9/24 – Oleander Hawk Moth, 6×6 acrylics on paper

I love the common name of this moth. Oleander reminds me of a Southern ghost story, of a servant slave girl who tried to come back to favor to her owners by baking a cake for the children (and their mother). She added oleander leaves into the cake mix to make them sick so that she could nurse them back to health, but tragically added too much, and poisoned them instead. The ghost of the servant girl, and the children, are said to haunt the plantation.