Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail, 8x8, oil on panel

Second piece for January. We have Virginia Creeper on the fence between houses, and saw this guy alight when I was out in the garden. It was in the shadows so fairly flat light. Amazingly enough no evidence of the Japanese beetles who love to decimate the Creeper yet, so it must have been early summer...

I took the photo with my phone. It was just a perfect subject with it's wings held perfectly still. Looking up what kind of Tiger Swallowtail it is there are lots of examples with their wings out like this, so it is not that unusual. It is a Western Tiger Swallowtail, although the only real difference I could see from the Eastern version is that it is a paler yellow overall. Lots of variety within the blue and reds in both.