Miniature Painting - No 29 - Swallowtail Butterfly

Next up in my miniature paintings project is a Two-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly. This was fun to work on because, doing a little research for it, I learned there are a lot of swallowtail butterflies that all look very similar. Learning the little details that distinguish them was interesting.


This butterfly lives throughout much of the western United States from the mountain states to the west coast states, and from southern Canada down through Mexico and into Central America.

Most states have an official mammal, bird, flower, and butterflies. The Two-tailed Swallowtail became the official state butterfly of Arizona in 2001. So for those of you in Arizona you now know your state's butterfly. :)

And, in case you're curious, Arizona's state mammal is the ringtail, the state bird is the cactus wren, and the saguaro cactus blossom.

 6"x6" oil on Gessobord