind wing...it fell off, leaving her alive with 3 wings. She was a very rare case of a caterpillar fighting a tachinid fly infestation and living to tell the tale... well, actually, living to have me create a collage portrait in her honor. She survived for more than a month after her emergence, enjoying being hand-fed honey-water and spending time on flowers. Typical Monarch butterflies last between 2-3 weeks after eclosing so she was a very special butterfly, indeed!
This collage portrait incorporates local Lemon Grove information and maps, as well as sheet music, foreign language newsprint and mulberry paper. The leaves were embroidered with cotton thread. The painting is wrapped around a wooden panel and is wired and ready to hang.
