Mantis and Hydrangeas 8"x10" Print

This is a print made from my original drawing, which was created using Prismacolor colored pencils. Frame not included, just for demonstration purposes. 
 
When I first started becoming serious about drawing and painting as an adult, I focused on flowers since they're beautiful and most people like them. But my true love was still with insects. I hesitated to add them into my portfolio since I didn't want to scare people away at art shows! I stared with charasmatic insects, like butterflies, to test the waters. I moved on to my real passion: bees. Things went well. I decided to push the boundaries with my typical audience and draw something that I knew made a lot of people squeamish: A praying mantis. I added hydrangeas to appeal to those who may not typically look twice at a praying mantis and consider it "beautiful" like the flowers. My goal with this piece was to make the audience see this as a friendly, beneficial bug rather than a "big gross scary" thing. It was surprisingly a hit at art shows, and many people who proclaimed they "don't even like bugs" were drawn to this and purchased a print, to my surprise.
 
It is always humbling when someone tells me they see beauty in something I've drawn, where they may not have otherwise seen it. That's my goal in a lot of the work that I create. I hope this makes people look twice when they encounter the insects in the real world as well. 
 
The print comes to you in a compostable protective plastic sleeve with a hard backing and is signed by me. My 8"x10" prints will arrive on paper larger than 8"x10" to add some "wiggle-room" if you are putting the print under a mat. The print can be trimmed down to fit without a mat into an 8"x10" frame.