Endangered
I am using good quality oil paints, but a painting like this makes me almost wish I wasn't. It would have worked so well with cheap acrylics with bright fake colours and metallics. These butterflies are much prettier in real life (well at least in photographs, since I haven't seen them in real life) than I can even hope to portray. Unfortunately, their beauty, much like the painted snails, is what could lead to their extinction eventually. They were only discovered in northern Philippines in 1965. At first it was thought there were 2 distinct species, but now they've determined it is 2 subspecies. I found one thing that said back in 2016 a single specimen was worth at least $1500 to a collector. Although international trade is illegal, they are still smuggled and it is obviously a lucrative business.
Ok, here is a PSA of sorts. I like to use myself whenever I can as an example of what not to do. I finished the painting and then took a break before posting in order to make tostadas for dinner. I brought my dinner to my desk so I could eat and post at the same time. I set my plate on the desk, then realized that I needed to move a palate knife or I would knock it off the little table I have my paints sitting on. I picked that up, moved it, picked up my phone so I could plug it in, set it back down, and then saw what I thought was refried beans on my phone. I wiped it off, but then it looked like I had gotten a bit on my finger. I licked my finger. Yeah, wish I hadn't. Paint doesn't taste good, and isn't exactly good for you to eat. Thank goodness I don't have any of the ones that are extra toxic, but just because it is non-toxic doesn't mean it is healthy. Hey, at least with oil paint I don't have the cup of water that I keep on almost drinking or my coffee that regularly almost got a paint brush in it.
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