Rhythms of Grace: The Painting That Had to Wait for the Flower

This piece has a long and winding story.

It started, I'm not sure how many years ago now, with preparing to paint live on a stage. I had free reign as far as subject matter went, though I was creating at a conference focused on the intersection of art and faith.

Pipevine swallowtails were on my mind.

“Rhythms of Grace,” photo transfer, acrylic, color pencil, and ephemera on cradled wood panel (24×48”)

The Caterpillar on the Shelf

These are the creatures I had been seeing and slowly learning about for even longer, though this painting was one of the first with them as the subject. I had brought home a caterpillar along with a bunch of pipevine for it to eat and photographed them both. Within a week or two the caterpillar formed a chrysalis, and I photographed that too. Months passed. I assumed it had somehow died, but I kept the modified peanut butter jar on the shelf anyway, just in case.

Then one day I found a butterfly in the jar.

It was beautiful, and I photographed it immediately. The whole experience was as magical as if I had been a second grader encountering the life cycle of a butterfly for the very first time.

I learned later that pipevine swallowtails here go through several generations in spring and early summer, each spanning just a few weeks, but the final generation of chrysalis will rest for several months, waiting for spring to return. My caterpillar had simply decided it was one of the long sleepers.

The Missing Piece

When it came time for the live painting, the rhythms of the butterfly's life cycle were still with me and became the heart of the work. Three stages of the butterfly. The vines with their leaves. It felt complete.

Years later, I realized something was missing.

I had never seen a pipevine flower. Never photographed one. The vines and leaves were already in the piece, but the flower, the bloom of the very plant these butterflies cannot survive without, had never made it in.

This past spring I finally found the flowers and photographed them. And then I came back to the artwork, after all these years, and added them, along with a little pressed vine, completing something I hadn't even known was unfinished.

Finally, Truly Complete

Rhythms of Grace holds the story of butterflies and vines, blooms and long rest, and a miraculous return. It took years, not because I was slow, but because the story wasn't finished yet. The flowers had to be found. The piece had to wait, just like the chrysalis on the shelf.

At four feet long and two feet tall, it makes a statement in a room like little else does. And now, finally, it's ready to find its perfect spot.

If you're not sure how it will look in your space, reach out. If you're local, I'm happy to bring it over. If you're not, send me a photo of your room and I'll create a mock-up so you can see exactly how it fits before you commit.

Some things are worth the wait. This is one of them.

If you’ve been waiting for this piece, you can acquire it here.