Butterflies, Birds & Wildlife · horizontal

Quiet Passenger, Purple Caterpillar on a Glowing Leaf

A dark purple caterpillar with a row of white dots crawls down the center of a bright green leaf. The leaf hangs from a thin branch with more green and yellow leaves around it. The leaves glow against a very dark teal-black background, with some blue at the left edge. The whole picture has a soft, painterly, oil-paint-like surface.

A buyer wants this piece for the small, unexpected jewel at its center: a violet-purple caterpillar with a row of white dots, crawling down a leaf that glows lime green against a deep teal-black ground. Most leaf and insect images are pale, flat or busy. This one is dark, saturated and quiet, and the painterly, oil-paint-like surface makes a tiny creature feel like a portrait subject. Simple visual attraction is reason enough to want it.

Artwork by Omaste Witkowski