Fireflies

Oil Paint | 16” x 20” | © 2018

I made this piece in honor of Indiana officially making their state insect the humble firefly. Growing up, I used to go firefly hunting with my father and two older brothers on warm summer evenings. Seeing these small bright insects light up the night sky was the first real sign of summer which I always looked forward to. I have a lot of fond memories of those evenings, and I wanted to capture that feeling in this painting.

I also emphasized the brand of the jar, Ball Mason Jars. The Ball Corporation has been manufacturing mason jars in Indiana since the 1800’s. This is also the brand of jar my mother used to can homemade jams, so we often used them to collect fireflies.

I entered this piece into the 2018 Congressional Art competition for my district and won first place. This entailed a trip to Washington D.C. to meet along with the piece hanging in the halls of Congress for one year.