The good wife     

The good wife? 

The idea for this painting came as a reaction to feeling guilty about not being a perfect wife.  I spend my time doing many things that are more exciting to me than traditional wife things like ironing, cleaning house, cooking meals, etc.    I started thinking about it and decided that things I do which keep me from doing those wife kind of things actually make me a pretty great wife!
At the top of the painting are the cecropia caterpillars and moths that I raise every year, they are extraordinarily beautiful in their transformation and I am endlessly fascinating by them!  To the right is my terrarium of dermestid beetles, which I keep to clean animal skulls and bones.  Because of the time I take to maintain my beetles, we have a very beautiful skull collection and learn a lot about animals and birds from this hobby.
Below that is me drawing, another hobby which I love but keeps me from housework., but fills the house with new ideas and plenty to look at all the time.
Then is the raven and birds. I feed many birds and have become especially fond of the giant ravens who come by almost every day to drink water and seek out special roadkill treats I hide for them .I also made a pond where jackrabbits come every morning. And elk and coyotes and maybe cougars someday too!
On the left side of the painting is a big bowl of fruit and vegetables…I only eat raw foods now so our meals are not the typical ones many husbands enjoy. . This often upsets friends / family members who feel inclined to bring my husband food sometimes but actually he is lucky because he is much healthier eating this way and he gets to try lively raw food recipes.  So even if there may not be a hot meal to sit down to every evening, there are many exciting things going on here, drawings, paintings and special treats from the mysterious workshop of nature.