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This is a 24″x20″ mixed media piece on canvas depicting a luna moth resting on a hand, and the moon, on a background of vintage ephemera. It is the companion piece to “Rêverie en Vert.” and “Rêverie en Bleu”
The vintage paper ephemera is comprised of tickets, stamps, magazine photos, book pages, and sheet music – some of it over 100 years old!
After noticing several pieces of ephemera in my stash depicting dragonflies and butterflies, I decided that would be the subject of my next pieces. I love luna moths, and initially was just going to paint the moth, but then in looking for reference images, I found one of someone holding a paper luna moth. The position of the hand was just beautiful, so even though I find hands really tough to draw and paint, I knew I had to try.
After I finished the moth and the hand, I still felt like it was missing something. An artist friend pointed out some of the blue accents in the background and said they were “crying out” to be part of the main design. I decided to add a moon with blue tones which I felt was in keeping with the luna moth, and also the Cole Porter lyrics the title comes from “A trip to the moon, on gossamer wings…”
Just when I thought I was totally done, my daughter Jade suggested I add some gold frames around some of the ephemera pieces. Instead of using gold foil sheets, I used liquid gold leaf. I also added gold accents to the luna moth on the eye spots and antennae.
Overall, I’m really pleased with how it turned out.
Project Images
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