Commanders

Today I returned to Dairy Farm Nature Park. I hadn't been there for
over a year and I was surprised by how much it's changed. Many of
my favourite spots for butterflies were cleared and are now making
way for more trees to be planted. Luckily, I had the company of two
Commanders - one of them being this lovely butterfly.

Mr Khew, creator of the Butterflies of Singapore and amazing 
architect, who goes by "Commander" in ButterflyCircle and in the 
blogging world, was the other. Strangely, the little butterfly kept
landing on Mr Khew's bag! (while neglecting mine) It even landed on
his water bottle.

In December last year, I painted two Commanders on their caterpillar
host plant, Timoneus wallechiana, for Mr Khew. (Photo credit goes to
him, here's the link.)

While I had used many great reference pictures from the web, not 
having my own set of references set me back a little. If only I had 
obtained these pictures back then! The commander is a rather 
common butterfly of our forests and parks and it has been known 
to have a taste for human sweat.

I would really like to thank Mr Khew for welcoming me into the 
butterfly scene. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be out every 
weekend chasing butterflies with a camera. Butterfly photography
has really opened my eyes to the beautiful world around me. It has 
been one the most amazing things that's ever happened to me!