PSYCHE by Michelle Waters

Acrylic on cradled wood panel, 4" x 4"

For this painting I was thinking a lot about everything humanity has gone through this year with the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and extreme weather events caused by the climate crisis. And how transformative this year has been for so many of us. A year ago I wouldn’t have imagined that we’d be in the middle of a pandemic with no real end in sight yet.

Butterflies are symbolic of transformation in multiple cultures and religions. In fact, the word metamorphosis which is the process butterflies and moths go through during their life cycle is Greek for “transformation”. The Monarch butterfly is in peril from the climate crisis and habitat loss.