This was an odd collection of images. I was glad to win the bid with Taylor Studios in Rantoul, Illinois, to paint large cartoon insects on canvas to be installed above the product shelves in the gift shop of the Audubon Insectarium because it was being built in my home town, New Orleans. I practically lived in Audubon Park as a kid.

The second part of the job required me to be on site to paint out-of-focus oak trees with Spanish moss, on black velvet walls, inside and outside of the exhibit’s theater. I had a chance to reconnect with my cousins, aunts and uncles and to relive one of my most terrifying experiences with a giant centipede, which I described in a Mostly True Tale, Attack of the Giant Centipede.